Odda komm.svg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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 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 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 fertilizers. 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

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. 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) 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 was granted on 8 October 1982. The arms show a canting of an arrowhead ( Norwegian language: ''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

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, 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 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. 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

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". 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 of Odda was made up of 27 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:


Geography

Odda municipality was very mountainous and the settlements were all located in valleys. Because of the many mountains, there were many large waterfalls including Låtefossen, Espelandsfossen, and Tyssestrengene. 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, Langavatnet, and parts of Ståvatn. On top of the high mountains in western Odda is the vast Folgefonna glacier, 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 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 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 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 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 ...
{{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