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(Finnish
Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
: Kirkkoniemi, Sámi: Girkonjárga) is the centre of the municipality of Sør-Varanger
Sør-Varanger

S?r-Varanger is a Municipalities of Norway in Finnmark Counties of Norway, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkenes....
 in Finnmark
Finnmark

or Finnm?rku is a Counties of Norway in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast....
 county, Norway
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
.

irkenes is a town in the municipality
Municipalities of Norway

||}Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called county , and 430 municipality . The capital city Oslo is considered both a county and a municipality....
 of Sør-Varanger
Sør-Varanger

S?r-Varanger is a Municipalities of Norway in Finnmark Counties of Norway, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkenes....
 in the county
Counties of Norway

||-||}Norway is divided into 19 subnational, called county . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 Municipalities of Norway ....
 of Finnmark
Finnmark

or Finnm?rku is a Counties of Norway in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast....
 with a population of about 3,300, or about 7,300 if the neighbouring suburban areas of Hesseng, Sandnes and Bjørnevatn are included.






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Petsamo
Orthographic Projection Over Kirkenes Norway
(Finnish
Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
: Kirkkoniemi, Sámi: Girkonjárga) is the centre of the municipality of Sør-Varanger
Sør-Varanger

S?r-Varanger is a Municipalities of Norway in Finnmark Counties of Norway, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkenes....
 in Finnmark
Finnmark

or Finnm?rku is a Counties of Norway in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast....
 county, Norway
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
.

Geography and climate

Kirkenes is a town in the municipality
Municipalities of Norway

||}Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called county , and 430 municipality . The capital city Oslo is considered both a county and a municipality....
 of Sør-Varanger
Sør-Varanger

S?r-Varanger is a Municipalities of Norway in Finnmark Counties of Norway, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkenes....
 in the county
Counties of Norway

||-||}Norway is divided into 19 subnational, called county . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 Municipalities of Norway ....
 of Finnmark
Finnmark

or Finnm?rku is a Counties of Norway in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast....
 with a population of about 3,300, or about 7,300 if the neighbouring suburban areas of Hesseng, Sandnes and Bjørnevatn are included. Kirkenes is located in the extreme northeastern part of Norway
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
 on the Bøkfjorden, a branch of the Varanger Fjord, which is a vast bay connected to the Barents Sea
Barents Sea

The Barents Sea is a part of the Arctic Ocean located north of Norway and Russia. It is a rather deep Continental shelf sea , bordered by the shelf edge towards the Norwegian Sea in the west, the island of Svalbard in the northwest, and the islands of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya in the northeast and east....
 near the Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
n-Norwegian
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
 border. The town is situated about 240 miles (400km) north of the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circle of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the parallel of latitude that runs 66degree 33'39? north of the Equator....
.

The midnight sun
Midnight sun

The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle, and south and nearby to the north of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight....
 shines from May 17 to July 21. The corresponding winter darkness extends from November 21 to January 21. Despite its location at the coast, Kirkenes exhibits a more continental climate
Continental climate

Continental climate is a climate that is characterized by winter temperatures cold enough to support a fixed period of snow cover each year, and relatively moderate precipitation occurring mostly in summer, although east coast areas may show an even distribution of precipitation....
. The mean temperature is -11.5°C (11.3°F) in January, and 12.6°C (54.6°F) in July, with an annual precipitation of 450mm (17.7in). The record low was measured at -41°C (-41.8°F) and the record high was measured at 32.7°C (90.8°F). July 2004 was the warmest month on record, with a mean temperature of 16.9°C (62.4°F) [1
Geography of Norway

Norway is located in Northern Europe on the western and northern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering the North Sea in southwest and the Skagerrak inlet to the south, the North Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast....
]).

People


Of the approximately 6,000 inhabitants of Kirkenes a majority is of a Norwegian background, and a minority is Sami
Sami people

The S?mi people, are the indigenous people Indigenous peoples of Europe inhabiting S?pmi , which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia....
. Others are originally from Finland, either members of the Kven
Kven

Kvens are a Norwegian ethnic minority descended from Finnish people peasants and fishermen who emigrated from the northern parts of Finland and Sweden to Northern Norway in the 18th and 19th centuries....
 population or of a newer influx of more or less recent Finnish
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
 immigrants. Also, some 500 are relatively recent Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
n immigrants.

Economy and Tourism

The secretariat of the Barents Region
Barents Region

The Barents Region is a name given, by political ambition to establish international cooperation after the fall of the Soviet Union, to the land along the coast of the Barents Sea, from Nordland in Norway to the Kola Peninsula in Russia and beyond all the way to the Ural Mountains and Novaya Zemlya, and south to the Gulf of Bothnia of the Ba...
 is located in Kirkenes. One of its tasks is to create cross-border cultural, educational and business relations in the Barents Region. There is now substantial optimism in the town as a consequence of the increased petroleum drilling activity in the Barents Sea (including the Russian activity).
Kirkenes Hafen
Bøkfjorden, an excellent harbour, has attracted interest from several large companies. Tourist attractions include Grenselandsmuseet (The Border Country Museum), which shows the history of war and peace along the Norwegian-Russian border, Sami
Sami people

The S?mi people, are the indigenous people Indigenous peoples of Europe inhabiting S?pmi , which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia....
 art exhibitions by the artist John Savio and a history of the mining
Mining

Mining is the extraction of value minerals or other geology materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, Sodium chloride and potash....
 industry in the area. Kirkenes is also one end of the route of Hurtigruten
Hurtigruten

Hurtigruten or Hurtigruta is a Norway passenger and freight line with daily sailings along Norway's spectacular western and northern coast....
, which cruises regularly down the Norway coast to Bergen. Kirkenes is served by Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen
Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen

Kirkenes Airport, H?ybuktmoen is the airport serving Kirkenes in eastern Finnmark, Norway. Like most other Norwegian airports, KKN is operated by Avinor....
. There are non-stop flights to Oslo
Oslo

is the Capital and largest List of cities in Norway in Norway.Metropolitan Oslo or the Greater Oslo Region makes up the third largest urban area in Scandinavia after Metropolitan Stockholm and Metropolitan Copenhagen....
 and Tromsø
Tromsø

is a List of cities in Norway and Municipalities of Norway in Troms Counties of Norway, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Troms?....
.

Just outside of Kirkenes is a military base called "Høybuktmoen". Connected to this base are six border stations along the Russian border. This base and these border stations are there to protect against illegal immigrants as well as other illegal activities across the border.

Also outside Kirkenes is Andersgrotta, a vast underground bunker built during WWII which provided shelter to the town's 9,000 residents. Tours of the bunker are available.

History

Kirkenespeople
The area around Kirkenes was a common Norwegian-Russian district until 1826, when the present border was settled. The original name of the headland was Pisselvnes ("piss river headland"!)—but this was changed to Kirkenes ("church headland") after the church was built in 1862.

During World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 Kirkenes was captured by the Germans and became a base of the German Navy. Kirkenes was one of the most bombed areas during the war (reportedly, second after Malta
Malta

Malta , officially the Republic of Malta , is a densely populated developed country European microstates microstate in the European Union....
), with 320 air attacks and more than one thousand alarms. Only 13 houses were left in October 1944. The town was liberated by the Red Army
Red Army

The Red Army was the armed force first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and, in 1922, became the army of the Soviet Union....
 on October 25 1944.

The Russian-Norwegian border was an extremely tense place during the Cold War
Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between a number of world powers, including the United States, the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, France, United Kingdom and those countries' respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s....
. There was never any actual gunfire between the Norwegian and the Russian border control, but there were on several occasions a line up of soldiers and tanks from both sides. The U.S. military
Military of the United States

The United States Armed Forces are the overall unified armed forces of the United States. The United States military was first formed by the second Second Continental Congress to defend the new nation against the British Empire in the American Revolutionary War....
 was on one occasion on high alert to assist Norwegian border soldiers. The situation is more relaxed these days. But the Schengen union has ordered that soldiers on the border are to be highly trained and ready around the clock to shoot. The training programme is very similar to that of the U.S. Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers

The United States Army Rangers or simply Army Rangers are specialized, elite American Light Infantry special operations forces capable of conducting Direct action operations....
.

Between 1910 and 1997, Kirkenes was the terminus
Terminal Station

Terminal Station is a 1953 in film English language film by Italian director Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of the love affair between an Italian man and an American woman....
 of Kirkenes-Bjørnevatnbanen, the world's most northerly railway, that was used to transport ore
Ore

An ore is a type of Rock that contains minerals such as gemstones and metals that can be extracted through mining and refined for use. Samples of ore in the form of exceptionally beautiful crystals, exotic layering visible when sectioned or polished or metallic presentations such as large nuggets or crystalline formations of metals suc...
 from the mines at Bjørnevatn
Bjørnevatn

Bj?rnevatn is a village in the municipality of S?r-Varanger, Norway. Its population is 2,392....
 to the port at Kirkenes.

Trivia

Unlike the vast majority of Norway, Kirkenes is located east of the neighbouring country of Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
. Because of this, travelling directly west from Kirkenes actually changes the timezone forward instead of backward, like it usually does. Travelling directly east from Kirkenes (into Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
) changes the timezone forward by two hours instead of one.

One can drive 100 km south, and walk 10 km, into the Øvre Pasvik National Park
Øvre Pasvik National Park

?vre Pasvik National Park lies in S?r-Varanger municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The park was opened in 1970 and was originally 63 km?. In 2003 the park size was increased to 119 km?, at the same time that the adjacent ?vre Pasvik landskapsvernomr?de, a national protected area, was opened with an area of 170 km?....
, reaching the border point of the three countries, where the three timezones meet. There are only a few such places in the world. It is forbidden, according to Russian law, to walk around the marker, since entering Russia is only allowed at a border control.

See also

  • The garrison of Sør-Varanger
    Garnisonen i Sør-Varanger

    The Garrison of S?r-Varanger is a military camp located next to H?ybuktmoen Airport near Kirkenes in S?r-Varanger, Norway. The camp is under the control of the Norwegian Army and consists of Grensekompani/Utdanning , Garnisonskompani , and Grensekompani ....


External links

  • Sør Varanger municipality: http://www.sor-varanger.kommune.no/
  • .