The town of Kuopio was established as a village in the 1500s and incorporated as a City in 1782.
The city is surrounded by Lake Kallavesi. Many parts of the city are built on islands.
In 2011 the town of Karttula merged with Kuopio. In 2013 Nilsiä merged as well.
The largest church denomination in Finland, Evangelical Lutheran Church has a diocese in Kuopio, which is shepherded by bishop Jari Jolkkonen.
Kuopio is twinned with: Győr, Hungary; Minneapolis, United States; Winnipeg, Canada; Jönköping, Sweden; Trabzon, Turkey; Svendborg, Denmark; Pitkyaranta, Russia; Pskov, Russia; Castrop-Rauxel, Germany; Bodø, Norway; Gera, Germany; Besançon, France; Opole, Poland; Craiova, Romania; Shanghai Pudong, China & Lääne-Viru County, Estonia.
Kuopio has a total area of 4,326.35 square kilometres, of which 719.85 km2 is water and half is forest.
The town is also home to the first Burmese Buddhist monastery in Finland, named the Buddha Dhamma Ramsi monastery.
he city has a nationally unique feature in its street network, where every other street is reserved for pedestrian and cycle traffic, so-called “rännikatu”.
Kuopio is the current European Region of Gastronomy.
The Population of Kuopio is approximately 118,667, as of 2019.