Moskenesøya (lit. ''Moskenes Island'') is an island at the southern end of the

Lofoten Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolv� ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

in Nordland 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 the ...

. The island is shared between

Moskenes Municipality Moskenes is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The municipality comprises the southern part of the island of Moskenesøya in the traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Reine. Oth ...

and Flakstad Municipality. The tidal whirlpool system known as

Moskstraumen The Moskstraumen or Moskenstraumen is a system of tidal eddies and whirlpools, one of the strongest in the world, that forms at the Lofoten archipelago in Nordland county, Norway between the Norwegian Sea and the Vestfjorden. It is located bet ...

, one of the strongest in the world, is located between Moskenesôya's Lofoten Point and the island of Mosken.

Geography

The island consists of an agglomeration of glaciated hills with the highest peak being the Hermannsdalstinden mountain. It is elongated from southwest to northeast and it is about long and wide. It also has a very uneven shoreline. The island is connected to the nearby island of Flakstadøya by the Kåkern Bridge which is part of the

European route E10 European route E10 is the second shortest Class A road which is part of the International E-road network. It begins in Å, Norway and ends in Luleå, Sweden. The road is about 850 km (530 mi) in length. The Norwegian part of the ...

which ends on the Moskenesøya island at the village of Å.

Population

There are many villages on the island. Flakstad municipality, on the northern part of the island, has several small villages including Fredvang, Selfjord, and Krystad. Moskenes municipality, on the southern part of the island, has the villages of Å, Hamnøy,

Moskenes Moskenes is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The municipality comprises the southern part of the island of Moskenesøya in the traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Reine. Ot ...

Reine Reine is the administrative centre of Moskenes Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The fishing village is located on the island of Moskenesøya in the Lofoten archipelago, above the Arctic Circle, about southwest of the town of Tromsø. ...

, Sakrisøy, Sørvågen, and Tind, all located on the eastern side of the island. There were settlements on the western coast, but the last ones were abandoned in 1950s owing to severe storms.

Attractions

Most villages are frequently visited by tourists and have designed small exhibits of local peculiarities. So Sakrisøy has a museum of 2,500 dolls from all over Europe. Sørvågen contains a local department of Norsk Telemuseum (Norwegian Telecom Museum) which reflects the local history of

telegraphy Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

. In 1861, the island became part of the Lofoten telegraph line with a station in Sørvågen (which became the Sørvågen museum in 1914), and in 1867 the line was connected with

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. In 1906, a wireless

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

system was installed in Sørvågen – the second in Europe after Italy – connecting Sørvågen with

Røst Røst is a small island municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Røstlandet on the island of Røstlandet. The island munici ...

island. The village of Å is a traditional fishing place and nearly its entire territory is the 150 years old

Norwegian Fishing Village Museum The Norwegian Fishing Village Museum (''Norsk Fiskeværsmuseum'') is a museum devoted to Norwegian fishing in the village of Å in the municipality of Moskenes in Lofoten in northern Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, ...

, which includes the Lofoten Stockfish Museum, a forge, a bakery, and a cod liver oil factory.

History

In the beginning of

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the island was occupied by the German Army. In December 1941, it was the venue of the Operation Anklet – a British Commando raid carried out by 300 men from No. 12 Commando and the

Norwegian Independent Company 1 Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1, pronounced ''Norisén'' (approx. "noor-ee-sehn") in Norwegian) was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) group formed in March 1941 originally for the purpose of performing commando raids during ...

. The landing party was supported by 22 ships from three navies – British, Norwegian and Polish. As a result, two German radio transmitters were destroyed and several small boats were captured or sunk. Importantly an operational Enigma coding machine was obtained from one of the sunken German patrol ships. Also, about 200 local Norwegians volunteered to serve in the Free Norwegian Forces.

Media gallery

Reine i Lofoten LC0148.jpg, Reine Reine-3.jpg, Reine Reine i Lofoten.jpg, Reine Lofoten Hamnoy.jpg, Hamnøy Norwegian Telecom Museum Sorvagen 2009.JPG, Norwegian Telecom Museum in Sørvågen A view 2009.JPG, Village of Å Djupfjorden, 2010 09.jpg, Djupfjorden, toward the northwest, in autumn

References