| Taivassalo | |
| Official Name: | Finnish: Taivassalon kunta Swedish: Tövsala kommun |
| Other Name: | Tövsala |
| Settlement Type: | Municipality |
| Coordinates: | 60.5617°N 57.5°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: |  Finland |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Southwest Finland |
| Subdivision Type2: | Sub-region |
| Subdivision Name2: | Vakka-Suomi sub-region |
| Leader Title: | Municipal manager |
| Leader Name: | Sanna Häkli |
| Established Title: | Founded |
| Established Date: | 1155 |
| Blank3 Name: | Climate |
| Blank3 Info: | Dfb |
| Timezone: | EET |
| Utc Offset: | +02:00 |
| Timezone Dst: | EEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +03:00 |
| Website: | www.taivassalo.fi |
Taivassalo (in Finnish ˈtɑi̯ʋɑˌsːɑlo/; Swedish: Tövsala) is a municipality of Finland, about from the city of Turku. It is located in the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of NaNTaivassalo}} of which NaNTaivassalo}} is water. The population density is NaNTaivassalo.
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.[1] [2]
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.[3]
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. [4] [5]