Vardø (Norwegian pronunciation: [vaɖːø] ⓘ; Finnish: Vuoreija; Kven: Vuorea; Northern Sami: Várggát) is a municipality in Finnmark county in the extreme northeastern part of Norway.

The law required that all towns be separated from their rural districts, but because of a low population and very few voters, this was impossible to carry out for Vardø in 1838.

The border frames the shield, and the centre field shows a complex scene incorporating a sunrise with rays, two fishing boats with crews, the sea with waves, and a large cod.

In the lower part of the arms is the town motto: "Cedant Tenebræ Soli", meaning "Darkness shall give way to the sun.

In the Medieval period, Vardø's importance grew as a result of it being the easternmost stronghold of the then-expanding Norwegian royal power.

Thick cultural layers in the southeastern part of the town, Østervågen, document continuous habitation in this area reaching back at least some 800 years.

Even if the presence of the fortress and king's bailiff gave Vardø a certain degree of permanence and stability not experienced by other fishing communities in Finnmark, the town's size and importance waxed and waned with the changing fortunes of the fisheries.

In 1769, the Hungarian astronomer Maximilian Hell and his assistant János Sajnovics, delegated by Christian VII of Denmark, traveled to Vardø to observe the Transit of Venus.

During World War II, with Norway occupied by the German Wehrmacht, Vardø was heavily bombed by Allied, mostly Russian forces.

After the war, the city center was completely reconstructed, but older, traditional houses survived in the periphery, such as in the old town in Østervågen.

The additional electricity is needed to power the American-funded GLOBUS space surveillance system, located about 40 miles from Russia's Kola Peninsula, a territory studded with high-security naval bases and restricted military zones.

The secrecy surrounding the radar systems has spawned fears that officials are covering up health hazards and other possible dangers.

The electromagnetic pulses the current radar system emits interfere with television and radio reception, and some residents have blamed them for a rash of miscarriages and cancer cases in a civilian district next to the fenced-in security zone.

The port of Vardø, on the Barents Sea, remains ice-free all year round thanks to the warm North Atlantic drift.

The "midnight sun" is above the horizon from 16 May to 29 July, and the period with continuous daylight lasts a bit longer, polar night from 24 November to 19 January.

[49] Fishing and seafood processing remain Vardø's major sources of income, although tourism is starting to become an important economic factor.

In the summer of 2012, Vardø hosted the urban art event Komafest, where 12 international artists painted tens of the town's abandoned houses in a three-week period.

[51] In March 2017 and again in February 2018 Russia executed mock air strikes aimed at Vardø, presumably because of the radar site.

Both times military aircraft took off from the Kola Peninsula in attack formations, but stopped short of Norwegian airspace.