Virrat (; ) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is part of the Pirkanmaa region, and it is located north of Tampere and west of Jyväskylä. The distance between Virrat and Helsinki is . The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The town grew rapidly in the middle years of the twentieth century, and by 1950 the population reached more than 12,000. Virrat acquired town status in 1977, although it had received the right to hold markets three years earlier, in 1974. More recently the population level has been adversely impacted by the drift of employment opportunities and people to the larger towns. Apart from the town of Virrat itself, the administratively defined municipality is largely rural, and includes the villages of Äijänneva, Härkönen Jäähdyspohja, Killinkoski, Koro, Kotala, Kurjenkylä, Liedenpohja, Ohtola, Vaskuu, and Vaskivesi. Major lakes in the area are Lake Toisvesi, beside which the town of Virrat is located, and Lake Tarjanne at the border of the municipalities of Virrat, Mänttä-Vilppula, and Ruovesi. Virrat crater on Mars is named after it. Notable people Seppo Hovinen (born 1951), a Finnish javelin thrower I. K. Inha (1865–1930), a Finnish photographer, author, translator, and journalist Antti Lieroinen (?–1643), a famous Finnish cunning man and death-sentenced for witchcraft Vesa Rantanen (born 1975), a Finnish pole vaulter Tom Sukanen (1873–1943), a Finnish-born Canadian sailor and farmer Gallery See also Finnish Lake Road References External links Town of Virrat – Official site Cities and towns in Finland Populated places established in 1868