Gulen Municipality

Template:Short description Template:Other uses Template:Infobox kommune

Template:Audio is a municipality in the western part of Vestland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Eivindvik. Other villages in Gulen include Brekke, Byrknes, Dalsøyra, Dingja, Instefjord, Mjømna, Oppedal, and Rutledal.

The Template:Convert municipality is the 189th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Gulen Municipality is the 266th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,260. The municipality's population density is Template:Convert and its population has decreased by 3.5% over the previous 10-year period.<ref name="ssb pop">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ssb area">Template:Cite web</ref>

Gulen Municipality sits to the south of the Sognefjorden and it surrounds the Gulafjorden, which is considered to be the place where Norway's west-coastal Vikings met for the Gulating, a governing body. The area along the Gulafjorden called Flolid (just east of the village of Eivindvik) is now a national historic place, where an open-air theater and annual summer play commemorates the Vikings who gathered there 1000 years ago to accept Christianity.

In 2016, the chief of police for Vestlandet formally suggested a reconfiguration of police districts and stations. He proposed that the police station in Gulen be closed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

General information

The parish of Evindvig was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The municipality of 1838 was created to be identical to the Evindvig Church of Norway prestegjeld that included the three parishes (Template:Lang) of Evindvig, Brekke, and Husøy.<ref name="Dag">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1850, the eastern part of the municipality (population: 898) split off to became the new Brekke Municipality which reduced the size of Evindvig Municipality (population: 3,944). (Later, Brekke Municipality was merged with Lavik Municipality and became Lavik og Brekke Municipality. This was short-lived and Brekke Municipality later became a separate municipality once again.) In 1858, the western part of the municipality (population: 1,384) was separated from Evindvig Municipality to become the new Utvær Municipality. This reduced Evindvig Municipality to a population of 3,018. (in 1923, Utvær Municipality was renamed Solund Municipality). On 1 July 1890, the name of Evindvig Municipality was officially changed to Gulen Municipality.<ref name="Dag" />

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the following areas were merged to for a new, larger Gulen Municipality (population: 3,250):<ref name="Dag" /><ref name="em">Template:Cite web</ref>

all of Brekke Municipality (population: 782)
all of Gulen Municipality (population: 2,428)
the island of Losna from Solund Municipality (population: 40)

Historically, this municipality was part of the old Sogn og Fjordane county. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became a part of the newly-formed Vestland county (after Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane counties were merged).<ref>Template:Cite SNL</ref>

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) was originally named after the old Evindvig farm (Template:Langx, now spelled Eivindvik) since the first Evindvig Church was built there. The first element is derived from the male name Template:Lang. The last element is Template:Wikt-lang which means "small bay", "cove", or "inlet".

Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Evindvig. On 1 July 1890, a royal resolution changed the name of the municipality to Gulen.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The new name Gulen (Template:Langx) was the original name of the local Gulafjorden. The name is probably derived from the word Template:Lang which means "(strong) wind" or "gale".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 9 February 1990. The official blazon is "Azure, two Latin crosses formée argent" (Template:Langx). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a set of two Latin crosses that are designed as a cross formée. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The crosses represent the two stone crosses found near the village of Eivindvik that are believed to be about 1000 years old, erected there in 1023 after the Vikings who met at the Gulating gathering embraced Christianity. These are some of the oldest monuments to Christianity still existing in Norway. One of the crosses was damaged by a falling tree in 2012. The arms were designed by Even Jarl Skoglund. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes(Template:Lang) within Gulen Municipality. It is part of the Nordhordland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

**Churches in Gulen Municipality**
Parish (Template:Lang)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Brekke	Brekke Church	Brekke	1862
Gulen	Gulen Church	Eivindvik	1863
Mjømna	Mjømna Church	Mjømna	1901

Schools

The roughly 2,500 residents live scattered throughout the municipality and are divided into four school districts: Brekke, Eivindvik, Dalsøyra, and Byrknes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Government

Gulen Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.<ref name="ks">Template:Cite SNL</ref> The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Sogn og Fjordane District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

Mayors

The mayor (Template:Langx) of Gulen Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Div col

1838–1849: Niels Griis Alstrup Dahl
1850–1851: Rognald Pederson Haugland
1852–1853: Niels Alstrup
1854–1855: Rognald Pederson Haugland
1856–1857: Nathanael Sunde Ross
1858–1877: Rognald Pederson Haugland
1878–1879: Mikal L. Vadsø
1880–1881: Otto L. Midthun
1882–1885: Mikal L. Vadsø
1886–1889: Gjert J. Grinde
1890–1910: Anders Hantveit
1911–1931: Hans K. Rutledal
1932–1941: Henrik H. Tveit
1945–1945: Henrik H. Tveit
1946–1946: Søren Randal
1947–1963: Ludvik J. Kjellevold
1964–1967: Søren Randal
1968–1971: John L. Kjellevold
1971–1975: Harald Takle (V)
1976–1978: Ola Byrknes (Sp)
1978–1983: Olav Solheim (Ap)
1983–1999: Ola Byrknes (Ap)
1999–2011: Trude Brosvik (KrF)
2011–2023: Hallvard S. Oppedal (Sp)
2023–present: May-Lynn Osland (Ap)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Template:Div col end

Geography

View of the Rutle area in northern Gulen Template:Credit

Gulen Municipality has an area of about Template:Convert including about 1500 small islands, islets, and skerries. The largest of the islands are Byrknesøyna, Hisarøyna, Mjømna, and Sandøyna.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The mainland is characterized by small valleys and large mountains crossing the landscape. The lake Dingevatnet is one of Norway's deepest lakes. The highest point in the municipality is the Template:Convert tall mountain Svadfjellet, in the southeastern part of the municipality.<ref name="elev" />

Gulen Municipality is bounded on the north by the Sognefjorden and the Sognesjøen, and to the south by the Fensfjorden with the North Sea to the west of the municipality. Gulen Municipality is also bordered by Solund Municipality and Hyllestad Municipality to the north (across the Sognefjorden), by Høyanger Municipality to the east, and by Austrheim Municipality (across the Fensfjorden), Alver Municipality, and Masfjorden Municipality to the south.

The area is a geological region that contains a relatively low nutrition content ground, which characterizes the types of flora. The moors, which are frequently covered with wild purple heather, are the dominating picture of the area. Due to the large quantity of rain in the area, there are many types of moss and lichen in Gulen Municipality.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Most of the land in Gulen is very mountainous and inhospitable.

Land use in Gulen
Land type	Percent
Agricultural	4%
Forest	19%
Water	3%
Other	74%

Climate

Gulen has a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb in the Köppen climate classification), also known as a marine west coast climate. Gulen Municipality is among the wettest areas of Norway, with almost Template:Convert of annual precipitaiton, and on average 202 days annually with precipitation. It comes mainly as rain in low-elevation areas, but mountains can pack on a lot of snow during the winter. Wettest season is autumn and winter, and December the wettest month. The average date for the last overnight freeze (low below Template:Convert) in spring is 19 April<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and average date for first freeze in autumn is 31 October<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> giving a frost-free season of 194 days (1981-2010 average). The Takle weather station started recording in June 1950.

Template:Weather box

Economy

Historically, Gulen's economy has been centered around farming and fishing. More recently, Gulen has become important because of its close proximity to the Mongstad industrial area which includes many oil refineries operated by Statoil, Shell Oil, and other oil companies. Other factories and industries in Gulen include Wergeland-Halsvik, Baker Oil Tools, Johnny Birkeland Transport, and Vest Tank. There are many other small businesses located in Gulen today.

Attractions

Tusenårsstedet Gulatinget

The Gulating was a legislative assembly which met regularly for a period of at least five hundred years in Gulen on the shores of the Gulafjorden. In 1300, the assembly was moved to Bergen. The members of the assembly represented the farmers of Western Norway. This was where important political issues were discussed and decisions were made. The old assembly was also used as a law court for both civil and criminal cases. The Gulating was thus related to the representative institutions of today such as the municipal council and the Norwegian Parliament, Storting.<ref>Template:Cite SNL</ref>

A sculpture park was built in Flolid in Gulen in order to commemorate the Gulating legislative assembly. Norwegian sculptor Bård Breivik was responsible for the artistic elements which were opened by the public during August 2005. The park is a work of art in its own right that is used as the setting for outdoor dance and musical performances in beautiful and unique natural surroundings.<ref name="go" />

Sellevåg Wooden Shoe Factory

Wooden shoes were produced in Sellevåg from 1899 to 1975. The factory was powered by water in the Sellevåg Lake. The wooden shoe factory is still there with all its production equipment intact. A guided tour with demonstration can be arranged on request.<ref name="go" />

Trondheim Post-Road

The historic mail route from Bergen and Trondheim, The post-road goes through Fjaler Municipality, Hyllestad Municipality and Gulen Municipality. Built between 1801 and 1806, it passes over many beautiful stone bridges.<ref name="go">Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable people

Ole Elias Holck (1774 in Hyllestad – 1842), a Norwegian military officer and representative at the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly
Peder Furubotn (1890 in Brekke – 1975), a cabinetmaker, politician, and resistance member
Fredrik Lange-Nielsen (1891 in Eivindvik – 1980), a mathematician and insurance company manager

References

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:Use dmy dates Template:Sister bar Template:Adjacent communities Template:Vestland Template:Authority control

Gulen Municipality

Contents

General information