The town of Tvedestrand has a white-painted town center with irregular streets climbing steep hills around the harbor. The natural environment of the area makes it a tourist destination. The municipality includes numerous islands, which makes it popular in the summer for boaters. The number of people in the municipality practically doubles in the summer, due to vacationers. There are approximately 1,700 summer cottages ("hytter") around the fjord and coastal areas. Tvedestrand has over 2,000 buildings that are more than 100 years old.[5]
The 215-square-kilometre (83 sq mi) municipality is the 298th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Tvedestrand is the 154th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 6,184. The municipality's population density is 30.3 inhabitants per square kilometre (78/sq mi) and its population has increased by 2% over the previous 10-year period.[6][7]
The town of Tvedestrand was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1960, the rural municipalities of Dypvåg (population: 1,805) and Holt (population: 3,759) were merged with the town of Tvedestrand (population: 868) to form a new municipality named Tvedestrand.[8]
On 1 January 1962, the Strengereid area (population: 375) of Tvedestrand was transferred to neighboring Moland municipality. Then on 1 January 1964, the Holtegården area (population: 5) was transferred from Moland to Tvedestrand. The uninhabited Folevatnet area in Tvedestrand was transferred to the municipality of Risør on 1 January 1984.[8]
Name
The town and municipality is named after the old Tveite farm (Old Norse: Þveitar) since that is the location of the present town of Tvedestrand. The first element is the farm name which is the genitive case of the word þveit which means "clearing" or "small farm". The last element is strǫnd which means "beach" or "strand". Thus this is the beach of the Tveit farm.[4][9]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 4 April 1986. The official blazon is "Azure, a ternvolantargent" (Norwegian: I blått en oppflyvende sølv terne). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a tern, a type of local seabird. The tern has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The blue color in the field and the tern were chosen to represent the sea since the municipality was historically dependent on it for its economy. The arms were designed by Daniel Rike. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[10][11][12]
Around 1600, Tvedestrand was mainly a harbour for the Berge and Tveite farms’ boats, hence the name Tvedestrand (strand means beach or coast in Norwegian).
Lyngør was the site of the Battle of Lyngør between English and Dano-Norwegian forces during the Napoleonic Wars resulting in the sinking of the frigate of the Dano-Norwegian forces, Najaden by the British ship-of-the-line Dictator in 1812.
The town, as it now exists, was built in the 19th century as a harbour for Norway's longest existing iron works, Næs jernverk. Lying in the parish of Holt, Næs jernverk has one of the largest and most significant of the surviving mansions in Sørlandet, built by Ulrich Schnell. Schnell bought up various iron works in the neighborhood and set up several sawmills in the district. He obtained a special license to export timber directly from Tvedestrand, establishing the basis for an international harbor.[13]
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Tvedestrand is made up of 23 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.
Tvedestrand municipality lies between the towns of Arendal to the southwest and Risør to the northeast. The municipality also borders the municipalities of Arendal, Risør, Froland, Åmli, and Vegårshei.
Tvedestrand belongs to the geographical region of Sørlandet in the Østre Agder area of Agder county. The town itself lies at the end of a picturesque fjord, Tvedestrandfjorden, which is the name for the inner part of the Oksefjorden (originally Ufsefjorden, meaning the fjord with steep, rocky sides). The municipality also encompasses the islands Borøy, Sandøy, and Askerøya as well as the unique village of Lyngør which lies on several small islands. Lyngør was acclaimed "Europe's best preserved village" by Europa Nostra in 1991. Lyngør Lighthouse is located by the village. Tvedestrand municipality includes 162 islands, with a collected coastline of 214 kilometres (133 mi).
The river Storelva, one of the Southern Coast's best salmon and sea trout rivers, flows past the Næs jernverk and ultimately out into the Sandnesfjorden.
Climate
Tvedestrand has a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb, marine west coast), with autumn as the wettest season and spring as the driest. The weather station in Lyngør, about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) from the town of Tvedestrand, has been recording since 1920. The all-time high at Lyngør lighthouse is 29.8 °C (85.6 °F) from 12. August 1975.
Climate data for Lyngør lighthouse 1991-2020 (4 m)
Thulite (also called rosaline), an opaque, massive pink variety of the mineral zoisite.
Attractions
Næs verk
The 18th century Næs jernverk are 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the town center.
Tvedestrand is recognized as a book town, a small village with a large number of second-hand or antiquarian book shops.
Interesting Places in Tvedestrand municipality:
Lyngør, a cluster of offshore islands which have been described as the 'Skagerrak Venice' and proclaimed by the European Commission to be “Europe’s best preserved village.”
Trond Bergh (born 1946 in Tvedestrand), a economic historian, writer, and academic
Ketil Bjørnstad (born 1952), a pianist, composer, and author who lived in Tvedestrand in the 1970s and 1980s (his psychological thriller Twilight is based there)
Gina Lund (born 1962), a civil servant and politician who was brought up in Tvedestrand
Jenny Hval (born 1980), a singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and novelist[37]
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