Gildeskål is a

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

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is part of the

Bodø Region The Bodø Region () is a metropolitan region in Nordland county in northern Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arcti ...

and the traditional district of

Salten Salten is a traditional district in Nordland county, Norway. It includes the municipalities of Gildeskål, Bodø, Beiarn, Saltdal, Fauske, Sørfold, Steigen, and Hamarøy. Salten covers an area of about and has a population (2016) of about ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the municipality is the village of

Inndyr Inndyr is the administrative centre of Gildeskål Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located on the mainland part of the municipality, about north of Norwegian County Road 17. The village lies along the Sørfjorden and it lo ...

. Other villages include Forstranda, Lekanger, Mevik, Mårnes,

Nygårdsjøen Nygårdsjøen or Nygårdsjyen is a village area in Gildeskål Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. Nygårdsjøen is located in the northern part of the municipality, close to the border with Bodø Municipality. The village lies along Norwegia ...

, Saura, Storvik,

Sør-Arnøy Sør-Arnøy is a small fishing village in Gildeskål Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village covers the majority of the island of Sør-Arnøya. The closest town to Sør-Arnøy is Bodø, which is located about to the northeast ...

, Sørfinnset, and Våg. The municipality is the 170th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Gildeskål is the 285th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,958. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

is and its population has decreased by 3.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of ''Gildeskaal'' (later spelled ''Gildeskål'') was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). In 1853, the eastern (inland) district of Gildeskaal Municipality (population: about 1,150) was separated to become the new

Beiarn Municipality Beiarn is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Salten. Beiarn is also a part of the Bodø Region, a statistical metropolitan region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village ...

. This left Gildeskaal Municipality with about 2,400 residents. The municipal boundaries have not changed since.

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

) is named after the old ''Gildeskaal'' farm () since the first

Gildeskål Church Gildeskål Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Gildeskål Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located just north of the village of Inndyr. It is the main church for the Gildeskål parish which is part of the Bodø d ...

was built there. The first element is the

plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

of which means "feast" or "

banquet A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes inc ...

". The last element is which means "

hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

". On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled ''Gildeskaal'' with the

digraph Digraph, often misspelled as diagraph, may refer to: * Digraph (orthography), a pair of characters used together to represent a single sound, such as "nq" in Hmong RPA * Ligature (writing), the joining of two letters as a single glyph, such as " ...

" aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled ''Gildeskål'', using the letter å instead.

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted on 12 February 1988. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''" Azure, a chalice

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

"'' (). This means the arms have a blue

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is a

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'cup', taken from the Ancient Greek () 'cup') is a drinking cup raised on a stem with a foot or base. Although it is a technical archaeological term, in modern parlance the word is now used almost exclusively for the ...

. The chalice has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms are canting since the meaning of the municipal name ''Gildeskål'' refers to a banquet hall (or

guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

) which, of course, is a place where one might drink from a chalice. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

has one parish () within Gildeskål Municipality. It is part of the Bodø domprosti (arch-

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Geography

Gildeskål is a coastal municipality that encompasses part of the mainland as well as many islands. Major islands include

Fleina Fleina is an island in Gildeskål Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The island lies in the Fleinværfjorden, between the islands of Fugløya and Sør-Arnøya. The island of Sandhornøya lies to the east and the mainland lies to the sou ...

, Fugløya,

Nord-Arnøya Nord-Arnøya is an island in Gildeskål Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The island had 52 residents in 2017. It lies directly north of the island of Sør-Arnøya. There is a long bridge connecting the two islands. There is a small fis ...

Sør-Arnøya Sør-Arnøya is a small island in Gildeskål Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The island is located west of the neighboring island of Sandhornøya and south of the island of Nord-Arnøya. Sør-Arnøya and Nord-Arnøya are linked with ...

, and Sandhornøya. The southern part of the municipality includes part of the Saltfjellet mountains and the northern part of the municipality borders the Saltfjorden and the

Vestfjorden Vestfjorden (; sometimes shortened to ''Vestfjord'' in English) is a long fjord or oceanic sea in Nordland county, Norway. The name literally means "the west fjord", although it is called a fjord, it could best be described as a firth or an op ...

. There are many lakes in the municipality including: Fellvatnet, Langvatnet,

Litle Sokumvatnet or is a lake that lies in Gildeskål Municipality (with a very small portion crossing into neighboring Beiarn Municipality) in Nordland county, Norway. Litle Sokumvatnet lies directly northeast of the larger lake Sokumvatnet. The lake serves a ...

, and Sokumvatnet. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Memaurtinden.

Government

Gildeskål Municipality is responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. The municipality is governed by a

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, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Salten og Lofoten District Court and the

Hålogaland Court of Appeal The Hålogaland Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Tromsø. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark as well as the island territor ...

Municipal council

The

() of Gildeskål is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, 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 oft ...

Mayors

The

() of Gildeskål 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: * 1838–1847: Stein Eilert Berner * 1848–1849: Ole Helgesen * 1850–1851: Peder H. Berg * 1852–1860: Edvard Pedersen * 1860–1862: Hans Henrik Holck Daae * 1863–1866: Jørgen Blix * 1867–1868: Hans Henrik Holck Daae * 1869–1870: Hans Olsen * 1871–1872: Eilert Nicolai Friis * 1873–1876: Hans Hansen * 1877–1878: Abel Ellingsen * 1879–1882: Hans Hansen * 1883–1884: Christoffer Arntzen * 1885–1888: Hans Hansen * 1889–1894: Håkon Hansen * 1895–1910: O. Laugsand * 1911–1913: Paulius Danielsen * 1914–1919: Jens Johansen * 1920–1922: Daniel Johan Eilertsen * 1923–1925: Johan Nilsen-Nygaard * 1926-1926: Daniel Johan Eilertsen * 1927–1928: Øyvind Heen * 1929–1940: Peder Johnsen * 1941-1941: Øyvind Heen * 1941–1945: Lars Norum * 1945-1945: Peder Johnsen * 1946–1947: Astrup Johansen * 1948–1958: Reidar Juliussen Myrhaug * 1958–1961: Magnus Sundsfjord * 1962–1963: Øivind Kaspersen * 1964–1969: Meyer Madsen * 1970–1971: Rolf Fagermo * 1972-1972: Meyer Madsen * 1972–1975: Andreas Opsahl * 1976–1979: Håkon Willumsen * 1980–1981: Harald Joakimsen * 1982–1983: Svein Christensen * 1984–1995: Roger Granberg ( Ap) * 1995–1999: Jon Gisle Karlsen * 1999-2003: Gunnar T. Skjellvik ( Ap) * 2003-2011: Walter Pedersen ( H) * 2011-2019: Petter Jørgen Pedersen ( Ap) * 2019–present: Bjørn Magne Pedersen ( H)

Buildings and structures

Sandhornøy Bridge connects the island of Sandhornøya to the mainland. The Kjellingstraumen Bridge crosses the outer end of the

Beiar Fjord Beiar Fjord () is a fjord in Nordland, Norway. The fjord lies mostly within Beiarn Municipality, but the westernmost part of the fjord lies in Gildeskål Municipality Gildeskål is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland ...

. There is a

VLF Very low frequency or VLF is the ITU designation for radio frequencies (RF) in the range of 3–30 kHz, corresponding to wavelengths from 100 to 10 km, respectively. The band is also known as the myriameter band or myriameter wave ...

-transmitter in Gildeskål that is used for sending messages to submerged

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s (

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

: JXN,

frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio ...

: 16.4 kHz). It uses as antenna multiple wires spun between two mountains
photo
. The transmitter building is located at .

Notable people

* Elias Blix (1836–1902), a professor, theologian, hymn writer, and politician *

Harald Sund Harald Thorbjørn Sund (February 16, 1876 – April 9, 1940) was a Norwegians, Norwegian architect, artist and illustrator. Architectural career Sund was born at Sund in Gildeskål Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. Sund studied architect ...

(1876–1940), an architect, artist, and illustrator *

Håvard Lund Håvard Lund (born 20 October 1970 in Gildeskål Municipality, Norway), is a Norwegian jazz musician (clarinet and saxophone) and composer, known from a series of recordings and collaborations with musicians like Anja Garbarek, Vigleik Storaas, ...

(born 1970), a jazz musician (clarinet and saxophone) and composer

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All rele ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gildeskaal Municipalities of Nordland Populated places of Arctic Norway 1838 establishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838