Kilpisjärvi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kilpisjärvi
Gilbbesjávri
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Village
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 Kilpisjärvi
Location in Finland
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| Country | Finland |
| Region | Lapland |
| Municipality | Enontekiö |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Kilpisjärvi is a village in the municipality of Enontekiö, Lapland, Finland. It is located in Finland's northern "arm" near the very north westernmost point of Finland.
Although Kilpisjärvi is one of the largest villages in Enontekiö, it is still quite small. In 2000 its population was recorded as 114. Like most Sami villages, Kilpisjärvi is built mainly around one major road.
Kilpisjärvi has its own school and a hotel, and the northernmost research station of the University of Helsinki is situated there, as well as the KAIRA research facility.
History
About 10 km west of Kilpisjärvi is Treriksröset, where the "three-country border point" is. This point is where the borders of Finland, Norway and Sweden meet. A monument was built at the exact point in 1926. It replaced an earlier marker built of stone in 1897.
The building of the Kilpisjärvi school burned down on 3 May 2015. It had been occupied by travellers at the time. The fire started from a recreational vehicle parked next to the building. The fire destroyed thousands of euros worth of euro banknotes that had been stored at the school.
The money had been collected as donations to fund a study trip for the school's pupils, but had been stored at the school because the school staff had been unable to find a bank office capable of depositing the money to the school's bank account. The nearest office of Nordea, where the school had an account, capable of depositing cash was in Rovaniemi, 440 km away from Kilpisjärvi.
