Bru is a former municipality in the old

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the cou ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The municipality existed from 1923 until 1964 and it included several islands including

Svanøya Svanøy (also called Svanøyna and Brulandet) is an island in the municipality of Kinn in Vestland county, Norway. The island is located in the Sunnfjord district of the county. The island lies just to the west of the mainland, in the mouth of the ...

Askrova Askrova is an island in Kinn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located along the Brufjorden, near the mouth of the Førdefjorden, about northwest of the island of Svanøya. Askrova sits about southwest of the town of Florø and ab ...

, and Stavøya as well as parts of the mainland including the Solheimsdalen valley, east of the village of

Norddalsfjord Norddal or Norddalsfjord is a village in Kinn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village lies along the Norddalsfjorden at the entrance to the Solheimsdalen valley. It sits at the mouth of the Norddalselva river on a small peninsula tha ...

. It is now part of the present-day

Kinn Municipality Kinn is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020. It is in the traditional districts of Nordfjord and Sunnfjord. The municipality is the only non-contiguous municipality in Norway since the municipality of ...

which is in

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

county in the traditional district of

Sunnfjord Sunnfjord ( en, the southern fjord - in contrast to Nordfjord) is a traditional district in Western Norway located in Vestland county. It includes the municipalities of Askvoll, Fjaler, the southernmost parts of Kinn, Sunnfjord, and the souther ...

. The

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...

of Bru was the village of

Stavang Stavang is a village in Kinn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the mainland at the mouth of the Førdefjorden, where it empties into the Brufjorden, about straight southeast of the town of Florø. The islands ...

Name

The name of the municipality (and parish) comes from the old name for the island ''Brulandet'' (now called

), where the first church was located. The church site was moved off the island to the mainland village of

in 1872. The

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

name for the church was ''Brúa'', which is identical with the word for "

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

History

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of ''Bru'' was established as a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

on 1 January 1923 when the large municipality of

Kinn Kinn is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020. It is in the traditional districts of Nordfjord and Sunnfjord. The municipality is the only non-contiguous municipality in Norway since the municipality of ...

was divided into three:

(population: 2,508) in the west, Bru (population: 1,560) in the centre, and

Eikefjord Eikefjord is a former municipality in the Sunnfjord district in the old Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1923 until 1964 when it joined Flora Municipality (now part of Kinn Municipality in Vestland county). The ...

(population: 929) in the east. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee ( no, Schei-komitéen) was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II. It convened in 1946, and its formal name was (The 1946 Committee on Municip ...

. On 1 January 1964, Bru municipality ceased to exist and its lands were divided. * All of Bru located north of the Førdefjorden (population: 1,155) was merged with the town of

Florø is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Kinn, Vestland, Norway. The town was founded by royal decree in 1860 as a ladested on the island of Florelandet, located between the Botnafjorden and Solheimsfjorden. Florø is No ...

(population: 2,040),

(population: 3,567), Eikefjord Municipality (population: 919), the Husefest and Breivik areas of

Bremanger Municipality Bremanger is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village of Svelgen is the administrative centre of the municipality. Other villages include Bremanger, Berle, Davik, Isane, Kalvåg, Svelgen, Rugsund, and Ålfoten. Bremanger i ...

(population: 9), and the Steindal area of Vevring Municipality (population: 25) were combined to form the new municipality of

Flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

. * All of Bru located south of the Førdefjorden (population: 92) was merged with

Askvoll Municipality is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre is the village of Askvoll. Other villages in the municipality include Holmedal, Kvammen, and Stongfjorden. The ...

(population: 3,086) and the parts of Vevring Municipality located south of the Førdefjorden (population: 407).

Government

Municipal council

The

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

of Bru was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

References

External links