Kuhmo is a town and a municipality in Finland and is located at the south-eastern corner of the Kainuu region. The municipality has a population of 8,044 and covers an area of 5,456.78 square kilometres of which 649.97 km2 is water. A neighbour city across the Russian border is Kostomuksha. Vartius, one of the border crossing points between Finland and Russia, is located in northern Kuhmo. The municipality is unilingually Finnish.
Culture
Kuhmo is well known for its Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival which is held annually. The festival was founded in 1970 by cellist Seppo Kimanen and a small group of friends. A book on this subject was published in 2006.
Geography and nature
By area the municipality is the second largest in the region (and the twelfth largest in the country), covering twice the land area of Luxembourg. The population is heavily concentrated in Kuhmo-town. Most of the area is very wild, featuring more than 600 lakes and for the rest extensively forested, providing a home to abundant wild life that includes bears, wolves and Finnish forest reindeer.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has set Kuhmo as a part of Eastern Finland´s stable bear population area. According to the plan, the population density of bears in this area will be maintained higher than in the rest of the country. The wolf population is also dense by comparison to the rest of the country. In consequence, the number of reindeer has decreased lately.
Several nature reserves have been founded in Kuhmo for the protection of the frontier wilderness. Forest administration maintains several hiking routes on the reserves and almost all are accessible to the public.
Sights
- Kuhmo Arts Centre
- Kalevala Village
- Juminkeko – The Information Center for the Kalevala and Karelian Culture.
- Petola Visitor Centre
