From the very top of Kittisvaara there is no distant landscape visible. When the path descends slightly to the northwest, Torne and the bridge crossing the river begin to glimmer through the trees. Pullinki Hill, where one of measurement points was, can be seen on the left in the picture.
Today Kittisvaara is a pine-dominant hill.
A monument to degree measurement was erected on Kittisvaara in 1956. The monument is a pyramid made of natural stone. It is about three meters high.
Kittisvaara is the lowest of the triangulation hills.

Kittisvaara Hill

Kittisvaara Hill is located right next to the municipal centre of Pello, just half a kilometre from the Torne. It is the lowest of the hills in Maupertuis’ chain of survey triangulations.

Kittisvaara is the first measurement point where a memorial to the degree-measuring expedition was erected. The pyramid-shaped monument was erected on the hill 220 years after the expedition’s visit in 1956.

It was not easy for the expedition to find a suitable hill for the measurements in Pello. Eventually they decided to go to Kittisvaara, as it offered a good view of Pullinki Hill, where the marker had been set up earlier.

Kittisvaara was added to the chain of triangles at the beginning of August 1736. In September, the expedition returned to Pello and Kittisvaara to take astronomical measurements with a sector. They were used to determine the latitude of the Kittisvaara measurement point.

In order to make astronomical observations, the expedition set up two observatories on the hill.

The larger of the observatories was a tall, upward-sloping courtyard building moved from the adjacent Saukkola house. The second observatory was built exactly on the marker.

On Kittisvaara, the French were enchanted by the magnificent northern lights.

“From all sides, jets of light were thrown upwards, which in the sky joined together in a vault-like formation; they changed their shape incessantly and new ones were born on every side – – -“, writes Réginald Outhier in his journal.*

A cloudy sky as well as rain and snow interfered with making astronomical observations.

Maupertuis and his troops began to fear that the Torne would freeze before they could get back to Tornio.

Kittisvaara is now known for its motor and harness racing sports centre on the edge of the hill as well as for the Poikkinainti Races held there.

*Translated from Finnish translation to English.

Sources:

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de. “Maan muoto”. Maan muoto ynnä muita kirjoituksia Lapista. Ed. Osmo Pekonen. Väyläkirjat, 2019 (orig. 1738).

Outhier, Réginald. Matka Pohjan perille. Maupertuis Foundation and Väyläkirjat, 2011 (orig. 1744).

A map

Guidelines for using the map
  • Red = Measurement point of the triangulation chain.
  • Green = Walking route.
  • Blue = Arrival from the main road (highway 21).
  • Markers: Tap or click to get more information about the destinations.
  • Zoom out: Shows the location in the triangulation chain.
  • Drop icon: Locates the user’s location on the map.
  • Measure tool: Measure distances between locations.

Open the map in a new browser window.

On the old map

Kittisvaara Hill on the map drawn by Réginald Outhier (Carte du fleuve de Torneå, 1736).

Want a map for yourself? The map is currently sold as a poster (225 mm x 707 mm) in the shop of the Museum of Torne Valley (address Torikatu 4, Tornio).

Information

WGS84N 66°48’35.6″ E 24°0’31.7″
WGS84N 66.8099, E 24.0088
ETRS-TM35FINN 7413341, E 368601
UTM (WGS84)35W 368600.138 7413341.071
(Estimated location of the measurement point.)

160 m

700 metres from the parking area to the monument. 200 metres from the monument to the viewpoint.

Kittisvaara is located near the municipal centre of Pello, close to the Vihreä pysäkki shopping centre.

Approximately 4 kilometres north of the municipal centre, turn off Highway 21 onto Kittisvaarantie road and drive along it for approximately 1.5 kilometres.

For those travelling by car, parking is available in the parking area of the Kittisvaara motor and harness racing sports centre. The trail starts immediately to the left of the parking area.

The trail to the hill starts at the end of Kittisvaarantie road, immediately on the left when reaching the motor and harness racing track.

The trail, which is about 700 metres long, first turns right and then left at the next junction. The Maupertuis monument is located just after the highest point of the hill.

The trail is marked with temporary Maupertuis measurement point signs.

It is worth continuing along the trail from the monument. A little lower down the slope, there is a wide view of the Torne and the Pullinki Hill measurement point.

There are also trails leading up to Kittisvaara from the opposite side of the hill.

Pullinki20 km
Niemivaara26 km
(Distance as the crow flies.)

From the 1st to 2nd and from the 6th to 9th of August 1736
From the 9th of September to the 26th of October 1736
From the 26th of March to the 10th of April 1737

The 21st of September 1736. “Thursday night we were yet troubled with some of those vexatious small flies. At night the sky overcast; and Friday morning, the twenty-first, a quantity of snow fell until ten o’clock; afterwards the weather became serene: we took advantage of it to ascend the mountain, in order to observe the direction of the meridian, and to fix the sextant in that direction. All night long the weather was serene; there was not however any aurora borealis; the wind north, with a frost. The fine weather continued all day, Saturday, the twenty-second; we passed it on the mountain taking corresponding heights of the sun, to regulate the pendulum, and describing a meridian with a streched thread in the great observatory, to prove the position of the sextant in the line of the meridian.”

Réginald Outhier. Journal of a Voyage to the North (Journal d’un voyage au Nord), 1744.

The 1st of August 1736. “Pello is a Village inhabited by a few Finlanders: In its Neighbourhood is Kittis, where was one of our Signals: the lowest of all our Mountains. As we were going up we discovered a copious spring of pure Water, that issues from a fine gravel, and resists the keenest Frost. For when we returned to Pello about the end of Winter, while the Sea at the bottom of the Gulph, and all the Rivers were frozen as hard as Marble, we found this Spring running as in Summer.”

Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis. The Figure of the Earth (La Figure de la Terre), 1738.

Kittisvaara is the first of the triangulation points where a monument to the Maupertuis degree-measuring expedition has been erected. The initiative to erect the monument came from local people in Pello.

French Ambassador Gérard Jouvé unveiled the monument at a ceremony in Midsummer 1956.

The monument is a stone pyramid about 3 metres high, with sides about 4 metres wide.

Near the monument there is an old guide to the history of degree measurement.

The monument was designed by Olof Eriksson, who is best known as a heraldic artist. Of all the coats of arms of the municipalities of Lapland, he has designed the coats of arms of Enontekiö, Kolari, Muonio, Pello, Ranua, Simo and Tornio. The current coat of arms of Finland from 1978 was also designed by Eriksson. Similarly, the one mark coin introduced in 1964 was designed by Eriksson in collaboration with sculptor Heikki Häiväoja.

Eriksson also designed the Maupertuis monument in Tornio, which was erected in 1975.

Pictures from Kittisvaara

The pictures open in large size in the gallery by clicking on the picture.

The expedition on the map

Réginald Outhier has written a detailed description of the expedition’s journey from Paris to Tornio and back. The journey took two months each way and was made by boat and wagon. On the way back, the expedition was in a shipwreck in the Bay of Bothnia.

EXPLORE THE MAPS

Measurement points and other destinations