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  • Writer's pictureBarents Pride

Kirkenes - the host city of Barents Pride

Updated: May 17, 2022

Barents Pride is held in the city of Kirkenes, in the municipality of Sør-Varanger.

Bair175, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Kirkenes, located north east in Northern Norway about 400 km north of the Arctic Circle, is known as the capital of the Barents Region and the gateway to the east. Just 15 km far from the Russian border, 10% of the people in Kirkenes (Киркенес) are Russians. Kirkenes is the turning point of the Hurtigruten coastal steamer.


The 2.14-square-kilometre (530-acre) town has a population (2018) of 3,529, which gives the town a population density of 1,649 inhabitants per square kilometre (4,270/sq mi). When the neighbouring suburban villages of Hesseng, Sandnes, and Bjørnevatn are all included with Kirkenes, the urban area reaches a total population of almost 8,000 people. Kirkenes is the Norwegian town closest to the Russian border.


To learn more about Kirkenes check out Visit Kirkenes' website.




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