Geta, Ã…land
Geta [as ː ta ] is a municipality in the autonomous Finnish province of Åland with 495 inhabitants (as at 31 December 2012). As in Åland is Swedish is the official language.
Geography
Geta is located on a peninsula in the north of Åland's main island Fasta Åland. The municipal area also includes numerous offshore archipelago. The inhabited islands Dånö, Österö, Andersö and Snäckö are accessible by bridges, other former islands such Finnö have now become overgrown due to the postglacial land uplift fixed to the main island of Åland.
The municipality has to the exclusion of marine areas, an area of 87.22 square kilometers, of which 2.86 square miles are inland waters. In the south, Geta borders the municipality Finström. From Hammarland in the southwest and in the southeast Saltvik Geta is separated only by narrow inlets.
The community center is the village of Geta Västergeta where the church office, the school, the bank and the grocery store are located. In addition, the municipality includes the villages of Bolstaholm, Dånö, Finnö, Gräggnäs, Höckböle, Isaksö, Kandersö, Labbnäs, Möckelgräs, Olofsnäs ( Olsnäs ) Östergeta, Pantsarnäs, Skinnarböle and Snäckö.
History
The hills in the northern part of Geta were among the first land masses that rose as a result of postglacial land uplift from the Baltic Sea and is thus the oldest part of the Åland archipelago represents a first settlement was probably already in the early Iron Age around 5,000 years ago.
The first mention of Geta dating back to 1325. The place name probably contains the Nordic verb Gaeta, " look out. " A first, still preserved stone church was built in the 16th century. For centuries presented Geta is a chapel of the parish church Finström, until 1908 it gained municipal autonomy.
Policy
The local council of Geta consists of nine members. Since the local elections of 2003 Åland eliminated seven of the seats on the local dial list Getalistan and two on the Liberal Party of Åland. In the parliamentary election in 2007 voted 96.1 percent of voters in Geta for the common list of Civil Alliance and 3.9 percent for the Social Democrats. The community director of Geta is Erik Brunström.
The coat of arms of Geta was designed by Matts Dreijer. It shows a blue shield erected a golden goat. It is a talking coat of arms, because get mean in Swedish "goat".
Geta has been twinned with the Estonian community Ruhnu. With Ruhnu connects Geta that the Estonian community also located on an island and was formerly inhabited by Estonian Swedes.
Culture and sights
The medieval stone church of Geta is dedicated to Saint George. The nave and the sacristy probably date from the period 1510-1540. Weapons The house made of brick was built in 1826. The bells are housed in a building constructed in the 17th century freestanding bell stack. The local tradition has it had originally started to build the church to the cemetery in Olofsnäs. However, the inhabitants of the village Vestergeta should not agree with the position of the church and tore down the night, what the inhabitants had built by Olofsnäs daytime. Finally, the residents of the two villages are said to have agreed to an ox which a stone was tied to let go at the border between the villages. Where the ox should be stopped, the church will be built. The ox was in Vestergeta stand, but eventually it was agreed to build the church between the two villages.
In the village Dånö a classic Falun red painted wooden house from the 19th century, a local history museum was founded in 1928 in the former home of a pilot dynasty established. In the exhibition, furniture, utensils and tools from the 18th and 19th century are shown.
The main attraction, however, Geta probably the nature of the community. From the observation tower on the Getaberg, the second highest at 107 meters elevation, one has a wide view over the surrounding countryside.