Odda () is a
former municipality in the old
Hordaland
Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipal ...
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 1913 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into
Ullensvang Municipality 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. It was located in southeastern Hordaland county, surrounding the southern end of the
Sørfjorden. 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 ...
was the
town of Odda, which was also the main commercial and economic centre of the entire
Hardanger region. Other villages in the municipality included
Botnen,
Eitrheim
Eitrheim is a village in Ullensvang municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The industrial village is located on a small peninsula near the southern shore of the Sørfjorden, just 3 kilometers (1.9mi) north of the town of Odda. Since 2003, it h ...
,
Håra,
Røldal,
Seljestad,
Skare
Skare or Skarde is a village in Ullensvang municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located about straight south of the town of Odda and about northwest of the village of Seljestad. The village sits at the junction of Norwegian ...
, and
Tyssedal.
Prior to its dissolution in 2020, the municipality was the 42nd largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Odda is the 150th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 7,025. The municipality's
population density
Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
is and its population has decreased by 1.8% over the last decade.
In 1927,
Erling Johnson
Erling Bjarne Johnson (7 June 1893 – 5 November 1967) invented the nitrophosphate process in the years 1927-28. The process is recognised internationally as important in the production of fertiliser, but he is little-known in his native Norway.
...
, working at
Odda Smelteverk, invented a process to produce three-component,
NPK fertilizer
A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
s. This process is now known as the
Odda process
The nitrophosphate process (also known as the Odda process) is a method for the industrial production of nitrogen fertilizers invented by Erling Johnson in the municipality of Odda, Norway around 1927.
The process involves acidifying phosphate ro ...
.
General information
![Røldal Stave Church](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/R%C3%B8ldal_Stave_Church.jpg)
The municipality of Odda was established on 1 July 1913 when the southern district of
Ullensvang was separated out to form its own municipality. Initially, Odda had 3,077 residents. 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, the neighboring municipality of
Røldal (population: 676) was merged into Odda, bringing the total population of the new municipality to 10,163 residents.
On 1 January 2020, the three neighboring municipalities of
Jondal, Odda, and
Ullensvang were merged. The new municipality is called ''Ullensvang'' and its
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 ...
is the town of
Odda
Odda () is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1913 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county. It was located in southeastern Hordaland c ...
.
Name
The municipality (originally 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 ...
) is named after the old "Odda" farm ( non, Oddi), since the first
Odda Church
Odda Church ( no, Odda kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the Odda (town), town of Odda. It is the church for the Odda parish which is part of the Hardanger og ...
was built there. The name is identical with the word ''oddi'' which means "headland".
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 latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
was granted on 8 October 1982. The arms show a
canting of an
arrowhead (
Norwegian language
Norwegian ( no, norsk, links=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regio ...
: ''pilodd''). The name of the municipality, however, is not derived from the word for arrowhead.
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 ...
had four parishes () within the municipality of Odda. 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, and is l ...
(
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 ...
.
History
![Odda Smelteverk portalbygg1906](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Odda_Smelteverk_portalbygg1906.jpg)
The
Røldal Stave Church
Røldal Stave Church ( no, Røldal stavkyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Røldal. It is the church for the Røldal parish which is part of the ...
was built in the years 1200–1250 in the present-day village of
Røldal. This is one of the oldest structures in the municipality.
During the 19th century, Odda became a significant tourist destination. Visits ranged from English pioneers around 1830 to the German Emperor
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...
, who visited Odda every year between 1891 and 1914. This led to the construction of several hotels in the municipality.
Odda Municipality was centred on a modern town which grew up around smelters built at the head of the
Sørfjorden branch of the
Hardangerfjord in the mid-twentieth century, drawing migrants from different parts of Norway.
The
carbide
In chemistry, a carbide usually describes a compound composed of carbon and a metal. In metallurgy, carbiding or carburizing is the process for producing carbide coatings on a metal piece.
Interstitial / Metallic carbides
The carbides of the ...
production and the subsequent production of
cyanamide was started in 1908 after the water power plant was operational and provided the necessary electricity for the arc furnaces. The plant was the largest in the world and remained operational till 2003 shortly after the plant was sold to
Philipp Brothers Chemicals Inc.
Philipp is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:
"Philipp" has also been a shortened version of Philippson, a German surname especially prevalent amongst German Jews and Dutch Jews.
Surname
* Adolf Philipp (1864 ...
The Norwegian government tried to get the site recognized together with other industrial plants as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
. In 2010 an international report stated: ''What makes Odda smelteverk so important and central to the application of Norway’s hydro power sites and pioneer chemical industry as a World Heritage Site is the fact that here in an internationally unique way the physical remains of an early chemical production process are still present.''
Dialect
![Lake Votna Hordaland Norway 3015 6 7 fused](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Lake_Votna_Hordaland_Norway_3015_6_7_fused.jpg)
Odda grew up around this smelter in the early-twentieth century, drawing migrants from different parts of Norway. As a result, there developed a new dialect, a mixture of that spoken in the home regions of the migrants - a phenomenon termed by linguists "a
Koiné language
In linguistics, a koiné language, koiné dialect, or simply koiné (Ancient Greek κοινή, "common anguage) is a standard or common language or dialect that has arisen as a result of the contact, mixing, and often simplification of two or ...
". The town of Odda and neighboring village of
Tyssedal - which arose in the same time and socio-economic circumstances as those of Odda - provided valuable insights to linguists studying this phenomenon. The researcher
Paul Kerswill conducted an intensive study of the Norwegian spoken in the two communities, relating them to very different geographical origins: The workers in Odda came predominantly (86%) from western Norway. In Tyssedal only about one third came from western Norway; one third came from eastern Norway; and the rest from other parts of the country. The dialects that evolved in these two communities were radically different from each other, though spoken at a short
geographical distance from each other.
Government
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 Odda was made up of 27 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:
Geography
![Der Sorfjord edit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Der_Sorfjord_edit.jpg)
Odda municipality was very mountainous and the settlements were all located in valleys. Because of the many mountains, there were many large
waterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...
s including
Låtefossen,
Espelandsfossen, and
Tyssestrengene
Tyssestrengene are waterfalls east of the village of Tyssedal in Ullensvang Municipality, in Vestland county, Norway. The waterfalls are fed by the Tysso River before flowing down into the lake Ringedalsvatnet. The Trolltunga cliff is located n ...
.
There are also many large lakes such as
Sandvinvatnet
Sandvinvatnet is a lake in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The lake lies on the southern edge of the town of Odda. The Buardalen valley and Buarbreen glacier lie to the west of the lake. The Norwegian National Road 13 runs ...
,
Votna,
Valldalsvatnet
Valldalsvatnet is a lake in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The lake lies about northeast of the village of Røldal. The lake has a dam at the southern end, and it is used to regulate the water level for purposes of hydro ...
,
Røldalsvatnet,
Ringedalsvatnet
Ringedalsvatnet is a lake in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The lake sits just east of the village of Skjeggedal and about east (up the valley) from the village of Tyssedal, which sits on the shore of the Sørfjorden. Th ...
,
Langavatnet, and parts of
Ståvatn. On top of the high mountains in western Odda is the vast
Folgefonna glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
, including the
Buarbreen
Buarbreen or Buerbreen is a glacier in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is an offshoot of the large Folgefonna glacier. The small glacial arm reaches down into the Buardalen valley, just southwest of the town of Odda. The ...
glacier near the town of Odda. Part of
Folgefonna National Park is in Odda. The western part of the municipality sits on top of the southern part of the
Hardangervidda
Hardangervidda ( en, Hardanger Plateau) is a mountain plateau (Norwegian: ''vidde'') in central southern Norway, covering parts of Vestland, Vestfold og Telemark, and Viken counties. It is the largest plateau of its kind in Europe, with a cold ye ...
plateau, which also includes part of the
Hardangervidda National Park. The mountains
Kistenuten
Kistenuten is a tall mountain in southern Norway. It is located in the Ryfylkeheiane mountains at the tripoint border of three different counties (and three municipalities): Suldal municipality in Rogaland county, Ullensvang municipality in Ves ...
and
Sandfloegga
Sandfloegga or Sandfloeggi is a mountain in Ullensvang Municipality in southeastern Vestland county, Norway. It lies on the southern part of the vast Hardangervidda mountain plateau, and is the highest mountain on Hardangervidda when the bordering ...
are located on the plateau.
Transportation
The municipality sat at a crossroads of two major roads. The
European route E134 highway runs east–west through Odda municipality, cutting through many mountains in the
Røldal Tunnel,
Horda Tunnel
The Horda Tunnel ( no, Hordatunnelen) is a road tunnel in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The long tunnel is in the village of Horda. The tunnel is a spiral tunnel, turning almost a complete circle while continuously traver ...
,
Austmannali Tunnel
The Austmannali Tunnel ( no, Austmannalitunnelen) is a road tunnel in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The long tunnel is part of the European route E134 highway as it goes up the Austmannlia mountain. The tunnel is locate ...
, and
Haukeli Tunnel
The Haukeli Tunnel ( no, Haukelitunnelen) is a road tunnel in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The tunnel is located about northeast of the village of Røldal. This tunnel was the longest tunnel in Norway from 1968 until the ...
. The other main road is the
Norwegian National Road 13 which runs north–south through the municipality. The two roads run together from
Seljestad to
Håra. At
Eitrheim
Eitrheim is a village in Ullensvang municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The industrial village is located on a small peninsula near the southern shore of the Sørfjorden, just 3 kilometers (1.9mi) north of the town of Odda. Since 2003, it h ...
, the
Folgefonna Tunnel
The Folgefonna Tunnel ( no, Folgefonntunnelen) is a long road tunnel in Vestland county, Norway. The tunnel connects the village of Eitrheim and the town of Odda at the head of Sørfjorden in Ullensvang Municipality to the village of Austrepo ...
connects Odda to the neighboring area of
Mauranger
Mauranger is the northernmost district of Kvinnherad municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The district is centered on the Maurangsfjorden on the western side of the vast Folgefonna glacier. Mauranger consists of the villages of Sundal, Austr ...
in
Kvinnherad Municipality
Kvinnherad is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland, along the Hardangerfjorden. The municipality was the 5th in size in former Hordaland county.
The administrative centre of the m ...
, cutting through the mountains under the
Folgefonna glacier.
Health care
Odda Hospital provides health services to the inhabitants of Hardanger. The ambulance station, Folgefonn DPS Odda and the municipal hospital are also located in the hospital area. The population can also receive health services at local health stations.
In popular culture
The town is used as the backdrop for the fictional town of Edda in the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
Norwegian-language drama series
Ragnarok.
See also
*
List of former municipalities of Norway
This is a list of former municipalities of Norway, i.e. municipalities that no longer exist.
When the local council system was introduced in Norway in 1837-38, the country had 392 municipalities. In 1958 the number had grown to a total of 744 rur ...
References
External links
*
*
Municipal fact sheetfrom
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 ...
{{Authority control
Ullensvang
Former municipalities of Norway
1913 establishments in Norway
2020 disestablishments in Norway
States and territories established in 1913
States and territories disestablished in 2020