Sandnes

For other uses, see Sandnes (disambiguation).
Sandnes kommune
Municipality

Coat of arms
Rogaland within
Norway

Sandnes within Rogaland
Coordinates: 58°51′6″N 5°44′10″E / 58.85167°N 5.73611°ECoordinates: 58°51′6″N 5°44′10″E / 58.85167°N 5.73611°E
Country Norway
County Rogaland
District Jæren
Administrative centre Sandnes
Government
 • Mayor (2011) Stanley Wirak (AP)
Area
 • Total 303 km2 (117 sq mi)
 • Land 286 km2 (110 sq mi)
Area rank 273 in Norway
Population (2015)
 • Total 73 624
 • Rank 7 in Norway
 • Density 212/km2 (550/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 18.3 %
Demonym Sandnesgauk[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1102
Official language form Neutral
Website www.sandnes.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway
Historical population
YearPop.±%
19514,178—    
19613,981−4.7%
197130,705+671.3%
198136,901+20.2%
199144,967+21.9%
200153,860+19.8%
201166,245+23.0%
2021?82,216+24.1%
2031?94,585+15.0%
Source: Statistics Norway.[2][3]
The bus station, known as Ruten (The Route)

 Sandnes  is a city and municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is part of the region of Jæren.

History

Sandnes was separated from Høyland as a municipality of its own in 1860, and gained city status the same year. On 1 January 1965, the rural municipalities of Høyland and Høle, as well as parts of Hetland, were merged with Sandnes.

Name

The city is named after an old farm ("Sandnæs" 1723), since the city was built on its ground. The first element is sand which means "sand" or "sandy beach", the last element is nes which means "headland".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms was granted on 21 April 1972. The arms show a piece of pottery, as pottery was one of the main industries in the late 18th century. The symbol is a leirgauk, which in English would be a ceramic cuckoo-bird (leir(e)= clay/ceramic and gauk/gjøk = cuckoo-bird). The ceramic Sandnes-cuckoo (Norwegian: sandnesgauker) is an ocarina or simple flute which was made by the potteries in Sandnes and used to advertise their products. Later it also became a nickname for people from Sandnes.[4]

Geography

The city of Sandnes is located about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Stavanger, and these two cities have expanded so as to form a conurbation. The municipality of Sola is located to the west, Klepp and Time to the south, and Gjesdal and Forsand to the east. The fjord Gandsfjorden is situated north-south and ends in the centre of Sandnes. The international airport of Stavanger is situated in Sola.

Sandnes's districts are Austrått, Figgjo, Ganddal, Hana (includes Aspervika and Dale), Høle, Lura, Malmheim, Riska, Sandved, Soma, Stangeland, Sviland, and Trones.

The landscape of the Sandnes and Stavanger region is quite flat. On the long west coast there are several beaches and further inland the land is raised to form low plains with some small peaks rising up to 400 to 500 metres (1,300 to 1,600 ft) above sea level. From Stavanger and Sandnes it is approximately one hour by car to alpine and skiing resorts. In Sandnes there are some easily accessible small mountain peaks, such as Dalsnuten and Lifjell, with a view over the Sandnes/Stavanger area. The renowned Lysefjord is also easily accessible by car or boat.

Map of Sandnes city centre

Distance to some cities

Btd sandnes tingrett

Economy

Sandnes hosts a large array of retail shops of most kinds and is used by the neighbouring municipalities appreciating the service and wide range of selections. Sandnes is known as Norway's bicycle city, mainly due to the fact that the bicycle manufacturer Øglænd DBS was situated here for decades. The city offers a variety of routes for everyday riders and tourists. Since 1996 a public bicycle rental programme has been in operation in the city.

The city has a vibrant industrial base, mainly in the Ganddal area in the south and the Lura and Forus area in the north towards the Stavanger boundary. There is significant activity related to oil exploration in the North Sea and also some IT related companies. In this suburban region between Sandnes and Stavanger, malls and department stores have also been established. Among these malls is one of Norway's biggest malls, Kvadrat meaning "square" (although it is not square shaped anymore as it has expanded several times since it opened in 1984).

Around 30% of the population is employed in Stavanger (Q4 2004).[5]

Sandnes was formerly known as the pottery town of Norway – due to the important ceramics industry based on the extensive occurrence of clay in the surroundings.

Sandnes sports park from the air

Culture and sports

The primary football team (Sandnes Ulf) currently plays in the highest division of Norwegian professional football.

The major tourist attraction in Sandnes is the Science Factory (Vitenfabrikken). It is a 4000 square meters big science museum with science and art exhibitions, a planetarium, sun telescopes and chemistry shows.

Sandnes is the only city in Norway which is a member of the World Health Organisation’s network of Healthy Cities.

Sandnes and its neighbor city Stavanger was chosen along with Liverpool, United Kingdom, to be a European Capital of Culture for 2008.

Higher education facilities include Forus Upper Secondary School, Sandnes Upper Secondary School, Gand Upper Secondary School, Akademiet Upper Secondary School and Lundehaugen Upper Secondary School. In 2010 Forus and Lundehaugen were no longer Upper Secondary Schools, Lundehaugen is now a High School. Most of Forus and Lundehaugen merged into a new school named Vågen.

People from Sandnes

Sandnes is the home of professional poker player Annette Obrestad, who was born in Stavanger, just 9.3 miles away. Annette became the youngest ever winner of a WSOP bracelet when winning the Betfair World Series of Poker Europe title in September 2007 at the age of 18.

Thomas Dybdahl, famous Norwegian singer/songwriter, is from Sandnes.

The winner of Norwegian Idol 2004 was Kjartan Salvesen from Sandnes, whose first album sold 40.000 copies in Norway (double platinum).

Sandnes by night

References

  1. ↑ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. ↑ Projected population – Statistics Norway
  3. ↑ By change in municipal boundaries per 1 July 1957, 18 persons were transferred from 1123 Høyland to 1102 Sandnes. Per 1 January 1965, 1102 Sandnes, 1123 Høyland, a part of 1126 Hetland (2 077 persons) and 1128 Høle (except for 37 persons who were transferred to 1122 Gjesdal), were merged to one municipality, 1102 Sandnes.
  4. ↑ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 12 October 2008.
  5. ↑ "Fakta om næringslivet i Sandnes". Sandnes Kommune.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sandnes.
Look up Sandnes in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.