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, about south of Joensuu and about northeast of Lappeenranta. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is .

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Neighbouring municipalities are Parikkala, Rääkkylä, Savonlinna and Tohmajärvi.

History

due to its legal and illegal moonshine manufacturing.

Villages

• Haapasalo

• Haarajärvi

• Hammaskallio

• Heinoniemi

• Jaakkima

• Juurikka

• Kantosyrjä

• Kiteenkylä

• Kiteenlahti

• Kontiola

• Kunonniemi

• Lahdenkylä

• Leinovaara

• Loukunvaara

• Misola

• Muljula

• Niinikumpu

• Nivunki

• Närsäkkälä

• Ojamäki

• Piimäjärvi

• Potoskavaara

• Puhos

• Puhossalo

• Päätye

• Riihijärvi

• Rokkala

• Ruppovaara

• Satulavaara

• Suoparsaari

• Suorlahti

• Särkijärvi

• Säynejärvi

• Taipale

• Tasapää

• Tolosenmäki

• Varmoniemi

• Välivaara

Sports

The men's pesäpallo club Kiteen Pallo -90 competes in the Superpesis national league, playing at Shore Field.

Notable people

The founding members of symphonic metal band Nightwish all hail from the town of Kitee:

• Tarja Turunen, singer

• Emppu Vuorinen, guitarist

• Tuomas Holopainen, keyboardist

• Sami Vänskä, bassist

• Jukka Nevalainen, drummer

• Only Holopainen and Vuorinen remain in the band to this day. (Forced by health issues to stop performing, Nevalainen remains part of the band's management).

• Antti Aalto, ski jumper

• Nils Ludvig Arppe, industrialist

• Tomek Valtonen, ice hockey coach and player

See also

• Kitee Airfield

• Kitee Zoo

• Lake Kitee

References

External links

• Town of Kitee – official website