Røyken

Røyken is a district and village (bygd) and a former municipality in Buskerud in Viken County, Norway. In 2020 Røyken was merged with the municipalities of Hurum and Asker to form the new Asker Municipality (informally called "Greater Asker") located in the newly formed Viken county. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Midtbygda. The parish of Røken was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

Røyken kommune
Municipality
Coat of arms
Buskerud within
Norway
Røyken within Buskerud
Coordinates: 59°44′1″N 10°25′44″E
CountryNorway
CountyBuskerud
DistrictLower Buskerud
Administrative centreMidtbygda
Government
 • Mayor (2015)Eva Norén Eriksen (H)
Area
 • Total113 km2 (44 sq mi)
 • Land111 km2 (43 sq mi)
Area rank378 in Norway
Population
 (2014)
 • Total20,621
 • Rank59 in Norway
 • Density153/km2 (400/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years)
15.2%
Demonym(s)Røykenbøring[1]
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeNO-0627
Official language formBokmål[2]
Websitewww.royken.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Oslo ATCC, the Area Control Center for the controlled airspace above Østlandet is located here.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Røyken farm (Norse Raukvin), since the first church was built there. The first element is raukr which means "pile, stack; mountain" and the last element is vin which means "meadow" or "pasture".

See also Røykenvik.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 15 December 1967. The figure shows a yellow fire on a blue background. It was chosen as a semi-canting symbol to represent smoke (which cannot be depicted in heraldry). The background for the motif is a common misunderstanding of the name as røyken the definite form of røyk meaning "smoke".[3][4]

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Røyken by country of origin in 2017[5]
Ancestry Number
 Poland829
 Lithuania253
 Sweden216
 Germany172
 Denmark164
 India113
 Pakistan109
 Afghanistan104
 UK96
 Iran85

Geography

Røyken is located south of Lier and Asker, on the northern part of the Hurum peninsula north of Hurum municipality. It lies between Oslofjord and Drammensfjord. It is connected to the eastern side of the Oslofjord via Hurum municipality and the Oslofjord Tunnel. The tunnel is 7.2 kilometres (4.5 mi) long and connects Hurumhalvøya to Akershus county.

The district includes large amounts of residential zones with beautiful sights of the sea. The administration is situated in the village of Midtbygda. The main population centers are the villages of Hyggen, Hallenskog, Midtbygda, Nærsnes, Røyken, Slemmestad, Spikkestad, and Åros. Many people live in the northern part of Bødalen and its vicinities, which is a continuous residential area that continues throughout Asker and Bærum to Oslo.

Municipality Reform

As part of the municipality reform process instigated by Minister of Local Government Jan Tore Sanner the municipalities of Asker, Hurum and Røyken evaluated if they should merge into a new common municipality during the first half of 2016. A tentative agreement was reached and on 16 June 2016 the Municipal Council of Røyken approved the merger with Asker and Hurum with 24 votes for and 3 against.[6] The merger date was 1 January 2020 and the chosen name was Asker.[6]

  • Røyken Steiner High School
  • Odden Marina
  • Røyken Rail Station
  • Røyken City Hall
  • Røyken Church
  • Geitungsholmen nature reserve
  • Kutangen protected nature area, Slemmestad

References
  1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
  3. Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2009-01-11.
  4. "Kommunevåpenet" (in Norwegian). Røyken kommune. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
  5. "Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents". ssb.no. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  6. "Røyken sier ja til sammenslåing" (in Norwegian). Røyken kommune. 2016-06-16. Archived from the original on 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2016-06-16.
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