Bjørnafjorden is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is located in the

Midhordland Midhordland or Midthordland is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the Vestlandet region of Norway. It consists of the central-west portion of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county), mostly including the islands and coa ...

region of the county. The

administrative centre An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of Bjørnafjorden is the village of

Osøyro Osøyro (or Osøyri) is the administrative centre of Bjørnafjorden municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village lies on the southwestern part of the Bergen Peninsula, along the western shore of the Fusafjorden, about south of the cit ...

. Other villages in the municipality include

Eikelandsosen Eikelandsosen is a village in the municipality of Bjørnafjorden in Vestland county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Eikelandsfjorden, a small arm off the main Fusafjorden. The village sits to the southeast of the village of Holmefjord, ...

Fusa Fusa () is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. It existed from 1856 until its dissolution in 2020. It was located east of the city of Bergen in the Midhordland region. The administrative centre of the municipality was the ...

Holdhus Holdhus is a village in Bjørnafjorden municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located about east of the village of Eikelandsosen. The village was the administrative centre of the old municipality of Hålandsdal which existed fr ...

, Holmefjord, Vinnes, Strandvik, Sundvord, Hagavik, Halhjem, Søfteland,

Søre Øyane Søre Øyane is a village in the municipality of Bjørnafjorden in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on an archipelago in the Bjørnafjorden, off the western coast of the municipality, southeast of the larger island of Strøno. The archip ...

, and Søvik. The municipality is the 205th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Bjørnafjorden is the 47th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 25,596. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

is and its population has increased by 16.6% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality was established on 1 January 2020 when the municipalities of Os and

were merged.

Name

The municipality is named after the

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 south side ...

, a local fjord which is a central geographic feature of the municipality. The first element is which means "

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

". The last element is the definite form of which means "

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

". Thus this is "the bear fjord".

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 last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was adopted in 2019 for use starting on 1 January 2020 after a municipal merger took effect. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''"

Azure Azure may refer to: Color * Azure (color), a hue of blue ** Azure (heraldry) ** Shades of azure, shades and variations Arts and media * ''Azure'' (Art Farmer and Fritz Pauer album), 1987 * Azure (Gary Peacock and Marilyn Crispell album), 2013 * ...

, a boat's bow and two spirals issuant from each side Or"''. This means the arms have a blue

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is the bow of a boat and below that are two curved wave shapes. The charge has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The boat and waves symbolize the water and the importance of the sea. The boat is designed to look like an ''

oselvar The Oselvar or Oselver is a small wooden rowing boat traditionally built and used along the west coast of Norway. The Oselvar is a Clinker (boat building), clinker built boat with thin, very wide planks. Almost all parts of an Oselvar are made o ...

'', a traditional rowing boat made in the area. The curved wave designs also allude to the local

rosemaling Rose-painting, , or is a Scandinavian decorative Folk art, folk painting that flourished from the 1700s to the mid-1800s, particularly in Norway. In Sweden, rose-painting began to be called , c. 1901, for the region Dalecarlia where it had been ...

designs and the local

Giant's kettle A giant's kettle, also known as either a giant's cauldron, moulin pothole, or glacial pothole, is a typically large and cylindrical Pothole (landform), pothole drilling, drilled in solid rock (geology), rock underlying a glacier either by water ...

s (geysers) in Koldal. The arms were designed by Johan D. Eide. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

has two parishes within the municipality of Bjørnafjorden. It is part of the

Fana prosti Fana or fanaa most commonly refers to: * Fana, Bergen, a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway * Fana (Sufism), the Sufi term for "annihilation of the self" People * Fanã (born 1960), Portuguese football manager * Saint Fana (c. 354–395), Eg ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the 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 residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin () 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, and those outside of Norway in the Seamen's Church. The cathedral cit ...

Government

Bjørnafjorden Municipality is responsible for

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

(through 10th grade), outpatient

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

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

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. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. The municipality is governed by a

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, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the

Hordaland District Court Hordaland District Court () is a district court located in Vestland county, Norway. This court is based at a courthouse in Bergen. The court serves the Nordhordland and Midthordland areas of the county which includes cases from 12 municipalities. ...

and the

Gulating Court of Appeal The Gulating Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Bergen. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Vestland and Rogaland plus Sirdal Municipality in Agder county ...

Municipal council

The

of Bjørnafjorden is made up of 35 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, 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 oft ...

Mayors

The

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

() of Bjørnafjorden: *2020-2023: Trine Lindborg ( Ap) *2023–present: Terje Søviknes ( FrP)

Notable people

* Aurora Aksnes (born 1996), Singer / songwriter / record producer. The Norwegian artist grew up in the town of Drange in Lysefjord, Os; Stage name: AURORA * Haldor Johan Hanson (1856 in

– 1929), an American hymn writer, publisher, and author *

Nils Tveit Nils Tveit (8 January 1876 – 13 July 1949) was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Hordaland in 1945, but died shortly before the end of the term. He was replaced by Knut Ytre-Arne. He ha ...

(1876 in Os – 1949), a Norwegian politician and Mayor of Os from 1916 to 1940 *

Ragnvald Indrebø Ragnvald Andreas Indrebø (22 November 1891–26 June 1984) was a Norwegian Lutheran Bishop. He was born in Os. He was part of the movement to translate the Norwegian Bible into the Nynorsk written language during the 1930s. He edited the per ...

(1891 in Os – 1984), a Norwegian Lutheran Bishop of Bjørgvin * Mons Haukeland (1892 in Os – 1983), a Norwegian gymnastics teacher and military officer * Harald Slåttelid (1895 in Os – executed 1943), a trade unionist, newspaper editor, and communist resistance member * Pål Sundvor (1920 in Fusa – 1992), a journalist, novelist, children's writer, poet, and playwright. * Trine Linborg (born 1965 in Os), a politician and mayor of Os *

Terje Søviknes Terje Søviknes (born 28 February 1969) is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party who has served as the mayor of Bjørnafjorden since 2023. He previously served as minister of petroleum and energy from December 2016 to August 2018. From De ...

(born 1969), a politician, former

of Os, and former

Minister of Petroleum and Energy The Minister of Energy () is a councilor of state and chief of the Norway's Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. The current minister is Terje Aasland. The ministry is responsible for the government's energy policy, including management of Norwa ...

* Olve Eikemo (born 1973), a black metal musician who grew up in Lysefjorden; stage name ''

Abbath Olve Eikemo (born 27 June 1973), better known by his stage name Abbath Doom Occulta or simply Abbath, is a Norwegian musician best known as a founding member of the black metal band Immortal. Before founding Immortal, Abbath performed with Old ...

'' * Maya Vik (born 1980), a singer, songwriter, and bass player who was brought up in Os *

Marius Neset Marius Søfteland Neset (born 2 January 1985) is a Norwegian jazz musician (saxophone) living in Copenhagen. He is known from collaborations within the jazz bands "People Are Machines", "Kaktusch", " JazzKamikaze" and Django Bates projects "Sto ...

(born 1985 in Os), a Norwegian jazz saxophonist *

Ingrid Søfteland Neset Ingrid Søfteland Neset (born 9 May 1992) is a Norwegian Classical flautist living in Stavanger (2017). She is the daughter of music teachers guitarist Terje Neset (born 1959) and pianist Anne Leni Søfteland Sæbø (born 1961), and the sister o ...

(born 1992 in Os), an award-winning Norwegian classical flautist *

Boy Pablo Boy Pablo (stylized as boy pablo) (born 29 November 1998) is the indie pop music project of Norwegian singer songwriter Nicolas Muñoz. Muñoz writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. Boy Pablo's live band currently con ...

(born 1998), a musician who grew up in Bergen and later in Os; real name ''Nicolas Muñoz''.

Sport

Kjersti Plätzer Kjersti Tysse Plätzer (born Tysse; 18 January 1972) is a Norwegian race walker, who won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, in the 20 kilometres race. She finished 12th in the same race in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athen ...

(born 1972 in Os), a race walker and twice silver medallist at the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Egil Gjelland Egil Gjelland (born 12 November 1973) is a Norwegian former biathlete. He is olympic champion in the biathlon relay from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Egil Gjelland grew up in Voss, the home of many world class biathletes, and sta ...

(born 1973), a former biathlete and team gold medallist at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

who lives in Skjelbreid in Fusa * Liv Grete Skjelbreid (born 1974 in Fusa), a biathlete and silver medallist at the

* Bjørn Dahl (born 1978 in Os), a retired footballer with almost 300 club caps * Bjarte Haugsdal (born 1990 in Os), a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player with over 250 club caps *

Sverre Lunde Pedersen Sverre Lunde Pedersen (; born 17 July 1992) is a Norwegian speed skater. He is the son of former speed-skater Jarle Pedersen. Career He is a two-time World Junior Champion and represents the club Fana Idrettslag. In 2011 he was 6th in the E ...

(born 1992 in Os), a

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marath ...

, son of Jarle Pedersen, and two-time World Junior Champion

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjørnafjorden (municipality) Municipalities of Vestland 2020 establishments in Norway Populated places established in 2020