Modalen is a municipality in the Nordhordland district in the central part of Vestland county in Norway. 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 Mo. The other main village in the municipality is Øvre Helland. Most of the residents of Modalen live in the main Modalen valley which extends eastwards from the end of the

Romarheimsfjorden Romarheimsfjorden is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway. The fjord flows through the municipalities of Modalen, Alver, and Osterøy. The western end of the fjord lies near the island of Hokøy where the fjord flows in to the Osterfjorden Ost ...

. The small population, combined with a large income from hydro-electric power production, has given the municipality the ability to give all its residents free wireless internet access in the municipality. They also were the first Norwegian municipality to buy a computer for all students in the municipality in 1993. The municipality is the 236th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Modalen is the 355th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 378 (making it the second smallest municipality in Norway after Utsira). The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 2.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The parish of Modalen was separated from the old municipality of Hosanger on 1 January 1910 to become a separate municipality. Initially, the municipality had 821 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the middle part of the

Eksingedalen Eksingedalen or Eksingadalen is a valley that makes up the northeastern part of Vaksdal Municipality in Vestland County, Norway. The Eksingedalen valley stretches over from the Vikafjell mountains all the way to the Inner Osterfjorden. The Ekso ...

valley (population: 151) was transferred from Modalen to the municipality of Vaksdal. Also on that date, the Nipo, Dyrkolbotn, and Eitrdalen farm areas (population: 12), located north of the village of Romarheim, were transferred from Modalen to the neighboring municipality of

Lindås Lindås is a former municipality in the Nordhordland district in the old Hordaland county, Norway. It existed from 1838 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020 when it was merged into the new Alver Municipality. The administrative centre of the ...

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old '' Mo'' farm ( non, Mór), since Mo Church was built there in the Middle Ages. The name is identical with the word ''mór'' which means " heath" or "

moor Moor or Moors may refer to: Nature and ecology * Moorland, a habitat characterized by low-growing vegetation and acidic soils. Ethnic and religious groups * Moors, Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during ...

". The last element ''-dalen'' (the finite form of ''dal'' which means " valley" or "dale") was added later.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 2 November 1984. The arms are green with three silver spades. The spades are a symbol for the agriculture and sand digging in the municipality, which historically were of great importance.

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 one parish () within the municipality of Modalen. It is part of the Nordhordland prosti (

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 ...

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Modalen, 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

Nordhordland District Court Nordhordland District Court ( no, Nordhordland tingrett) was a district court in Norway serving the Nordhordland and Midhordland (except for the city of Bergen) in Hordaland county, as well as Gulen Municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county. The c ...

and the

Gulating Court of Appeal The Gulating Court of Appeal ( no, Gulating lagmannsrett) is one of six Court of appeal (Norway), courts of appeal in the Norway, Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Bergen (city), Bergen. The court has jurisdiction over the cou ...

Municipal council

The municipal council () of Modalen is made up of 13 representatives that are elected every four years. Modalen is the only municipality in Norway that has a non-partisan council, so all representatives run on local lists rather than by party.

Mayor

The mayors of Modalen (incomplete list): *2019–present: Kjetil Eikefet (

Bygdeliste A (also ''fellesliste'' or ''lokale liste'') is a type of electoral list for the system of party-list proportional representation in Norway. It is a list of political candidates that are running for a local office without being part of a nation ...

) *2015-2019: Tom Kristian Thorsen (Bygdeliste) *2003-2015: Knut Moe (Bygdeliste) Foss og naust kopiera

Geography

Modalen municipality sits in the central part of Vestland county. It surrounds the innermost part of the

(which is also called the Mofjorden) and the Modalen valley which extends eastwards from the end of the fjord. Both sides of the valley are mountainous, so the municipality is quite isolated with only two roads connecting it to the outside world. Both roads were constructed fairly recently, before that time, the municipality was only accessible by boat or crossing mountains on foot. The Modalen Tunnel was built in 1976 and it connects this valley to the

valley to the south. The other road was finished in 1996, and it follows the fjord heading west to Lindås. The Modalen valley centers around the river Moelva. The lake

Steinslandsvatnet Steinslandsvatnet is a lake in the municipality of Modalen in Vestland county, Norway. The lake is the headwaters of the river Moelva in the center of the Modalen valley. The village of Øvre Helland lies at the southern end of the lake. The ...

, in the central part of the municipality, is the headwaters of the river. The high mountains that surround the valley provide many sources of hydroelectric power such as the lake

Skjerjavatnet Skjerjavatnet is a lake on the border of the municipalities of Vaksdal and Modalen in Vestland county, Norway. The lake sits at an elevation of above sea level, in the mountains between the Modalen and Eksingedalen valleys. The southwest and ...

. Modalen borders the municipality of Høyanger to the north and the municipality of Vik to the east, Vaksdal to the south, and Alver and

Masfjorden Masfjorden is a municipality in the central part of Vestland county in Norway. The municipality is located in the Nordhordland district of the county. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Masfjordnes. Other villages in ...

to the west.

History

The Modalen project

In 2001 Modalen got a 2-megabit broadband connection. The idea was to make Modalen the world's first fully-connected wireless broadband community. Modalen was the first community to undergo an all-broadband project as part of an effort by the Norwegian government to achieve full broadband coverage nationwide by 2004.

Notable people

Andres Lavik Andres Johannesson Lavik (5 December 1852 – 1941) was a Norwegian farmer and politician for the Liberal Party (Norway), Liberal Party. He was elected to the Parliament of Norway in 1897 Norwegian parliamentary election, 1897 from the constitu ...

(1852–1941) a Norwegian farmer and politician, Mayor of Modalen in 1910 *

Olav Nygard Olav Nygard (10 July 1884, Modalen – 11 February 1924) was a Norwegian poet from Modalen in Hordaland. Nygard is now considered one of the most important Norwegian authors of his time, but was, however, not especially acknowledged while alive. ...

(1884 in Modalen – 1924) a Norwegian poet *

Johannes Moe Johannes Moe (born 24 April 1926) is a Norwegian engineer and research administrator. He was born in Modalen, and graduated from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1952. He was appointed professor at the Norwegian Institute of Technology f ...

(born 1926 in Modalen) a Norwegian engineer and research administrator

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 1910 establishments in Norway