Punkaharju is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with the town of

Savonlinna Savonlinna (, , ; sv, Nyslott, lit=New Castle) is a town and a municipality of inhabitants in the southeast of Finland, in the heart of the Saimaa lake region, which is why the city is also nicknamed the "Capital of Saimaa". Together with Mi ...

on January 1, 2013. It was located in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

Eastern Finland Eastern Finland ( fi, Itä-Suomen lääni, sv, Östra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Oulu, Western Finland and Southern Finland. It also bordered Russia to the east. History On Septemb ...

and is part of the

Southern Savonia South Savo (or Southern Savonia; fi, Etelä-Savo; sv, Södra Savolax) is a region in the south-east of Finland. It borders the regions of North Savo, North Karelia, South Karelia, Kymenlaakso, Päijät-Häme, and Central Finland. The total are ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. The municipality had a population of 3,702 (31 December 2012) and covered an area of of which was water. The population density was . The municipality was unilingually

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

. Finnish Forest Museum Lusto and the

Finnish Forest Research Institute The Finnish Forest Research Institute ( fi, Metsäntutkimuslaitos, sv, Skogsforskningsinstitutet), known as Metla, is a subordinate agency to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Government of Finland. It has statutory duties to promo ...

are located in Punkaharju, which hosts a research forest park open for visitors. In the park some of the tallest trees in the whole Finland can be found, for example pines in the height of . Punkaharju ridge is a famous national landscape protected by a national reserve.

References

External links

Punkaharju
– Official site Populated places disestablished in 2013 Former municipalities of Finland Populated places established in 1924 {{EasternFinland-geo-stub