Iveland Church
Iveland Church is a parish church in Iveland municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Birketveit; the church is part of the Iveland parish in the Otredal deanery in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark. The white, wooden church was built in a cruciform style in 1837 using plans drawn up by the architect Hans Linstow; the construction was led by Anders Thorsen Syrtveit. The church seats about 350 people. List of churches in Aust-Agder
Aust-Agder
Aust-Agder is one of 18 counties in Norway, bordering Telemark and Vest-Agder counties. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, 2.2% of the total population in Norway. Its area is 9,212 square kilometres; the administrative center of the county is the town of Arendal. The county, located at the Skagerrak coast, extends from Gjernestangen at Risør to the Kvåsefjorden in Lillesand; the inner parts of the area includes Austheiene. The majority of the population live near the coast; the rest of the county is sparsely populated. Tourism is important, as the other coastal towns are popular attractions; the county includes the larger islands of Tromøya, Hisøya, Justøya, Sandøya. The interior of the county encompasses the traditional district of Setesdal, through which the river Otra flows to the coast. In 2017, the Parliament of Norway voted to merge Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder counties into one large region called Agder, effective 1 January 2020; the county is part of the Aust-Agder District Court and the Church of Norway Diocese of Agder og Telemark.
The meaning of the name is " eastern Agder", since the word aust is the Nynorsk form of "east". Until 1919, the name of the county was Nedenes amt; the amt was named after the old Nedenes farm. The first element is the genitive case of the river name Nið and the last element is nes which means "headland"; the meaning of the river name is unknown. The coat-of-arms is from modern times, they were granted on 12 December 1958. It shows two horizontal golden bars on a red background, they symbolize the lumber trade and the recovery of iron ore, important for Aust-Agder's growth. There are two bars to represent the two areas of the county: coastal; the system of municipalities, or kommuner, was established in Norway in 1837, based on existing parishes. Norway had been ceded to Sweden by Denmark in 1814, at which it promptly rebelled and won the right of self-rule, though nominally part of Sweden. In 1905, Norway declared total independence. Meanwhile as the years progressed, the municipalities did not remain the same, but new ones were formed, old ones broken up, land was transferred.
Since the 1990s, Aust-Agder has been divided into 15 municipalies: Since the census of 1769, Aust-Agder has experienced a steady population growth: from 29,633 to 79,927 in 1900, to 102,848 in 2001. There was significant emigration to the United States in early 20th century. Vest-Agder Sørlandet Agder Political map Aust-Agder fylkeskommune Photogallery Media related to Aust-Agder at Wikimedia Commons Aust-Agder travel guide from Wikivoyage
Quartz
Quartz is a mineral composed of silicon and oxygen atoms in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical formula of SiO2. Quartz is the second most abundant mineral behind feldspar. Quartz exists in two forms, the normal α-quartz and the high-temperature β-quartz, both of which are chiral; the transformation from α-quartz to β-quartz takes place abruptly at 573 °C. Since the transformation is accompanied by a significant change in volume, it can induce fracturing of ceramics or rocks passing through this temperature threshold. There are many different varieties of quartz. Since antiquity, varieties of quartz have been the most used minerals in the making of jewelry and hardstone carvings in Eurasia; the word "quartz" is derived from the German word "Quarz", which had the same form in the first half of the 14th century in Middle High German in East Central German and which came from the Polish dialect term kwardy, which corresponds to the Czech term tvrdý.
The Ancient Greeks referred to quartz as κρύσταλλος derived from the Ancient Greek κρύος meaning "icy cold", because some philosophers believed the mineral to be a form of supercooled ice. Today, the term rock crystal is sometimes used as an alternative name for the purest form of quartz. Quartz belongs to the trigonal crystal system; the ideal crystal shape is a six-sided prism terminating with six-sided pyramids at each end. In nature quartz crystals are twinned, distorted, or so intergrown with adjacent crystals of quartz or other minerals as to only show part of this shape, or to lack obvious crystal faces altogether and appear massive. Well-formed crystals form in a'bed' that has unconstrained growth into a void. However, doubly terminated crystals do occur where they develop without attachment, for instance within gypsum. A quartz geode is such a situation where the void is spherical in shape, lined with a bed of crystals pointing inward. Α-quartz crystallizes in the trigonal crystal system, space group P3121 or P3221 depending on the chirality.
Β-quartz belongs to space group P6222 and P6422, respectively. These space groups are chiral. Both α-quartz and β-quartz are examples of chiral crystal structures composed of achiral building blocks; the transformation between α- and β-quartz only involves a comparatively minor rotation of the tetrahedra with respect to one another, without change in the way they are linked. Although many of the varietal names arose from the color of the mineral, current scientific naming schemes refer to the microstructure of the mineral. Color is a secondary identifier for the cryptocrystalline minerals, although it is a primary identifier for the macrocrystalline varieties. Pure quartz, traditionally called rock crystal or clear quartz, is colorless and transparent or translucent, has been used for hardstone carvings, such as the Lothair Crystal. Common colored varieties include citrine, rose quartz, smoky quartz, milky quartz, others; these color differentiation's arise from chromophores which have been incorporated into the crystal structure of the mineral.
Polymorphs of quartz include: α-quartz, β-quartz, moganite, cristobalite and stishovite. The most important distinction between types of quartz is that of macrocrystalline and the microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline varieties; the cryptocrystalline varieties are either translucent or opaque, while the transparent varieties tend to be macrocrystalline. Chalcedony is a cryptocrystalline form of silica consisting of fine intergrowths of both quartz, its monoclinic polymorph moganite. Other opaque gemstone varieties of quartz, or mixed rocks including quartz including contrasting bands or patterns of color, are agate, carnelian or sard, onyx and jasper. Amethyst is a form of quartz that ranges from a dull purple color; the world's largest deposits of amethysts can be found in Brazil, Uruguay, France and Morocco. Sometimes amethyst and citrine are found growing in the same crystal, it is referred to as ametrine. An amethyst is formed. Blue quartz contains inclusions of fibrous crocidolite. Inclusions of the mineral dumortierite within quartz pieces result in silky-appearing splotches with a blue hue, shades giving off purple and/or grey colors additionally being found.
"Dumortierite quartz" will sometimes feature contrasting light and dark color zones across the material. Interest in the certain quality forms of blue quartz as a collectible gemstone arises in India and in the United States. Citrine is a variety of quartz whose color ranges from a pale yellow to brown due to ferric impurities. Natural citrines are rare. However, a heat-treated amethyst will have small lines in the crystal, as opposed to a natural citrine's cloudy or smokey appearance, it is nearly impossible to differentiate between cut citrine and yellow topaz visually, but they differ in hardness. Brazil is the leading producer of citrine, with much
Vennesla (village)
Vennesla is the administrative centre of Vennesla municipality in Vest-Agder county, Norway. The village is located in the upper Torridal valley along the river Otra, about 15 kilometres north of the city of Kristiansand; the village itself extends for about 10 kilometres along both sides of the river. The Norwegian National Road 9 passes through Mosby, about 6 kilometres south of Vennesla; the Sørlandsbanen railway line passes through Vennesla. The lake Venneslafjorden is located on the river Otra in the northern part of the village of Vennesla; the village of Vennesla has significant industry, nearby along the river Otra there are several hydroelectric power plants. The village has considerable government and service industries as well as the Vennesla high school which has both general and vocational classes. Vennesla Church is located in the village; the Vennesla Library and Culture House was completed in 2011. The football club of Vennesla is Vindbjart FK, founded in 1896. Vindbjart plays in the Norwegian Second Division at a Moseidmoen stadium in Vennesla.
Statistics Norway includes the 1.32-square-kilometre Mosby area in nearby Kristiansand municipality as part of the whole 7.25-square-kilometre urban area of Vennesla. The whole urban area has a population of 12,816; this gives Vennesla a population density of 1,768 inhabitants per square kilometre. The "village" of Vennesla has 12,816 residents in 2016 which makes it one of the largest urban areas in the county, it is much larger than many towns in Southern Norway. There has been political talk of granting town status to Vennesla, but there was little support, so politicians have not pursued the cause
Otra
The Otra is the largest river in the Sørlandet region of Norway. It begins in Setesdalsheiene mountains at the lake Breidvatnet in Bykle municipality in Aust-Agder county, just south of the border with Vinje municipality in Telemark county; the river flows south through Bykle, Bygland, Evje og Hornnes, Iveland municipalities in Aust-Agder before passing into Vest-Agder county and flowing through Vennesla and Kristiansand municipalities. The river empties into the Skagerrak in the center of the city of Kristiansand on the southern coast of Norway; the Otra is 245 kilometres long. There are many large lakes along the river including: Åraksfjorden, Byglandsfjorden and Kilefjorden. There are 12 hydroelectric power plants built along the river, which produce much of the electricity for the southern part of Norway; the salmon do well in the Otra river. The calcareous rocks in the catchment area at the northern end of the Setesdal valley give the water a certain buffer capacity against acidification.
Media related to Otra at Wikimedia Commons
Districts of Norway
The country Norway is divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, only coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities; the districts are defined by geographical features valleys, mountain ranges, plains, or coastlines, or combinations of the above. Many such regions were petty kingdoms up to the early Viking age. A high percentage of Norwegians identify themselves more by the district they live in or come from, than the formal administrative unit whose jurisdiction they fall under. A significant reason for this is that the districts, through their strong geographical limits, have delineated the region within which one could travel without too much trouble or expenditure of time and money, thus and regional commonality in folk culture tended to correspond to those same geographical units, despite any division into administrative districts by authorities. In modern times the whole country has become more connected, based on the following: Communication technologies such as telegraph, telephone, radio and TV, in particular Televerket and NRK.
The construction of mountain crossings, tunnels through mountains, undersea tunnels. Establishing a coastal express route of combined passenger and cargo ships, like the Hurtigruten, sailing from Bergen to Kirkenes and back again, stopping by at a host of cities and towns along the western and northern coast; the construction of railroads between distant parts of the country. The opening of dozens of new airports all over the country through the 1960s and 1970s; the release of private cars from government rationing and import restrictions from the 1950s onwards. A concrete display of the Norwegian habit of identifying themselves by district can be seen in the many regional costumes, called bunad connected to distinct districts across the country. City dwellers proudly mark their rural origins by wearing such a costume, from their ancestral landscape, at weddings, visits with members of the royal family, Constitution Day, other ceremonial occasions; the following list is non-exhaustive and overlapping.
The first name is the name in the second Nynorsk. Helgeland Lofoten Ofoten Salten VesterålenSee Finnmark, Hålogaland and Troms. Agder Kristiansandregionen Lister Setesdal Fosen Gauldalen Innherad Namdalen Orkdalen Stjørdalen Dalane Hardanger Haugalandet Jæren Midhordland Nordfjord Nordhordland Nordmøre Romsdal Ryfylke Sogn Sunnfjord Sunnhordland Sunnmøre Voss Follo Glåmdalen Grenland Gudbrandsdalen Hadeland Hallingdal Hedmarken Land Numedal Ringerike Romerike Toten Upper Telemark Valdres Vestfold Østerdalen ØstfoldSee Viken and Vingulmark. Regions of Norway Counties of Norway Metropolitan regions of Norway Subdivisions of Norden Traditional districts of Denmark Districts of Norway in 1950 – From the documentation project at the University of Oslo Regionalization and devolution: Proposed new regions of Norway Map showing regions of Medieval Norway
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Aust-Agder travel guide from Wikivoyage
