Risør kommune | |||
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Municipality | |||
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Risør within Aust-Agder |
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Coordinates: 58°43′35″N 9°11′40″E / 58.72639°N 9.19444°ECoordinates: 58°43′35″N 9°11′40″E / 58.72639°N 9.19444°E | |||
Country | Norway | ||
County | Aust-Agder | ||
District | Sørlandet | ||
Administrative centre | Risør | ||
Government | |||
• Mayor (2011) | Per Kristian Lunden (Labour Party) | ||
Area | |||
• Total | 193.02 km2 (74.53 sq mi) | ||
• Land | 179.08 km2 (69.14 sq mi) | ||
• Water | 13.94 km2 (5.38 sq mi) | ||
Area rank | 332 in Norway | ||
Population (2010) | |||
• Total | 6,894 | ||
• Rank | 142 in Norway | ||
• Density | 38.5/km2 (100/sq mi) | ||
• Change (10 years) | -1.5 % | ||
Demonym(s) | Risøring | ||
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
ISO 3166 code | NO-0901 | ||
Official language form | Neutral | ||
Website | www |
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Risør is a city and municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. The city belongs to the traditional region of Sørlandet. It is a popular tourist place. The surrounding area includes many small lakes and hills, and is known for its beautiful coastline as well.
Risør is famous for its tourist attractions such as the wooden boat festival which is staged during the first week of August every year. It also has a growing reputation as the regional capital of arts and crafts, which culminates in the "Villvin-festival" during the summer holiday.
The city of Risør was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1901, a part of neighboring Søndeled municipality (population: 658) was transferred to Risør. On 1 January 1964, the rural municipality of Søndeled (population: 3,134) was merged into Risør, giving the newly enlarged municipality with a population of 6,136. On 1 January 1984, the uninhabited Folevatnet area of neighboring Tvedestrand was transferred to Risør.
The Old Norse form of the name must have been Ríseyjar. The first element is rís which means "thicket" and the last element is the plural form of ey which means "island". The name was originally referring to the island Risøya which is located just outside the town.