Sarkanniemi is an amusement park located on the shore of Lake Näsijärvi in Tampere, which was opened in 1975. It is the second largest amusement park in Finland after Linnanmäki and one of the most important tourist destinations in the country. Särkänniemi consists of five adventure sites: an amusement park, an aquarium, the Näsinneula viewing tower, a planetarium and a Koiramäki animal park. In addition, the area is home to the Sarah Hilden Art Museum, run by the city of Tampere . Previously there was also a dolphinarium in Särkänniemi .
In 2018 the park was visited by 599,000 people during the summer season and 655,000 during the year. Syarkänniemi as a tourist destination has been purposefully designed and is the most important tourist destination in Tampere: tourism in Syarkänniemi brings Tampere 70 million Euros and 220 000 days of accommodation every year. In a survey conducted by Taloustutkimus, Sarkanniemi has been selected as the best entertainment centre in Finland for many years.
The first buildings in Sarkanniemi were the planetarium and aquarium, which were opened in 1969. The idea for a planetarium came from a group of decision makers in Tampere during their trip to America in the 1960s. The idea was presented to the then mayor, Erkki Lindfors, who, as an astronomical enthusiast, accepted the idea. After Lindfors visited Kuopio, he got the idea of a restaurant with a lookout tower from Puyo Tower, and soon a committee was set up in Tampere to design his own lookout tower. In 1966 the city of Tampere founded the company Tampereen Särkänniemi Oy.
The city of Tampere built Näsinneula, which was completed on the first day of May 1971, as a symbol of the city . At the same time, an amusement park was planned for Tampere. The amusement park was planned for a long time in the Ratina area because of the remote location of Syarkäniemi, but the Ratinanniemi area was too small. In the summer of 1973 entrepreneurs Leo Lindblom and Lauri Seitera opened Tivoli in Syarkäniemi at the foot of Mount Näsinneula for one summer. The experiment was so successful that Mayor Pekka Paavola asked the entrepreneurs to continue the Neula amusement park next summer. In the Neula amusement park, for example, there was a Pirun Veles called the Wild Mouse Puwuoristorata, Vauktivirveli and the Racing Track.
However, the activities of the amusement park, which is business-oriented, lasted only two years, as in 1975 Tampereen Särkänniemi Oy opened an amusement park on its own. Tampereen Särkänniemi Oy had already purchased a Troika device in 1974, but it was rented for the first time in Linnanmäki, Helsinki. Särkänniemi also purchased the equipment from Linnanmäki warehouses. For ten years Särkänniemi worked closely with the Children's Fund, which is owned by Linnanmäki.
In 1985, a dolphinarium was opened in Syarkänniemi, which was included in the plans back in the 1960s. At that time, the tropical home and wax cabinet, among other things, were more or less seriously planned for the area.
The year 2001 became particularly significant in the development of the amusement park, when the whole amusement park was fenced into one area, which was accessible from a single gate.
During 2009-2011, the "Long Hot Summer" programme was broadcast live every Sunday from Syarkäniemi.
Ipanaario's former children's area was converted to Angry Birds Land in 2012 and in addition to the entertainment equipment, there is an Angry Birds adventure course built by Lappset Group Oy. In the summer of 2013, the Koiramäki theme park was built in Syarkäniemi, based on books by Mauri Kunnas, which replaced the former Children's Zoo. By the summer of 2015, the amusement park playground was transformed into a theme family for the whole family. Four favourite devices for young children and a traditional caramel carousel carousel were handed over to the pelitor. In addition, a new Market Café, barbecue and gourmet kiosks were opened on the market square. There are also facial and silhouette coloring points in the area.
Since 2015, a few days before the official opening of the season, the amusement park has hosted the Särkän Märkä event for university students.
It was decided to close the dolphinarium by Särkänniemi in autumn 2015 after negotiations on cooperation with the dolphinarium. In August 2016 the dolphins were transferred to Attica Zoo in Greece. In December 2016 in the building of the dolphinarium was opened indoor amusement park SuperPark, which worked in the territory until spring 2020.
In 2017, the name Koiramäki was given as Koiramäki Zoo.
