The history of this city dates back to the 15th century, when it began to function as a market settlement of great importance. As early as 1939, it was considered the most important city in the part of Lapland that fell within the borders of Finland. It plays this role to this day.

Rovaniemi also prides itself on being Santa’s home. Letters to St. Mikołaj, Santa Claus or Dziadek Mróz often find their way to the post office in Rovaniemi (or more precisely: to the office in the village of Saint Nicholas built in 1985 for tourists, FIN-96930 Napapiiri).

City officials eagerly uphold the legend that this is where reindeer sleighs, filled with presents, depart from here, although some maintain that St. Mikołaj lives elsewhere in Lapland, namely in Urho Kekkonena National Park, about 200 km northeast of Rovaniemi, on Korvatunturi hill on the Finnish-Russian border (this place has an unusual postal address number: FIN-99999, also here thousands of letters to St. Nicholas).

In fact, in the 1920s, Finnish radio rapporteur Markus Rautio popularized the legend that binds St. Nicholas with Korvatunturi Hill (it means “Ear-Hill”, due to its shape, which makes you think that all children’s wishes are heard there), but after the Soviet-Finnish winter war 1939-40, when Finland was forced to give the USSR a considerable amount of money. part of its territory, this place was located on the very new Finnish-Soviet border and, therefore, ceased to be suitable for the cultivation of this legend, so Mikołaj was moved to Rovaniemi.