__NOTOC__ Muotkavaara (

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

name; Norwegian: ''Krokfjell''; russian: Муоткавара or , se, Muotkevárri, smn, Myetkivääri) is a hill in Lapland at the boundary between Finland, Norway and Russia. It is the second northernmost international tripoint in the world; the tripoint of Finland, Norway and Sweden is 900 metres closer to the North. The Finnish side belongs to the

Inari Inari may refer to: Shinto * Inari Ōkami, a Shinto spirit ** Mount Inari in Japan, site of Fushimi Inari-taisha, the main Shinto shrine to Inari ** Inari Shrine, shrines to the Shinto god Inari * Inari-zushi, a type of sushi Places * Inari, ...

municipality, the Norwegian side belongs to

Sør-Varanger Sør-Varanger ( sme, Máttá-Várjjat, fkv, Etelä-Varenki, fi, Etelä-Varanki, russian: Сёр-Вара́нгер/Syor-Varánger) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town ...

and the Russian side belongs to

Nikel Nikel (russian: Ни́кель, lit. ''nickel''; fi, Nikkeli; Norwegian: ''Nikkel'') is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Pechengsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located on the shores of Lake ...

. The peak () is in Norway. The Sami name (''muotke'', ''myetki'') refers to an isthmus between waters.

Tripoint cairn

Treriksrøysa Treriksrøysa (Three-Country Cairn) is a cairn which marks the tripoint where the borders between Norway, Finland and Russia meet. The site is on a hill called Muotkavaara, in Pasvikdalen, west of the Pasvikelva and southwest of Nyrud just ...

, a rock cairn at the

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

was erected in 1846. A

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

tetrahedron In geometry, a tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, six straight edges, and four vertex corners. The tetrahedron is the simplest of all th ...

was added on the top in 1945. The border of Norway and Russia was demarcated in 1826, while Finland was an autonomous part of Russia. Further in 1833 it was ruled that the border between

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

proper meets the Norwegian border at "Mutkavaara" (Muotkavaara). Between 1920 and 1944, when

Petsamo Petsamo may refer to: * Petsamo Province, a province of Finland from 1921 to 1922 * Petsamo, Tampere, a district in Tampere, Finland * Pechengsky District, Russia, formerly known as Petsamo * Pechenga (urban-type settlement), Murmansk Oblast, Russi ...

was part of Finland, there was no tripoint, since Norway and Russia did not share a border. Muotkavaara became a tripoint again in 1944, when Finland ceded Petsamo to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in the

Moscow Armistice The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on 19 September 1944, ending the Continuation War. The Armistice restored the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940, with a number of mo ...

. The border was further modified in 1947 when Finland sold the

Jäniskoski The Paatsjoki River hydroelectric power plants are a series of hydroelectric installations on the Paatsjoki River. Description The Paatsjoki River flows from Lake Inari in Finland and for most of its duration, it marks the border between Russia ...

area to the Soviet Union. Since then the border between Finland and Soviet Union (now Russia) is oriented to the south-west from the Muotkavaara tripoint. The tripoint is most easily reached from Grensefoss on the Norwegian side, around 5 km hike each way.

Outdooring

The Norwegian side of Muotkavaara is part of

Øvre Pasvik National Park Øvre Pasvik National Park ( no, Øvre Pasvik nasjonalpark, se, Báhčaveaji Álbmotmeahcci) is located in the southeastern part of the Pasvikdalen valley in southern Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. Covering an area of , ...

. The Finnish side is slightly outside the Vätsäri Wilderness Area. There is a joint name for the contiguous natural reserve area: Pasvik–Inari Trilateral Park. ()

References

{{coord, 69, 03.44, N, 28, 55.41, E, type:mountain_scale:40000_region:FI, display=title Finland–Norway border Finland–Russia border Norway–Russia border Border tripoints Sør-Varanger