Lahti is the eighth largest town in Finland and it is located in the region of Päijät-Hame in the southern part of Finland on the shores of lake Vesijärvi. According to the last census of 2010 the population of the town is 101,5 thousand people.

The first settlements appeared many centuries ago. Some historians tend to say that the first people inhabited this area already in the Iron Age six thousand years ago. The first mentioning of the settlement appeared in the chronicles in 1445 as a village in the district of Hollola. Lahti had a very nice geographical position and it helped the town to develop as an industrial town. It was located between two important cities: Hämeenlinna and Vyborg. In the 1870's the railway road and the canal Vaaksy were constructed and connected Lahti with other big cities including St.Petersburg. For many years the village of Lahti was the second largest port of Finland in terms of cargo turn-over.

In 1877 the village was completely destroyed by big fire. And already one year later the settlement was reconstructed and it again received the rights of a trading village. Only in 1908 the Emperor of Russia Nicholas II signed a decree which gave a status of a town to the settlement. In the 1930's the town developed as a big industrial town. The population of the town grew greatly after the Finnish-Soviet War in 1939-1940. Due to the fact that part of Northern Karelia was given to the Soviet Union more than 10 000 immigrants moved to Lahti within several months. Lahti became the capital of the region in the 1980's.

Nowadays the town of Lahti is considered to be one of the most important settlements in modern Finland. Lahti is sometimes called the "Gates to Lakes of Finland". Lahti is also a significant center of education, research, business and sport.