Averøy
Encyclopedia
Averøy is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal
Møre og Romsdal
is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Sogn og Fjordane. The county administration is located in Molde, while Ålesund is the largest city.-The name:...

 county
Counties of Norway
Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 430 municipalities...

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. It is part of the region
Districts of Norway
The country Norway is historically divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords,...

 of Nordmøre
Nordmøre
Nordmøre is a traditional district in the Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. The area comprises the northern third of the county including the municipalities of Kristiansund, Averøy, Tingvoll, Surnadal, Rindal, Aure, Halsa, Eide, Sunndal, Gjemnes, and Smøla...

. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bruhagen
Bruhagen
Bruhagen is a village and the administrative center in the municipality of Averøy in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the east side of the island of Averøya, about mid-way between the villages of Bremsnes and Kvernes....

. Other villages in the municipality include Sveggen, Bremsnes
Bremsnes
Bremsnes is a village and former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is on the northeastern coast of the island of Averøya, about north of the village of Kvernes and across the Bremnesfjord from the city of Kristiansund. The village is connected to Kristiansund via the...

, Vebenstad, Kvernes
Kvernes
Kvernes is a village and former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The former municipality originally encompassed the island of Averøya, part of the Romsdal peninsula, and part of the island of Frei. Over time it gradually got smaller until 1964, when the municipality was merged...

, Kornstad
Kornstad
Kornstad is a village and a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The former municipality covered the southwestern part of the island of Averøya and the small Vevang area on the Romsdal peninsula. The village is located in the present-day municipality of Averøy, on the west side...

, Kårvåg
Kårvåg
Kårvåg is a village in the municipality of Averøy in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the west side of the island of Averøya near the east end of the Atlanterhavsveien. The village of Kornstad lies to the south and Langøy is to the north. The village has a population of 275....

, and Langøy
Langøy, Møre og Romsdal
Langøy is a village in the municipality of Averøy in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the northern part of the island of Averøya. It is located west of Bremsnes and northeast of Kårvåg. The Langøy kapell is located here. The village has a population of 370....

.

The municipality lies on the island of Averøya
Averøya
Averøya is an island in the municipality of Averøy in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located north of the Romsdal peninsula surrounded by the Kornstadfjord on the west and the Kvernesfjord on the south and east...

 and many small islands surrounding it. The Kornstadfjord
Kornstadfjord
Kornstadfjord is a fjord in the municipalities of Averøy and Eide in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The long fjord runs between the Romsdal peninsula and the island of Averøya...

, Kvernesfjord
Kvernesfjord
Kvernesfjord is a fjord between the municipalities of Gjemnes, Kristiansund, Averøy, and Eide in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The fjord is about long....

, and Bremsnesfjord surround the island.

General information

The municipality of Averøy was established on 1 January 1964 when the former municipalities of Kvernes
Kvernes
Kvernes is a village and former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The former municipality originally encompassed the island of Averøya, part of the Romsdal peninsula, and part of the island of Frei. Over time it gradually got smaller until 1964, when the municipality was merged...

 and most of Kornstad
Kornstad
Kornstad is a village and a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The former municipality covered the southwestern part of the island of Averøya and the small Vevang area on the Romsdal peninsula. The village is located in the present-day municipality of Averøy, on the west side...

 and Bremsnes
Bremsnes
Bremsnes is a village and former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is on the northeastern coast of the island of Averøya, about north of the village of Kvernes and across the Bremnesfjord from the city of Kristiansund. The village is connected to Kristiansund via the...

 were merged together. On 1 January 1983, the island of Eldhusøya was transferred from Eide
Eide
Eide is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the region of Nordmøre. It is located on the Romsdal peninsula, along the Kornstadfjord and the Kvernesfjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Eide...

 to Averøy.

Name

The municipality is named after the island Averøya (or Averøy) (Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

: Afrøy). The meaning of the first element is unknown (maybe afr which means "great" or "big").

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is from modern times. They were granted on 4 April 1986. The arms show three Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...

 arrowhead
Arrowhead
An arrowhead is a tip, usually sharpened, added to an arrow to make it more deadly or to fulfill some special purpose. Historically arrowheads were made of stone and of organic materials; as human civilization progressed other materials were used...

s made of slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

, which have been found in the municipality. The arrows thus symbolize the long inhabitation of the area.

Churches

The Church of Norway
Church of Norway
The Church of Norway is the state church of Norway, established after the Lutheran reformation in Denmark-Norway in 1536-1537 broke the ties to the Holy See. The church confesses the Lutheran Christian faith...

 has three parishes within the municipality of Averøy. It is part of the Diocese of Møre
Diocese of Møre
The Diocese of Møre is a diocese in the Church of Norway which geographically consists of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Its bishop and cathedral are located in the county administrative center of Molde...

 and the Rural Deanery
Deanery
A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...

 (Prosti) of Ytre Nordmøre.
style="font-size:medium"|Churches in Averøy
Parish
(Sokn)
Church NameYear BuiltLocation
of the Church
Kvernes Kvernes kirke 1893 Kvernes
Kvernes
Kvernes is a village and former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The former municipality originally encompassed the island of Averøya, part of the Romsdal peninsula, and part of the island of Frei. Over time it gradually got smaller until 1964, when the municipality was merged...

Kvernes stavkirke
Kvernes stave church
Kvernes Stave Church is a stave church located along the Kvernesfjord in the village of Kvernes in the municipality of Averøy in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It was probably built in the first half of the 14th century...

1300s Kvernes
Kvernes
Kvernes is a village and former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The former municipality originally encompassed the island of Averøya, part of the Romsdal peninsula, and part of the island of Frei. Over time it gradually got smaller until 1964, when the municipality was merged...

Kornstad Kornstad kirke 1871 Kornstad
Kornstad
Kornstad is a village and a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The former municipality covered the southwestern part of the island of Averøya and the small Vevang area on the Romsdal peninsula. The village is located in the present-day municipality of Averøy, on the west side...

Bremsnes Bremsnes kirke 1771 Bremsnes
Bremsnes
Bremsnes is a village and former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is on the northeastern coast of the island of Averøya, about north of the village of Kvernes and across the Bremnesfjord from the city of Kristiansund. The village is connected to Kristiansund via the...

Langøy kapell Langøy
Langøy, Møre og Romsdal
Langøy is a village in the municipality of Averøy in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the northern part of the island of Averøya. It is located west of Bremsnes and northeast of Kårvåg. The Langøy kapell is located here. The village has a population of 370....


History

Averøy is an island full of historic landmarks, like the Bremsnes cave
Cave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...

 with Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

 findings from the Fosna culture. Langøysund
Langøy, Møre og Romsdal
Langøy is a village in the municipality of Averøy in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the northern part of the island of Averøya. It is located west of Bremsnes and northeast of Kårvåg. The Langøy kapell is located here. The village has a population of 370....

, now a remote fishing community, was once a bustling port along the main coastal route, and the site of the Compromise of 1040 between King Magnus I
Magnus I of Norway
Magnus I , known as the Good or the Noble, was the King of Norway from 1035 to 1047 and the King of Denmark from 1042 to 1047. He was an illegitimate son of king Olaf II of Norway, but fled with his mother in 1028 when his father was dethroned. In 1035 he returned to Norway and was crowned king at...

 and the farmers along the coast. Also, the Medieval Kvernes stave church
Kvernes stave church
Kvernes Stave Church is a stave church located along the Kvernesfjord in the village of Kvernes in the municipality of Averøy in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It was probably built in the first half of the 14th century...

 (built around 1300-1350).

Transportation

The tourist attraction Atlanterhavsveien
Atlanterhavsveien
The Atlantic Ocean Road or the Atlantic Road is a long section of County Road 64 which runs through an archipelago in Eide and Averøy in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. It runs along the unsheltered Hustadvika between the villages of Kårvåg on Averøy with Vevang in Eide, and is a fixed link connecting...

 (Atlantic Road) connects the island and municipality of Averøy to the municipality Eide
Eide
Eide is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the region of Nordmøre. It is located on the Romsdal peninsula, along the Kornstadfjord and the Kvernesfjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Eide...

, which is on the mainland to the west. The Storseisundet Bridge
Storseisundet Bridge
Storseisundet Bridge is the longest of the eight bridges that make up the Atlanterhavsveien , the road connection from the mainland Romsdal peninsula to the island of Averøya in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway....

 crosses the municipal boundary. In 2005, it was awarded the "Building of the Century" prize by the Norwegian Construction Industry. On the other side of the island near Sveggen, Averøy is connected to Kristiansund
Kristiansund
Kristiansund is a city and municipality on the western coast of Norway, in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. It was officially awarded township status in 1742, and it is still the major town for the region. The administrative center of the municipality is the city of Kristiansund...

 via an undersea tunnel
Undersea tunnel
An undersea tunnel is a tunnel which is partly or wholly constructed under a body of water. They are often used where building a bridge or operating a ferry link is impossible, or to provide competition for existing bridges or ferry links...

. This tunnel, known as Atlanterhavstunnelen
Atlantic Ocean Tunnel
The Atlantic Ocean Tunnel is an undersea tunnel that connects the city of Kristiansund with the island of Averøya to the west in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The long tunnel reaches a depth of , making it one of the deepest undersea tunnels in the world. Construction began in 2006 and the...

 (Atlantic Tunnel), was completed in December 2009, replacing the ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 from Bremsnes
Bremsnes
Bremsnes is a village and former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is on the northeastern coast of the island of Averøya, about north of the village of Kvernes and across the Bremnesfjord from the city of Kristiansund. The village is connected to Kristiansund via the...

 on Averøy to Kristiansund
Kristiansund
Kristiansund is a city and municipality on the western coast of Norway, in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. It was officially awarded township status in 1742, and it is still the major town for the region. The administrative center of the municipality is the city of Kristiansund...

.

External links

  • Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
    Statistics Norway
    Statistics Norway is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876.Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All releases are published both in Norwegian and English...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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