Kitee is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of 9,935 and covers an area of 1,724.41 square kilometres (665.80 sq mi) of which 275.61 km² (106.41 sq mi) is water. The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

Attractions

• A stone church designed by Frans Anatolius Sjöström
• Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity and St. Nectarine of Aegina (1998)
• Kitee Zoo
• Finland’s longest miniature railway (250 meters of rails in total) 
• Finland’s oldest and largest uniform larch forest , Koivikko larch forest ( Arppe , 1847) 
• Homeland Museum in the former grain warehouse
• The old mill in Heinäjärvi
• Monument to Elias Lönnrot in Piimälä, Potoskavaara
• Old Puhos ( Arppe and steamship Ilmarinen , old mill, Traditional Machine Days)
• Kiteen Meijerinranta
• Aquapark , water park

Culture

Kitee is famous for its pontoon tradition (eg Kitee’s clear and Juurikka’s cob). The crystal pitäjäruoiksi was named 1980’s cock meat, lanttusupikkaat ie syrjäkkäät and marjatalkkuna .

Music

Kitee is also the hometown of the famous metal band Nightwish .

Sports 

Kitee is known as a baseball city . Its team Kiteen Pallo -90 (KiPa-90) has won three Finnish championships, most recently in 2005 . Kitee has a karting track located in Tolosenmäki.

Services 

Kitee has various training options. There are several primary schools in the city ( Arppen school , Huts school , Kesälahti school and Puhos school ). Secondary education and other education are provided by, among others, Kitee High School , Riveria branch of the North Karelian Association of Educational Municipalities (formerly North Karelia Vocational College Kitee), Central Karelian Citizens’ College , Central Karelian Music College , Kitee Evangelical Folk High School , Kitee School of Fine Arts Central Karelian Citizens’ College).