Kirkeøy is the largest island in the Norwegian

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' ...

of Hvaler. Its name means "church island" and is derived from Hvaler Church which is on the island and is also the main church of the municipality. The island covers an area of and had a population of 1345 inhabitants as of 2017.Kirkeøy
''

Store norske leksikon The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' (, abbreviated ''SNL'') is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. It has several subdivisions, including the Norsk biografisk leksikon. The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian publishe ...

'', retrieved 14 June, 2017 Like the other Hvaler islands, Kirkeøy's

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

is marked by

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most p ...

s, several

inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...

s, and mixed forest dominated by

Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US), Baltic pine, or European red pine is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-gr ...

and silver birch. At the southern end of the island lies the village of Skjærhalden, which is also the

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the municipality. There are several holiday cottages on the island, which is a popular destination for tourists in the summer. The island is connected with the mainland through a long tunnel to Asmaløy. From Asmaløy there are bridges to

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

. Hvaler Church (''Hvaler Kirke'') is a medieval era church, probably begun about 1000–1100; it is the main church of the archipelago. It is a stone church with a rectangular nave and narrow choir and apse. The pulpit is from the 1600s. In 1750, the church received a new altar which, in 1759, was supplemented with an altarpiece mounted on the altar. Between 1953 and 1955, the church went through a thorough restoration led by antiquarian Håkon Christie in connection with the church's restoration. The J. H. Jorgensen organ is from 1955.

References

Islands of Østfold Hvaler {{Østfold-geo-stub