Elias Lönnrot was a Finnish polymath, physician, philosopher, poet, musician, linguist, journalist, philologist and collector of traditional Finnish oral poetry. He is best known for synthesizing the Finnish national epic, Kalevala (1835, enlarged 1849) from short ballads and lyric poems he gathered from Finnish oral tradition during several field expeditions in Finland, Russian Karelia, the Kola Peninsula and Baltic countries.

Paltaniemi is a village on the shores of Lake Oulujärvi, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the Kajaani's town center in Kainuu, Finland. It has a population of 291 inhabitants. The Kajaani Airport is located in the eastern side of the village.