Ås, Akershus

Ås kommune
Municipality
250px
Coat of arms Akershus within Norway
Ås within Akershus
Coordinates:
Country	Norway
County	Akershus
District	Follo
Administrative centre	Ås
Area
• Total	103 km2 (40 sq mi)
• Land	101.3 km2 (39.1 sq mi)
Area rank	383 in Norway
Population (2009)
• Total	15,863
• Density	156.6/km2 (406/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	17.5 %
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0214
Official language form	Neutral
Website	www.as.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Ås is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Follo traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ås. The parish of Aas was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

Ås is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Akershus, with a population of 16.386 in 2009, and a growth of 539 in 2008. Ås is the largest agricultural municipality of Akershus, and home to the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and the amusement park Tusenfryd.

General information

Name

The parish was named after the old Ås (Norse Áss) farm, since the first church was built there. The name is identical with the word áss meaning "hill", "ridge" or "esker" (height in moraine landscape). Prior to 1921, the name was spelled Aas.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 23 July 1982. The three silver diamonds are a symbol for the many archaeological findings in the area. The diamond (rhombus) shape was taken as it resembled many of the axes found in the area (Nøstvet ax). The silver colour resembles the flint, which the tools were made of. The number of three diamonds was chosen to represent the three parishes in the municipality: Ås, Kroer and Nordby.

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Ås by country of origin in 2015

Ancestry	Number
Poland	406
Sweden	215
Lithuania	188
Germany	168
Ethiopia	164
Denmark	139
Iran	121
Pakistan	109

Economy

The most important source of income is agriculture. Ås is the largest agricultural municipality of Akershus: providing the region with grain, vegetables, and dairy products. Of the 101 square kilometres (39.0 sq mi) of land in the municipality, about 39 square kilometres (15.1 sq mi) are farmed and about 46 square kilometres (17.8 sq mi) are forested.

Transportation

Ås Station is a train station served by the line 550 of the Oslo Commuter Rail, operated by the Norwegian State Railways. Two of Norway's largest highways, European route E6 and European route E18, run through the municipality, and many of the inhabitants commute to Oslo.

File:Ås stasjon TRS 070804 006.jpg

Ås Station opened on 2 January 1879

A 240 metres (787.4 ft) long bridge, which is a smaller scale recreation of a bridge that Leonardo da Vinci proposed in 1502 for the crossing of the Golden Horn is located in the municipality. It was created by Norwegian painter and artist Vebjørn Sand as part of his Da Vinci project. The bridge serves as a pedestrian crossing over European route E18.

Population

As of 1 January 2009, Ås municipality covers 101.3 square kilometres (39 sq mi) and has 15,863 inhabitants. In 2007, the Ås urban area had a population of 8,095. The municipality also contains one additional urban area, Togrenda, with a population of 2,783. Also, 1,566 inhabitants live in the Ski urban area.

Notable residents

• Simen Agdestein (born 1967) - chess grandmaster and former football star
• Christian Magnus Falsen (1782–1830) - Norwegian constitutional father
• Knut Hjeltnes (born 1952) - track and field athlete
• Solveig Kringlebotn (born 1963) - soprano opera singer

Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Ås:

• - Ljungby Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden
• - Paimio, Länsi-Suomi, Finland
• - Holbæk Municipality, Region Sjælland, Denmark

External links

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
• Akershus travel guide from Wikivoyage