Kirkenes is a town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsula along the Bøkfjorden, an arm of the large Varangerfjorden, and is located just a few kilometres from the Norway-Russia border.
View of the town in June 2013
People of Kirkenes returning home after the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive.
Kirkenes is located very far from most of Europe. Distances are along the E6 road even if the road through Finland is shorter.
Another view of Kirkenes.
Sør-Varanger is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kirkenes. Other settlements in the municipality include the villages of Bjørnevatn, Bugøynes, Elvenes, Grense Jakobselv, Hesseng, Jakobsnes, Neiden, and Sandnes. Located west of the Norway–Russia border, Sør-Varanger is the only Norwegian municipality that shares a land border with Russia, with the only legal border crossing at Storskog.
Sør-Varanger
The King Oscar II Chapel on the Russian border
The border with Russia follows the Grense Jakobselv in the northeast near the Barents Sea, while Pasvikelva forms the border further south along the Pasvik Valley.
Neiden, Sør-Varanger. The Skoltesami traditionally catch salmon with a technique using small nets.
