Niemivaara Hill

Niemivaara Hill is located on the shore of Lake Ajankijärvi, about 40 kilometres from the municipal centre of Pello.

Niemivaara is a hill of steep cliffs and boulder-like rocks that enchanted the French scientists who passed through it. Later, several poets were inspired by Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis’ travel writing. For example, the Scottish poet James Thomson writes in his poem Seasons (1740):

Where pure Niemi’s fairy mountains rise, And fringed with roses, Tenglio rolls his stream.

Niemivaara is bordered on its northern and western sides by Lake Ajankijärvi. Beautiful views of the surrounding area open up from the various edges of the hill. From the rocky plateau near the edge of the hilltop, you can see south towards Iso Horila Hill (Horilankero) and Aavasaksa Hill, and northwest towards Pullinki Hill.

The measurement point is located in the wooded top area. On the east side of it is a large cliff, the edge of which also has impressive views over the landscape. The highest vertical wall is 8 to 12 metres high.

There is a small moraine dome at the top of Niemivaara. After the last Ice Age, the peaks of the highest hills remained as islands. The tops of these hills are referred to as domed hills because the ancient waters did not wash away their moraine cover. The top is a pine-dominated dry woodland.

The marker was erected at Niemivaara by a Swedish officer assisting the expedition on the first days of August. In Outhier’s book he remains anonymous, but it is possible that it was Gustav Bucht (1696–1759) from Ylitornio.

At the same time, a number of alternative markers were erected on the nearby hills. Niemivaara was chosen as the most suitable because, among other reasons, it also offered a view of the distant Kaakamavaara Hill.

The journey from the Torne to hill was a terrible one, according to Maupertuis.

First Maupertuis, Réginald Outhier and Anders Celsius rowed from Turtola along the rocky River Paamajoki to Lake Paamajärvi. One by one, the men had to get out of the boat and hop from one rock to another. In some places, the trees were so dense that they had to be felled before proceeding. To cross Lake Ajankijärvi, the rowers made a sail from a bushy spruce for the boats.

Although it was a terrible journey, once at Niemivaara, Maupertuis was completely enchanted by the beauty of the place and wrote a glowing description of it in his work La Figure de la Terre.

About 100 years after Maupertuis’ degree measuring, the maps on the measurements for the Struve Geodetic Arc had renamed Niemivaara as Ylinen-vaara.