Taivassalo

Taivassalo (Tövsala) is a municipality of Finland, about 50 km from the city of Turku. It is located in the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of 0 and covers an area of undefined km2 of which undefined km2 is water. The population density is undefined PD/km2.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Its neighboring municipalities are Kustavi, Masku, Mynämäki, Naantali, Uusikaupunki and Vehmaa.

The medieval sailing ship appearing in the coat of arms of Taivassalo refers to the maritime connections the coastguard already had during the Northern Crusades, as well as to the medieval naval weaponry, the surviving information of which comes from Taivassalo itself. The coat of arms was designed by Olof Eriksson, and the Taivassalo municipal council approved it at its meeting on October 21, 1953. The Ministry of the Interior approved the coat of arms for use on February 11, 1954.

Name
Taivassalo literally means "sky island", however J. A. Lopmeri and Elias Lönnrot theorized that the initial word was originally taival/taipale, as the area was originally an island, by the time of the naming it may have been connected to the mainland by a thin isthmus (taipale) as a result of post-glacial rebound. The Swedish name Tövsala is an adaptation of the Finnish name.

History
Taivassalo was first mentioned in 1350 as Thowesalu, when it was already a separate parish. It also included Velkua, Kustavi (originally Kivimaa) and Iniö until the 19th century.

Notable people

 * Emma Irene Åström (1847–1934)
 * Reima Salonen (born 1955)