Republic of Gulating is an artistic project with serious political aims. On 4 June 2005
Western Norway was declared an independent state, "Republikken Gulating". This took place during a regional festival,
"Kystfestivalen 61° Nord" in
Gulen, north of the regional capital
Bergen. The instigator behind the project, Øyvind Heitmann, was declared «pride minister» by
Magnor Midtun, local historian, acting as president of the region in a Viking play,
Hakonarspelet. The project wants to increase the independence of the region through political and cultural influence.
The region
File:Kart-fraa-web.jpg, Map from the project website
File:Norske_landsdeler_H.png, Norwegian regions: The major part of Gulating corresponds to the blue and purple areas
File:M%C3%A5lformer_i_Norge.svg, The two Norwegian languages.
West Norwegian ("Nynorsk") in blue.
The republic covers Western and
Southern Norway (the counties
Hordaland,
Sogn og Fjordane,
Rogaland
Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...
,
Vest-Agder,
Aust-Agder
Aust-Agder (, en, "East Agder") was a county (''fylke'') in Norway until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . The ...
), the regions
Sunnmøre
Sunnmøre (, en, South- Møre) is the southernmost traditional district of the western Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. Its main city is Ålesund. The region comprises the municipalities ( no, kommuner) of Giske, Hareid, Herøy, Norddal ...
,
Valdres and
Hallingdal, and the islands of
Shetland
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the no ...
and the
Faroes. This was the domain of the law of
Gulating in 1267, which was the foundation for the old "Republic of Gulating" for around four centuries. In addition, the republic intends an association with the historical regions of Telemark and Numedal, which had no firm connection to any of the domains of law in Norway. The last two areas are also important parts of the stronghold of the
Nynorsk language, which is a key element in the Western identity in Norway, thus the Republic of Gulating declared itself the world's first "Nynorsk country".
Torill Selsvold Nyborg has been an eager spokesperson for a new regional level in the
Government of Norway
The politics of Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Council of State, the cabinet, led by the prime minister of Norway. Legislative power i ...
. In 2005 she chaired
Vestlandsrådet, an advisory political council for the four main counties in the region. She then accepted a visit from "pride minister" Øyvind Heitmann from the Republic of Gulating.
Anthem and flag
The song
Nordmannen, at least as well known by its opening words "Mellom bakkar og berg",
''Video of national anthem with English subtitles''
/ref> was in 2005 chosen as the national anthem for the republic. It is generally considered the third most important national song in Western Norway, after the Norwegian national anthem itself, Ja, vi elsker
"" (; en, "Yes, we love this country") is the Norwegian national anthem. Originally a patriotic song, it came to be commonly regarded as the ''de facto'' national anthem of Norway in the early 20th century, after being used alongside "" since th ...
, and the Nynorsk and Christian alternative Gud signe vårt dyre fedreland.
The pride minister took part in a protest march against "monster masts" in Hardanger 14 August 2010. It was the first time the flag (red-white-gold Scandinavian cross) was used in public outside Gulen municipality.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Republic of Gulating official home page
About Gulatinget in English
Culture of Norway
Regions of Norway
Cultural festivals in Norway