Rygge was a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other sid ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It was merged into

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...

municipality on January 1, 2020. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Rygge. Rygge was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 Janua ...

). The emblem of Rygge is the Pasque flower. Rygge is connected to

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

by double-tracked railway, and four-lane motorway. Rygge was served by Moss Airport, which has not been operational since 2016.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

) is named after the old ''Rygge'' farm, since the first church was built there. The

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

form of the name is not known (the oldest manuscripts from 1353-1528 use the form "Ryg(g)jof"). A possible (but uncertain) reconstruction is ''Rýgjuhof''. The first element would then be the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...

of ''rýgja'', a sideform of ''rýgr'' which means "lady". (Like ''ylgja'' to ''ylgr'', both forms with the meaning 'she-wolf'.) The last element is probably ''hof'' meaning "

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...

". If this is correct, then the word ''rýgja'' most probably is referring to the goddess

Freyja In Norse paganism, Freyja ( Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...

, since the meaning of the word ''freyja'' also is 'lady'. An alternative explanation is that the word is derived from ''"rygg"'', which means ''"ridge"'', and related to place names like ''"Ryen"'' further east. The "ridge" in question would be the end

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sh ...

that runs across the landscape here, from the other side of the

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

and stretching east through Sweden and into the

Baltic region The terms Baltic Sea Region, Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, mainly in Northern Europe. ...

. In Østfold, this moraine is referred to as the ''"

Raet Raet is the largest terminal moraine in Scandinavia. It was formed during the end of the last glacial period, 12,800–11,500 years ago, in one of the latest advances of the glaciers. As the glacier retreated towards the end of this period, it ...

"''.

Coat-of-arms

The

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in i ...

is from modern times. It was granted on 30 November 1984. The arms show a golden

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

on a red background. A spur like this was found in the area that dated back to the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period The ...

. It is one of the largest golden items that was ever found in Norway and was thus chosen as a symbol on the arms. Rygge kirke 20080511-1

Rygge Church

Rygge church (''Rygge kirke'') is a medieval era church located in the village of Kirkegrenda. The church belongs to Vestre Borgesyssel deanery in Diocese of Borg. Rygge church is one of the county's better preserved medieval stone churches. It is built around the year 1170. Rygge church was originally a chapter church, which had income from a larger area than a parish and contained several villages. The building is characterized by the use of large stones, partly of granite, but parts of the facade is carved of stone cultivar, including large parts of the north portal. It has long nave and lower and narrower choir. The church was restored in 1967.

Military

Rygge Air Station replaced a temporary airfield constructed by German forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The contemporary airfield, northeast of the highway and main railway is situated in Rygge and its neighbouring municipality Råde. It was constructed from 1952–1954 and until recently it was one of the largest establishments of the

Royal Norwegian Air Force The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) ( no, Luftforsvaret, , The Air Defence) is the air force of Norway. It was established as a separate arm of the Norwegian Armed Forces on 10 November 1944. The RNoAF's peacetime establishment is approximatel ...

. The military use of the airfield is now much reduced. A civilian air terminal

Moss Airport, Rygge Moss Airport, Rygge ( no, Moss lufthavn, Rygge; ) was an international airport serving Moss, Oslo and Eastern Norway. It is located in Rygge, outside Moss and outside Oslo. It also served as a regional airport for Østfold county and owne ...

, was opened in early 2008. The airport was closed to all civilian traffic on 1 November 2016 after its main commercial operator, Ryanair, decided to shut down its base there.

Climate

Notable people

References

External links

* *
Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every ye ...

* {{authority control Municipalities of Østfold Villages in Østfold