Rovaniemi

During the Second World War, Finland signed the Moscow Armistice and found itself involved in the Lapland War with its former German ally. Retreating German forces utilised scorched earth tactics, and though initially German General Lothar Rendulic 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,[10] only excluding hospitals and houses where inhabitants were present.[11]

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.[10][12] 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, few of the buildings date back before 1944, since most of the city was destroyed during WWII. When the city was rebuilt, it was designed with input by famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto,[10] who planned the city's footprint in the shape of a reindeer's head, with the city roads forming the antlers, and the local sports stadium as the reindeer's eye.[13]

Due to its location near the Arctic Circle, Rovaniemi has a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc) with short, pleasant summers, while the winters are long, cold and snowy. The city lies just south of the 0 °C (32 °F) 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 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 19 °C (66 °F).[14]

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, Antarctica, from 16 to 21 November 1911.[15]

Rovaniemi's Lordi's Square in February 2020

The average annual temperature in Rovaniemi is 0.9 °C (33.6 °F). Snow stays on the ground 175 days a year on average. The lowest temperature ever recorded at the airport is −38.1 °C (−37 °F), recorded on 28 January 1999. However, on the same day temperatures as cold as -47.5 C were recorded at nearby weather stations.[20] The highest temperature ever recorded is 32.2 °C (90 °F), recorded on 18 July 2018 at the railway station.[21]

Despite the fact that Rovaniemi experiences polar day between 7 June and 6 July (30 days) it does not experience polar night. However, the sun barely gets above the horizon in the winter.[22]

The city of Rovaniemi has 64,887 inhabitants, making it the 17th most populous municipality in Finland. The Rovaniemi region has a population of 68,492. In Rovaniemi, 4.1% of the population has a foreign background, which is below the national average.[23]

Rovaniemi is a monolingual Finnish-speaking municipality. The majority of the population - 61,699 people or 95.6% - speak Finnish as their first language. In Rovaniemi, 137 people, or 0.2% of the population, speak Swedish. The number of Sámi speakers, Finland's third official language, is 143 inhabitants, or 0.3% of the population.[23] 3.9% of the population of Rovaniemi have a mother tongue other than Finnish, Swedish or Sámi.[23] As English and Swedish are compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon.

At least 40 different languages are spoken in Rovaniemi. The most common foreign languages are Russian (0.6%), English (0.3%), Arabic (0.3%) and Chinese (0.3%).[23]

Population by country of birth (2022)[23]
Nationality	Population	%
Finland	61,257	94.9
Sweden	805	1.2
Soviet Union	212	0.3
China	164	0.3
Russia	162	0.3
Thailand	118	0.2
Iraq	100	0.2
Afghanistan	93	0.2
Germany	76	0.1
Syria	73	0.1
Estonia	69	0.1
Other	1,406	2.2

In 2022, there were 2,635 persons with a migrant background living in Rovaniemi, or 4.1% of the population.[note 1] The number of residents who were born abroad was 3,278, or 5.1% of the population. The number of persons with foreign citizenship living in Rovaniemi was 1,795.[25] Most foreign-born citizens came from the Sweden, former Soviet Union, China and Russia.[23]

The relative share of immigrants in Rovaniemi's population is below to the national average. However, the city's new residents are increasingly of foreign origin. This will increase the proportion of foreign residents in the coming years.

In 2022, the Evangelical Lutheran Church was the largest religious group with 70.6% of the population of Rovaniemi. Other religious groups accounted for 1.6% of the population. 27.7% of the population had no religious affiliation.[23]

Of the revival movements within the church, Conservative Laestadianism is particularly active in the locality, with three peace associations in the locality: the Rovaniemi Peace Association,[26] the Rautionsaari Peace Association[27] and the Viirinkylä Peace Association.[28]

Other local communities include the Rovaniemi Pentecostal Church, a member of the Finnish Pentecostal Church,[29] and the Rovaniemi Adventist Church, part of the Finnish Adventist Church.[30]

Summer in Rovaniemi, which includes the Midnight sun

Because of the unspoiled nature of the area and numerous recreational opportunities, tourism is an important industry 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.[31] Tourism can be seen and heard in the city's streetscape, at the Arctic Circle and at Rovaniemi Airport, one of Finland´s busiest airports in terms of passenger numbers.[32]

Jätkänkynttilä - Swedish torch Bridge

Rovaniemi is also considered by Finns to be the official home town of Santa Claus.[33][34][35] It is home to the Santa Claus Village at the Arctic Circle and SantaPark Arctic World, which is located 8 km (5 mi) north of the centre.

Directly across the river from the town is the Ounasvaara ski centre.[36] There have been recreational activities in the Ounasvaara area since 1927,[37] when the first winter sports were also organized.[38] 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 or Northern Lights.[39] 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.

• "The dark, ruined city that became the home of Christmas" (Video and Text). Quest's World of Wonder (CNN Travel).
• Rikkinen, K. A Geography of Finland. Lahti: University of Helsinki (1992)
• Rovaniemi: Arctic Circle – Finland. Helsinki: Oy Sevenprint Ltd (1998)