Vaasa is a coastal city in Ostrobothnia, western Finland, with around 71,000 people. Founded by King Charles IX of Sweden in 1606, the original town stood several kilometres southeast of the present centre until a devastating fire destroyed most of it in 1852. Vaasa was subsequently rebuilt closer to the sea, with the new city officially taking over in 1862; the wide avenues in the centre were deliberately designed as firebreaks. Today Vaasa is an important university, industrial and energy centre and one of Finland’s most strongly bilingual cities, with both Finnish and Swedish widely spoken. Major sights include the ruins and museums of Old Vaasa, the waterfront and the nearby Kvarken Archipelago, Finland’s only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for the unusually rapid land uplift caused by the last Ice Age. Vaasa also has a notable heavy music history, having produced grindcore veterans Rotten Sound, formed in 1993, as well as heavy metal band Sturm und Drang.

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