Rykene or Rygene is a village located along the river

Nidelva Nidelva is a river in Trondheim Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The name of the long river translates to "the River Nid" since the suffix ''elva'' or ''elven'' is the Norwegian word for "the river". Location The Nidelva starts at th ...

Agder Agder is a county (''fylke'') and traditional region in the southern part of Norway. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder counties were merged. Since the early 1900s, the term Sørlandet ("sou ...

county,

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 ...

. The village is primarily located in

Arendal Arendal () is a municipality in Agder county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the region of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Arendal (which is also the seat of Agder county). Some of the not ...

municipality, but a small portion of the village lies across the river in the neighboring municipality of

Grimstad Grimstad () is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Grimstad. Some of the villages in Grimstad include Eide, Espenes, Fevik ...

. Rykene is located about north of the town of Grimstad and about the same distance south of the city of Arendal. Historically, the village grew up due to its close proximity to forests as the timber was floated down river to the sawmills in Rykene. The village of Lindtveit lies about to the northwest, the village of Løddesøl lies about to the north, the village of Gjennestad lies about to the northeast. The village sits at the junction of Norwegian County Road 407 and Norwegian County Road 408. The village has a population (2016) of 724 which gives the village a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

of . An area of lies in Grimstad with 22 residents while the rest of the village lies in Arendal on the north side of the river. The village sits along the river Nidelva, at a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...

called ''Rygene''. The village used to have the same name as the waterfall, but the spelling of the village was later changed to ''Rykene''. The name comes from 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 ...

name: ''rjúkandi'' which means "smoking", possibly referring to the mist at the base of the waterfall. The name has the same etymology as the municipality of

Rjukan Rjukan () is a town and the administrative centre of Tinn municipality in Telemark, Norway. It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Lake Tinn, and got its name after Rjukan Falls west of the town. The Tinn municipality council gr ...

. The waterfall has since been dammed and now is the site of the Rykene Power Station which has a maximum output of and a mean annual output of . The local sports team is Rygene IL. The historic Øyestad Church is located just outside of the village.

Media gallery

No-nb digibok 2014091028002 0007 1.jpg, View of the waterfall Rygene - Smith & Thommesen.jpg, Factory along the river Rygenefossen.jpg, Dam on the waterfall

References

{{use dmy dates, date=November 2020 Villages in Agder Arendal Grimstad