Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The town reels with around 100,000 visitors every year, most stepping off the
Hurtigruten to spend a couple of hours in the town before travelling onward. But you
should linger a while here, not primarily for the town's sake but to take one of the many
excursions and activities on offer.
History
The district of Sør-Varanger, with Kirkenes as its main town, was jointly occupied by Nor-
way and Russia until 1926, when the Russian, Finnish and Norwegian borders were set.
In 1906 iron ore was discovered nearby and Kirkenes became a major supplier of raw
materials for artillery during WWI. Early in WWII the Nazis coveted its resources and
strategic position not far from the Russian port of Murmansk. They occupied the town and
posted 100,000 troops there. As a result, tiny Kirkenes was, after Malta, the most bombed
place during WWII, with at least 320 devastating Soviet raids. The town was also an in-
ternment site for Norwegians from all over the country who did not cooperate with the
Nazi occupiers.
The retreating forces burned to the ground the little left of Kirkenes before advancing
Soviet troops liberated its ruins in October 1944. Subsequently rebuilt, the mines contin-
ued to supply iron ore to much of Europe, but became economically unviable in 1996; they
reopened in 2009, this time run by Northern Iron Ltd, an Australian company.
