Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part

Peräpohjola Southern Lapland ( fi, Peräpohjola or ''Peräpohja''; sv, Nordbotten or ''Överbotten''; lit. "Rear Bothnia") was the northernmost part of the historical province of Ostrobothnia, and has sometimes been considered a separate region, but it is n ...

. The city centre is situated about south of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

and is between the hills of Ounasvaara and Korkalovaara, at the confluence of the river

Kemijoki Kemijoki ( sv, Kemi älv, se, Giemajohka), with its length, is the longest river in Finland. It runs through Kemijärvi and Rovaniemi before reaching the Gulf of Bothnia at Kemi. Facta 2001, part 8, ''finnish'' At Rovaniemi the Ounasjoki r ...

and its tributary, the

Ounasjoki The Ounasjoki ( se, Ovnnesjohka) is the Kemijoki's largest tributary and is Finland's longest single river tributary. It is also the largest river entirely within its borders. Ounasjoki is approximately in length, and the catchment area is , 27% ...

. It is the second-largest city of Northern Finland after Oulu, and, together with the capital city

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, it is one of Finland's most significant tourist cities in terms of foreign tourism. The city and the surrounding (Rural municipality of Rovaniemi) were consolidated into a single entity on 1 January 2006. Rovaniemi municipality has an approximate population of . The urban area of Rovaniemi has a population of 53,361, in an area of about . Rovaniemi is a unilingual

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 ...

-speaking municipality and, uncommonly for larger Finnish towns, it is also known by its Finnish name and spelling in the

Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic language spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, the fourth most spoken Germanic language and the first among any other of its type in the Nordic countr ...

. The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of Rovaniemi was designed by Toivo Vuorela. Its explanation is “in the green field, a silver

pall Pall may refer to: * Pall (funeral), a cloth used to cover a coffin * Pall (heraldry), a Y-shaped heraldic charge * Pall (liturgy), a piece of stiffened linen used to cover the chalice at the Eucharist * Pall Corporation, a global business * Pall. ...

with light-height upper branches; accompanied by a golden

flame A flame (from Latin '' flamma'') is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction taking place in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density they ...

in the upper corner“. It was originally approved on 15 August 1956 by the Rovaniemi Rural Municipal Council and confirmed on October 26 at the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

as the coat of arms of the Rovaniemi Rural Council.

Name

The ''rova'' part in the name Rovaniemi has often been considered to be of Saami origin, as ' in Northern Saami denotes a forested ridge or hill or the site of an old forest fire. The ''niemi'' part of the name means "

cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

". The name of the town in the Saami languages spoken in Finland are smn, Ruávinjargâ, se, Roavenjárga and ' and sms, Ruäʹvnjargg.

History

Periodic clearance of new land for

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and the practise of

slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed veget ...

cultivation began around 750–530 BC. Artifacts found in the area suggest that an increasing number of travellers from Karelia in the east, Häme in the south and the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

coast in the north must have come there from 500 AD onwards. The

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

are considered to be Lapland's most indigenous existing population. It is first mentioned by name in official documents in 1453, existing effectively as a set of small villages whose inhabitants earned their living mainly in agriculture and animal husbandry—with fishing and hunting the most important offshoots. The exploitation of Lapland's

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...

in the 1800s boosted Rovaniemi's growth. Extensive logging sites and gold fever attracted thousands of people to Lapland. As the

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

of natural resources was increased, Rovaniemi became the business centre of the province of Lapland. The township decree was promulgated on 27 June 1928, as a result of which Rovaniemi seceded from the old rural municipality as its own market town on 1 January 1929.

Second World War

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Finland signed 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 ...

and found itself involved in the

Lapland War During World War II, the Lapland War ( fi , Lapin sota; sv, Lapplandskriget; german: Lapplandkrieg) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. ...

with its former German ally. Retreating German forces utilised scorched earth tactics, and though initially German General

Lothar Rendulic Lothar Rendulic ( hr, Rendulić; 23 October 1887 – 17 January 1971)Rudolf Neck, Adam Wandruszka, Isabella Ackerl (ed.) (1980): ''Protokolle des Ministerrates der Ersten Republik, 1918–1938, Abteilung VIII, 20. Mai 1932 bis 25. Juli 1934''. ...

ordered only the public buildings in Rovaniemi to be destroyed, on 13 October 1944 the German army received orders to destroy all the buildings in Rovaniemi, only excluding hospitals and houses where inhabitants were present.Suomen Kuvalehti 39/2004 While the German rearguard was going about the destruction, an ammunition train in Rovaniemi station exploded and set fire to the wooden houses of the town. The German troops suffered many casualties, mainly from glass splinters. A Finnish commando unit claimed to have blown up the ammunition train and may well have been the primary cause of the town's ruin. The cause was then unknown and generally assumed to be the deliberate intent of Rendulic. During these hostilities 90% of all the buildings in Rovaniemi were destroyed.Kallioniemi 1989, s. 196–209 There is a German cemetery 19 km from Rovaniemi where soldiers killed fighting in Lapland during the war are buried. Although there has been continuous human settlement in the Rovaniemi area since at least the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

, few of the buildings date back before 1944 since most of the city was destroyed during

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. When the city was rebuilt, it was designed with input by famous Finnish

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Alvar Aalto, who planned the city's footprint in the shape of a

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

's head, with the city roads forming the

antlers Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on males ...

, and the local sports stadium as the reindeer's eye.

Geography

Climate

Due to its location near the Arctic Circle, Rovaniemi has a subarctic climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Dfc'') with short, pleasant summers, while the winters are long, cold and snowy. The city lies just south of the mean annual isotherm, but freezing in the soil is very limited even during the winter due to typical heavy snow cover. Its extreme northerly location combined with frequent overcast skies leads to very low levels of sunshine in the winter months; December averages just under six minutes of sunshine daily. Winters are somewhat modified by marine air from the

North Atlantic Current The North Atlantic Current (NAC), also known as North Atlantic Drift and North Atlantic Sea Movement, is a powerful warm western boundary current within the Atlantic Ocean that extends the Gulf Stream northeastward. The NAC originates from where ...

that ensures average temperatures are less extreme than expected for an inland area at such a northerly latitude. On 26 April 2019, Rovaniemi recorded its warmest April day on record with . From 1 to 6 July 2021, Rovaniemi recorded 122 hours of continuous sunshine, which is a new world record. The sun shone continuously from 02:00 on 1 July 2021 to 04:00 on 6 July 2021. The previous record was 112 hours and 10 minutes at

Cape Evans Cape Evans is a rocky cape on the west side of Ross Island, Antarctica, forming the north side of the entrance to Erebus Bay. History The cape was discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Robert Falcon Scott, ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

from 16–21 November 1911. rovaniemi1

The average annual temperature in Rovaniemi is . Snow stays on the ground 175 days a year on average. The lowest temperature ever recorded at the airport is , recorded on 28 January 1999. However, on the same day temperatures as cold as -47.5 C were recorded at nearby weather stations. The highest temperature ever recorded is , recorded on 18 July 2018 at the railway station. Despite the fact that Rovaniemi experiences

polar day The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, th ...

between 7 June and 6 July (30 days) it does not experience

polar night The polar night is a phenomenon where the nighttime lasts for more than 24 hours that occurs in the northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midni ...

. However, the sun barely gets above the horizon in the winter.

Religion

Of the parishes of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko; sv, Evangelisk-lutherska kyrkan i Finland) is a national church of Finland. It is part of the Lutheran branch of Christianity. The church has a legal positio ...

, the city belongs to the Rovaniemi Parish. Of the revival movements within the church,

Conservative Laestadianism Conservative Laestadianism is the largest branch of the Lutheran revival movement Laestadianism. It has spread to 16 countries. As of 2012 there were about 115,000 Conservative Laestadians, most of them in Finland, the United States, Norw ...

is particularly active in the locality, with three peace associations in the locality: the Rovaniemi Peace Association, the Rautionsaari Peace Association and the Viirinkylä Peace Association. Other local communities include the Rovaniemi Pentecostal Church, a member of the Finnish Pentecostal Church, and the Rovaniemi Adventist Church, part of the Finnish Adventist Church.

Economy

Since Rovaniemi is the capital of the region of Lapland, many government institutions have their offices there. About 10,000 of the inhabitants are students. Rovaniemi is home to not only the

University of Lapland The University of Lapland is located in the city of Rovaniemi, Finland. It was founded in 1979. While UiT The Arctic University of Norway is the northernmost university in the world, the University of Lapland is the most northern university in t ...

but also the

Lapland University of Applied Sciences Lapland University of Applied Sciences (Lapland UAS) is a Finnish University of applied sciences located in Kemi, Tornio and Rovaniemi. It was founded on January 1, 2014 as a merger between Rovaniemi University of Applied Sciences and Kemi-Tor ...

(formerly known as the Rovaniemi Polytechnic), which comprises institutes of information and traditional technology, business, health and social care, culinary studies,

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

, rural studies, and sports. Local newspapers include the ''Lapin Kansa'', ''Uusi Rovaniemi'' and ''Lappilainen''.

Tourism

Because of the unspoiled nature of the area and numerous recreational opportunities,

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

is an important

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

in Rovaniemi. The city has a number of hotels and restaurants located both in the centre and on the outskirts of the town, hosting over 481,000 visitors in 2013. Tourism can be seen and heard in the city's streetscape, at the

and at

Rovaniemi Airport Rovaniemi Airport ( fi, Rovaniemen lentoasema) is the third busiest airport in Finland, located in Rovaniemi, Finland, about north of Rovaniemi city centre. The Arctic Circle crosses the runway closer to its northern end. History The airpor ...

, Finland's one of the busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers. Rovaniemi is also considered by Finns to be the official home town of Santa Claus.Santa Claus' Village on the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi in Lapland in Finland
It is home to the

Santa Claus Village Santa Claus Village ( fi, Joulupukin Pajakylä) is an amusement park in Rovaniemi in the Lapland region of Finland. It was opened in 1985. Location and transportation Santa Claus Village is located about northeast of Rovaniemi and about fr ...

at the Arctic Circle and SantaPark Arctic World, which is located north of the centre. Directly across the river from the town is the Ounasvaara ski centre. There have been recreational activities in the Ounasvaara area since 1927, when the first

winter sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold are ...

were also organized. The top of the Ounasvaara hill bears the site of some of the earliest known human settlements in the area. A phenomenon also attracting numerous tourists is the

Aurora Borealis An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

or ''Northern Lights''. In Finnish Lapland, the number of auroral displays can be as high as 200 a year whereas in southern Finland the number is usually fewer than 20.

Attractions

Rovaniemi's most prominent landmarks include the Jätkänkynttilä bridge with its eternal flame over the Kemijoki river, the

Arktikum Science Museum Arktikum is a museum and science centre in Rovaniemi, Finland. The building is also a popular culture destination and venue for meetings and conferences and has a cafe and library to serve the customers. Two separate exhibitions operate at Arktik ...

which rises out of the bank of the Ounasjoki river, the

Rovaniemi city hall Rovaniemi city hall is the main municipal administrative building of the city of Rovaniemi, Finland. The building was designed by the renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, and although the design work started in the 1960s as part of the reb ...

, the

Lappia Hall Lappia Hall (Finnish: ''Lappia-talo'') is a performing arts venue and conference centre in Rovaniemi, the capital city of the Finnish Lapland region, situated close to the Arctic Circle. It is notable for having been designed by the renowned F ...

, which serves as a theatre, concert hall, and congress centre, and the

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

. The last three mentioned buildings are designed by the famous Finnish

Alvar Aalto. The Arktikum Science Museum is a comprehensive museum of Finland's, and the world's, Arctic regions.

Sports

The city is home to the football clubs

Rovaniemen Palloseura Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. In 2019 RoPS participated in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') marking their 32nd season in the top flight (previously called "Veikk ...

, or RoPS, part of the

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikka ...

, the Finnish premier division, and

FC Santa Claus FC Santa Claus is a football club from Rovaniemi, Finland that currently plays in the Nelonen, the fifth tier of the Finnish football league system. The club has played as high as the third tier Kakkonen, where they have played a total of 14 ...

, part of the third division; to the

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team

Rovaniemen Kiekko RoKi is a Finnish ice hockey team based at Lappi Areena (capacity 3,500), Rovaniemi. Established in 1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of ...

, or RoKi, whose home arena is

Lappi Areena Lappi Areena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Rovaniemi, Finland which hold concerts, trade fairs and sporting events particularly ice hockey. The arena was built in 2003 and has a capacity of 4780 people for concerts and 3500 for ice hockey mat ...

and which currently competes on

Mestis Mestis (from fi, Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona ('First Division' ...

, the second-highest league in Finland; and to the volleyball team called Team Lakkapää (formerly

Rovaniemen Santasport Team Lakkapää (formerly Perungan Pojat and Rovaniemen Santasport) is a professional volleyball team from Rovaniemi, Finland. The team played three seasons in Finland volleyball league, the country's highest level. They won two league championsh ...

and Perungan Pojat), which plays in the Finland Volleyball League and won the national championship in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2011. The Rovaniemi Nordmen, an American Football team, was formed in 2013 and has played at various levels throughout the Finnish American Football Association. Rovaniemi has hosted several international ski competition, including the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1984 The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1984 for teams in Ski jumping and Nordic combined took place in Engelberg, Switzerland and Rovaniemi, Finland. These were extraordinary events because both were not held at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajev ...

, several

FIS Nordic Combined World Cup The FIS Nordic Combined World Cup is a Nordic combined competition organized yearly by International Ski Federation, representing the highest level in international competition for this sport. It was first arranged for the 1983–84 season. Team e ...

and

FIS Ski Jumping Continental Cup The FIS Ski Jumping Continental Cup is a series of ski jumping competitions arranged yearly by the International Ski Federation. It is considered the second level of international ski jumping, ranking below the World Cup and not counting Grand ...

events, the 2005 FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships, the 1970 Winter Universiade and the 2008 Winter Transplant Games.

Transport

VR Group VR-Group Plc ( fi, VR-Yhtymä Oyj, sv, VR-Group Abp), commonly known as VR, is a government-owned railway company in Finland. VR's most important function is the operation of Finland's passenger rail services with 250 long-distance and 800 co ...

, the Finnish state railway system, operates direct daytime and overnight passenger trains from Rovaniemi Station to Oulu,

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

and

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

-powered passenger trains operated northeast of Rovaniemi to

Kemijärvi Kemijärvi ( se, Giemajávri, smn, Kiemâjävri, sms, Ǩeeʹmmjäuʹrr) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Lapland. History The first permanent settler inhabitant of Kemijärvi was Paavali Ollinpoika H ...

until March 2014, when electrification to

was completed.

is located about north of the Rovaniemi city centre, and it is the third-busiest airport in Finland after

Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region. Th ...

and

Oulu Airport Oulu Airport (; fi, Oulun lentoasema, sv, Uleåborgs flygplats) is located in Oulu, Finland, south-west of the city centre. The airport is the second busiest in Finland after Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, as measured by the number of passengers (ca ...

. The busiest time for the airport is in the Christmas season, when many people go on Santa Flights.

Notable inhabitants

Jari Tervo Jari Tervo (born 2 February 1959) is a Finnish author. He is a major name in current Finnish literature. He writes traditional plot-driven prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a la ...

, author *

Harri Olli Harri Juhani Olli (born 15 January 1985) is a Finnish former ski jumper who competed at World Cup level from 2002 to 2016. He scored three individual World Cup wins, four individual Continental Cup wins, and an individual silver medal at the 20 ...

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fina ...

* writer

Timo K. Mukka Timo Kustaa Mukka (17 December 1944 – 27 March 1973) was a Finnish author who wrote about the lives of people in Lapland (Finland), Lapland. Early life Timo Mukka was born in Bollnäs in Sweden where his family had been evacuated to during the ...

died in Rovaniemi in 1974. * Snowboarder and 2005 Winter

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

gold medalist

Antti Autti Antti-Matias Antero Autti (born 15 March 1985) is a Finnish Snowboarding who won the Men's Superpipe at the 2005 Winter X Games. He is one of two snowboarders, along with Steve Fisher, ever to beat American snowboarder Shaun White in the X Games ...

is a Rovaniemi native, and in April 2005 he received his own piece of land in the city for being named to the 2006 Finnish Olympic team. *

Tanja Poutiainen Tanja Tuulia Poutiainen (born 6 April 1980) is a retired World Cup alpine ski racer from Finland. She specialized in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom, and was the silver medalist in the women's giant slalom at the 2006 Winter ...

Alpine skier * World champion snowcross winner Janne Tapio is a Rovaniemi native. *

Tomi Putaansuu Tomi Petteri Putaansuu (born 15 February 1974), best known by his stage names Mr Lordi or Mr L, is a Finnish musician, businessman, special effect make-up artist, songwriter, painter, comics artist and graphic designer. He is best known as the l ...

, better known as

Mr. Lordi Tomi Petteri Putaansuu (born 15 February 1974), best known by his stage names Mr Lordi or Mr L, is a Finnish musician, businessman, special effect make-up artist, songwriter, painter, comics artist and graphic designer. He is best known as the l ...

lead singer of the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band and

2006 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Organised by the European Broadca ...

winner

Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish hard rock/ heavy metal band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu). In addition to their melodic metal music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster ma ...

. *

Nätti-Jussi Juho Vihtori (Johan Viktor) Nätti (31 August 1890 – 4 August 1964), known as "Nätti-Jussi" (; English: "Pretty-John") was a Finnish forest laborer. The stories told by Nätti made him a legendary figure, particularly in Lapland. Nätti was ...

("Pretty John"), legendary

lumberjack Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...

and forester. *

Progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Absoluuttinen Nollapiste Absoluuttinen Nollapiste (Finnish for absolute zero) is a progressive rock band from Rovaniemi, Finland. It is known for combining catchy melodies and solid, slightly progressive songwriting with Tommi Liimatta's eccentric lyrics. Liimatta has ...

Antti Tuisku Antti Tuisku (born 27 February 1984) is a Finnish pop singer. He finished third in the 2003 '' Idols'' talent show, the Finnish version of ''Pop Idol''. Tuisku has sold over 300,000 records during his career in Finland. In 2016, Tuisku won the ...

, singer. *

in Rovaniemi is said to be the residence of

Father Christmas Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrel ...

. * The black metal band

Beherit Beherit is a black metal band from Finland. The band was formed in 1989 by Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance (Marko Laiho), Black Jesus (Arjo Wennström) and Sodomatic Slaughter (Jari Pirinen), with the purpose of performing "the most primitive, sava ...

came from Rovaniemi.

Twin towns – sister cities

Rovaniemi is twinned with: *

Ajka Ajka () is a city in Hungary with about 35,000 inhabitants. It is situated in the hills of Bakony. History Around 1000 BCE, the area was inhabited by Celts. By the second century CE, the territory was conquered by the Romans. The Hungarians occup ...

, Hungary *

Alanya Alanya (; ), formerly Alaiye, is a beach resort city and a district of Antalya Province on the southern coast of Turkey, in the country's Mediterranean Region, east of the city of Antalya. As of Turkey's 2010 census, the city had a population of ...

, Turkey *

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

, United States *

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town on the Southern Peninsula (Iceland), Southern Peninsula of Iceland not far from the tuya Þorbjörn (mountain), Þorbjörn. It is one of the few cities with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work in ...

, Iceland *

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

, China *

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

, Germany *

Kiruna (; se, Giron ; fi, Kiiruna ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norr ...

, Sweden *

Narvik ( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...

, Norway *

Neustrelitz Neustrelitz (; East Low German: ''Niegenstrelitz'') is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Zierker See in the Mecklenburg Lake District. From 1738 ...

, Germany *

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...

, Poland *

Sankt Johann in Tirol St. Johann in Tirol is a market town in Tyrol, Austria, in the Kitzbühel district. In the regional ductus, the last syllable of the name is stressed as "Sankt yo-Hahn'". History St. Johann is situated in the Leukental, which extends from Jo ...

, Austria *

Veszprém Veszprém (; german: Weißbrunn, sl, Belomost) is one of the oldest urban areas in Hungary, and a city with county rights. It lies approximately north of the Lake Balaton. It is the administrative center of the county (comitatus or 'megye') of ...

, Hungary In March 2022, Rovaniemi suspended the agreement with

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...

, Russia due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

In popular culture

A 1996 Christmas episode of ''

Tots TV ''Tots TV'' is a British children's television programme, produced by Ragdoll Productions and Central. The series was first telecast in the UK on the ITV network (part of CITV) from 1993 to 1998. Development ''Tots TV'' was written by two of ...

'' called "Lapland Out" took place in Rovaniemi. The 1998 Spanish romantic film '' Lovers of the Arctic Circle'' ''(Los amantes del Círculo Polar)'', by director

Julio Medem Julio Medem Lafont (born 21 October 1958) is a Basque film director, producer, editor, and screenwriter. Biography Medem was born on 21 October 1958 in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain and showed an interest in movies since childhood, when ...

, partly takes place in Rovaniemi. Rovaniemi appears in the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

Tom Clancy's EndWar ''Tom Clancy's EndWar'' is a strategy video game available on Microsoft Windows and all seventh-generation platforms except the Wii, with the timing and flow of gameplay differing across platforms. The console and PC version is a real-time tac ...

'' as a possible battlefield. In the game, Rovaniemi houses military facilities critical to a missile shield for a

European Federation The United States of Europe (USE), the European State, the European Federation and Federal Europe, is the hypothetical scenario of the European integration leading to formation of a sovereign superstate (similar to the United States of Amer ...

. Rovaniemi is a central scene in a documentary film '' Reindeerspotting''. TV-Star

Bam Margera Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera ( ; born September 28, 1979) is an American former professional skateboarder, stunt performer, television personality, and filmmaker. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s as one of the stars of the MTV reality s ...

and his friends travelled to Rovaniemi in their film '' Bam Margera Presents: Where the ♯$&% Is Santa?'' in order to find Santa Claus who is assumed to live in Rovaniemi. A version of the music video for

's song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" was filmed near Rovaniemi for the opening of the

2007 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

. After winning the contest, a square called the

Lordi's Square The Lordi's Square ( fi, Lordin aukio, known as the ''Sampo Square'' until 2006) is a square in central Rovaniemi, Finland. Next to the square are located a shopping centre called ''Sampokeskus'' and a small boulevard. The square is especially p ...

(''Lordin aukio'') in the city center of Rovaniemi has been named after the band. The video for the

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

single "

The Islander Islander, Islanders, or The Islanders may refer to: People * Islander, referring to Jersey people * Islander, New Zealand-English term usually meaning Pacific Islander Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''The Islander'' (Rylant novel), ...

" was filmed in Rovaniemi by Stobe Harju. Rovaniemi used to have the northernmost location of any

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

in the world until the opening of a McDonald's in

in 2013, 23 years after it first opened in that country. However, the title of the northernmost in the world returned to Rovaniemi in 2022, when in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, all Russian McDonald's restaurants were closed, and rebranded to

Vkusno i tochka Vkusno i tochka (russian: Вку́сно — и то́чка, ), ) is a Russian fast food chain based in former McDonald's restaurants, with a menu that largely consists of rebranded McDonald's items. McDonald's closed their Russian stores in ...

.'Until we meet again,' McDonald’s tells Russia as it exits the country for good
- ''DailyO'' Rovaniemi appears as one location of

Gavin Lyall Gavin Tudor Lyall (9 May 1932 – 18 January 2003) was an English author of Spy fiction, espionage thrillers. Biography Lyall was born in Birmingham, then in Warwickshire (now West Midlands (county), West Midlands), England, as the son of a loc ...

's 1963 book ''The Most Dangerous Game'', a spy-thriller set in Lapland and the northern

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

References

Notes

External links

City of Rovaniemi
– official website (in English)
Visit Rovaniemi
(in English)
Rovaniemi - Santa's Hometown & Capital of Lapland
– Visit Finnish Lapland (in English)
Satellite view of Rovaniemi

Lunch restaurants and weekly lunch menu in Rovaniemi
{{Authority control Articles containing video clips Cities and towns in Finland Christmas traditions