Hanko (Swedish Hangö), situated on a peninsula in southwestern Finland, is the country's most southerly town. The population is about evenly split between Finnish and Swedish-speaking residents. It is a popular summer holiday resort with a tradition going back to Tsarist times, offering a wide range of sports and recreational facilities as well as the beautiful beaches round the peninsula. Hanko is also an important port (Finland's only free port) and ferry terminal (services to Lübeck in northern Germany). The harbor is ice-free (or is kept ice-free) throughout the year.
Strategically situated between the gulfs of Finland and Bothnia, Hanko was settled from a very early period and was a cause of dispute in many wars and the scene of many battles. In the Middle Ages vessels were already anchoring in the sound of Hauensuoli. The peninsula was fortified at the end of the 18th century. Hanko received its municipal charter, however, only in 1874, when the opening of the railroad line from Helsinki gave the town's economy a boost.
Between 1880 and 1930 hundreds of thousands of Finns emigrating to the United States sailed from Hanko. During the Second World War, in 1940, Finland was obliged to lease the town to the Soviet Union, but in the summer of 1941 the Finns recovered it after a long siege, during which 400 Soviet soldiers were killed. In 1960 Finland and the Soviet Union jointly erected a monument to commemorate these events.
In the town center of Hanko are a neo-Gothic church (by Jac Ahrenberg, 1892) on the Vartiovuori (Watch Hill), the modern Town House (1951) and the little Orthodox church (built by Russian merchants in 1895), a wooden structure with an icon mosaic in the towers.
On the Hauensuoli peninsula there are reminders of the sailing ships which once waited off Hanko for favorable winds; these are in the form of names and coats of arms carved from the rock between the 16th and 18th centuries.
The picturesque boating harbor of Hanko is Finland's largest marina. On the peninsula to the east, Lilla Tallholmen, is a charming relic of the early days of tourism, the restaurant known as the "House of the Four Winds" (1910); the house at one time belonged to Marshal Mannerheim.
There are attractive boat trips to the skerries and cruises to Ekenäs and Helsinki.
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