Kvam is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality is located along the Hardangerfjorden in the traditional district of Hardanger. The

administrative centre 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 is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of the municipality is the village of Norheimsund. Other larger settlements in the municipality include Øystese, Bru, Ålvik, Tørvikbygd, Omastranda, and Mundheim. Historically, the municipality was named ''Vikør''. The municipality is the 188th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Kvam is the 126th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 8,497. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 0.3% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was ''Hvammr'', identical with the word ''hvammr'' which means "(small) valley", possibly referring the Steinsdalen valley west of Norheimsund. Before 1911, the municipality was named '' Vikør'', which comes from the Old Norse word ''Vikøyar''. It was the name of the farm on which the old

Vikøy Church Vikøy Church ( no, Vikøy kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Kvam Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Vikøy, a few kilometers south of the municipal centre of Norheimsund. It is one of the ...

was located.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 27 November 1981. The blue and silver arms are designed to look like the Fyksesund, a narrow fjord in the municipality. The shape of the fjord is that it is narrower in the middle and this is symbolized in the design of the coat-of-arms.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

has four parishes () within the municipality of Kvam. It is part of the

Hardanger og Voss prosti Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord and its inner branches of the Sørfjorden and the Eid Fjord. It consists of the municipalities of Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik and Kvam, a ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman 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 residenc ...

) in the

Diocese of Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin ( no, Bjørgvin bispedømme) is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway. The cathedral city is Bergen, Norway's second ...

Geography

Kvam municipality borders the municipality of Voss to the north and east; Vaksdal, Samnanger, and

Bjørnafjorden Bjørnafjorden is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway. It runs through the municipalities of Austevoll, Bjørnafjorden, and Tysnes. The large island of Tysnesøya (and many small, surrounding islands such as Reksteren) lie along the sout ...

to the west; and the Hardangerfjorden to the south. The Fyksesund fjord branches off the main fjord and heads north into the municipality. The Fyksesund Landscape Park surrounds the inner part of the Fyksesund, north of the Fyksesund Bridge. The largest lakes are

Bjølsegrøvvatnet Bjølsegrøvvatnet is a lake in the municipality of Kvam in Vestland county, Norway. The lake lies at an elevation of above sea level in the mountains east of the Fyksesund fjord and northwest of the village of Ålvik. It has a dam on the ...

and Holmavatnet. In addition a portion of

Hamlagrøvatnet Hamlagrøvatnet is a lake on the border of the municipalities of Voss and Kvam in Vestland county, Norway. The lake is the largest lake in all of Hordaland county. The lake is located about southeast of the village of Dalekvam and about south ...

is located in Kvam. The

Kvamskogen Kvamskogen (lit. ''Kvam forest'') is a mountain plateau in the Hardanger region of Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the municipalities of Samnanger and Kvam Kvam is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality is located ...

plateau lies west of Norheimsund and is home to hundreds of holiday cabins. The

Steinsdalsfossen Steinsdalsfossen (also called ''Øvsthusfossen'' or ''Øfsthusfossen'') is a waterfall in the village of Steine in the municipality of Kvam in Vestland county, Norway. The waterfall is located about west of the large village of Norheimsund whic ...

waterfall, located in Steine is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Norway.

History

The old parish of ''Vikør'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

law). According to the 1835 census, the parish had a population of 2,321. On 1 January 1882, a small area of Ullensvang municipality (population: 22) was transferred to Vikør. In 1912, the municipality changed its name from "Vikør" to "Kvam". During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the Åsgrenda area on the Folgefonna peninsula (population: 61) was moved from Kvam to the neighboring Ullensvang Municipality. On the same date, Kvam also gained a considerable amount of territory, making it a much larger municipality. The following places were merged, giving the new Kvam municipality a population of 9,119. * Most of Kvam municipality (population: 6,759) except for Åsegrenda which was moved to Ullensvang * The part of Jondal municipality that was located on the northwest side of the Hardangerfjord, around the village of Tørvikbygd (population: 515) * Most of

Strandebarm Strandebarm is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The original municipality was large, spanning both sides of the central part of the Hardangerfjorden. It also included the island of Varaldsøy. Over time, the municipa ...

municipality (population: 1,545), except for the Kysnesstranda area which went to Jondal * The Mundheim area of Varaldsøy (population: 300).

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Kvam, are responsible for

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

(through 10th grade), outpatient

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

, senior citizen services, unemployment 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. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor. The municipality falls under the Haugaland og Sunnhordland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal. In 2007, Kvam participated in a trial where the mayor was directly elected. The sitting mayor, Astrid Selsvold, won the election with 26.7% of the votes.

Municipal council

The municipal council () of Kvam is made up of 27 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayor

The mayors of Kvam (incomplete list): *2019–present: Torgeir Næss ( Ap) *2015-2019: Jostein Ljones ( Sp) *2011-2015: Asbjørn Tolo ( H) *2003-2011: Astrid Farestveit Selsvold (Ap)

Notable residents

Johannes Skaar Johannes Nilssøn Skaar ( (also spelled ''Johannes Nilsson Skaar'')) (15 November 1828 – 13 December 1904) was a Norwegian bishop and hymnologist. Skaar was born in Øystese, Kvam, Norway in 1828. He received his cand.theol. degree in ...

(1828 in Øystese – 1904) Bishop of the Diocese of Nidaros *

Jon Flatabø Jon Flatabø (April 7, 1846 – February 10, 1930) was a Norwegian writer of popular literature at the beginning of the 20th century. Flatabø was born in Vikør (now Kvam) in the Hardanger district, and was educated as a teacher. Later he worke ...

(1846 in Kvam – 1930) a Norwegian writer of popular literature *

Nils Nilsson Skaar Nils Nilsson Skaar (March 28, 1852 – June 12, 1948) was a Norwegian teacher, farmer, editor, and parliamentary representative from the Fykse Sound in the municipality of Kvam in Hordaland county.Hamsun, Knut. 1994. ''Knut Hamsuns Brev'', vol. ...

(1852 in Kvam – 1948) a Norwegian teacher, farmer, editor and politician * Ingebrigt Vik (1867 in Øystese – 1927) a distinguished Norwegian sculptor * Jakob Nilsson Vik (1882 in Kvam – 1960) a Norwegian farmer, dairy manager and politician *

Svein Rosseland Svein Rosseland (March 31, 1894, in Kvam, Hardanger – January 19, 1985, in Bærum) was a Norwegian astrophysicist and a pioneer in the field of theoretical astrophysics. Biography Svein Rosseland was born in Kvam, in Hardanger, Norway. Rossel ...

(1894 in Kvam – 1985) an astrophysicist, pioneered theoretical astrophysics *

Geirr Tveitt Geirr Tveitt (born Nils Tveit; 19 October 1908 – 1 February 1981) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. Tveitt was a central figure of the national movement in Norwegian cultural life during the 1930s. Life Early years Tveitt was born in ...

(1908–1981) a Norwegian composer and pianist, family in Kvam *

Gunnar Aksnes Gunnar Aksnes (8 August 1926 in Kvam, Hardanger—31 January 2010 in Bergen, Hordaland) was a Norwegian chemist and poet, the brother of the astronomer Kaare Aksnes, married to Milly Aksnes (b. 1928) Career Aksnes started his studies in 1945 a ...

(1926 in Kvam — 2010) a Norwegian chemist and poet *

Magnus Midtbø Magnus Midtbø (15 December 1942 – 25 February 2010) was a Norwegian trade unionist and politician for the Labour Party. He was born in Ålvik. He took education in electronics, and worked in this field before becoming a leading trade uni ...

(1942 in Ålvik – 2010) a Norwegian trade unionist and politician * Kaj Skagen (born 1949 in Strandebarm) a Norwegian writer *

Nils Gunnar Lie Nils Gunnar Lie (born 23 November 1950) is a Norwegian television personality. He hails from Øystese. He started his career in the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', gen ...

(born 1950 in Øystese) a Norwegian television personality * Torill Selsvold Nyborg (born 1952 in Kvam) a nurse, missionary and politician * Valgerd Svarstad Haugland (born 1956 in Kvam) a teacher, politician and civil servant *

Geir Botnen Geir Botnen (born 27 February 1959 in Kvam) is a Norway, Norwegian pianist. He focuses mainly on the works of Geirr Tveitt, but his repertoire also includes works by other composers. Biography During his 5 years studies at the Bergen Music Con ...

(born 1959 in Kvam) a Norwegian pianist * Gisle Torvik (born 1975 in Tørvikbygd) a Norwegian jazz musician, plays guitar * Torstein Lofthus (born 1977 in Øystese) a Norwegian drummer and composer *

Frank Kjosås Frank Kjosås (born 28 July 1981) is a Norwegian actor of theatre and film, known for ''The Half Brother'', and his role as Norwegian resistance soldier Knut Haukelid in ''The Heavy Water War''. Early life Frank Kjosås was born in Øystese in H ...

(born 1981 in Øystese) a Norwegian actor of theatre and film IMDb Database
retrieved 09 December 2020

Sport

* Knut Hjeltnes (born 1951 in Øystese) college coach, former shot-putter and discus thrower *

Kirsten Melkevik Otterbu Kirsten Melkevik Otterbu ( May 29 May 1970) is a Norwegian long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon. Biography In the marathon event she finished 28th at the 2005 World Championships, 13th at the 2006 European Championships, 29th a ...

(born 1970 in Øystese) a Norwegian marathon runner *

Torgeir Børven Torgeir Børven (born 3 December 1991) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Norwegian club Vålerenga. He has previously played for FC Twente, Brann, Vålerenga, Odd and Rosenborg, and has represented his country ...

(born 1991 in Øystese) a Norwegian footballer with over 240 club caps

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, 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 yea ...

{{use dmy dates, date=October 2022 Municipalities of Vestland 1838 establishments in Norway