Borgund is a former municipality in

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; literally "Parish and the Fjords") was a Counties of Norway, county in western Norway, from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsda ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 was located in the southeastern part of the traditional district of

Sogn Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway (''Vestlandet''). It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestra ...

. The municipality existed from 1864 until its dissolution in 1964. It encompassed an area in the eastern part of the present-day

Lærdal Municipality Lærdal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Lærdalsøyri. The old Filefjell Kon ...

. The

administrative center 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 Belgiu ...

of Borgund was the village of Steinklepp, just northeast of the village of Borgund. Steinklepp was the site of a store, a bank, and a school. The historical

Filefjell Kongevegen The Filefjell Kongevegen () is the name of the old trail over Filefjell, the mountainous area between Lærdal/ Borgund, and Valdres in Norway. It is the historical main route linking Western Norway and Eastern Norway. Due to the sometimes wet and m ...

road passes through the Borgund area.

Location

The former municipality of Borgund was situated near the southeastern end of the

Sognefjorden The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, ), nicknamed the King of the Fjords (), is the longest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the small village of Skjolden in the muni ...

, along the Lærdalselvi river. The lower parts of the municipality were farms such as Sjurhaugen and Nedrehegg. They were at an elevation of about

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

Høgeloft Høgeloft is a mountain on the border between the municipalities of Lærdal (in Vestland county) and Hemsedal (in Buskerud county), Norway. At above sea level, it is the highest mountain in the Filefjell mountain range. Høgeloft is one of the ...

, on the border with the neighboring municipality of

Hemsedal Hemsedal is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Buskerud Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hallingdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Trøym ...

, is a mountain in the

Filefjell Filefjell is a mountainous area in Norway. It is located between Lærdal in the Vestland county and Valdres in Innlandet county. It is the historical, as well as modern, main route, linking Western Norway and Eastern Norway. The European route E1 ...

range and it was the highest point in Borgund at above sea level. The lakes

Eldrevatnet Eldrevatnet or Eldrevatn is a lake in the municipality of Lærdal in Vestland county, Norway. The lake lies at an elevation of above sea level. It is located about southeast of the village of Borgund, not far from the European route E16 hig ...

Juklevatnet Juklevatnet is a lake in the municipalities of Hemsedal (in Buskerud county) and Lærdal (in Vestland county), Norway. It is located east of Borgund in Lærdal, just to the south of the mountain Høgeloft in the Filefjell range. The lake sits ...

, and

Øljusjøen Øljusjøen is a lake in the municipalities of Hemsedal (in Buskerud county) and Lærdal (in Vestland county), Norway. The lake is located at an elevation of above sea level. It sits about southeast of the village of Borgund, Sogn og Fjordan ...

were also located near the border with Hemsedal.

History

Borgund was established as 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' ...

in 1864 when it was separated from the municipality of

Lærdal Lærdal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Lærdalsøyri. The old Filefjell Ko ...

. Initially it had a population of 963. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Borgund (population: 492) was merged with the Muggeteigen area (population: 11) of the neighboring

Årdal Municipality Årdal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Årdalsfjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Årdalstangen is the administrative center of the municipality. The other main village is � ...

and all of

(population: 1,755) were all merged to form a new, larger municipality of Lærdal.

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

) is named after the old '' Borgund'' farm ( or ) since the historic

Borgund Stave Church Borgund Stave Church () is a former parish church initially of the Catholic Church and later the Church of Norway in Lærdal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was built around the year 1200 as the village church of Borgund, and belong ...

was built there. The first element is which means "

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

" or "fortified place". The last element is the suffix which means "rich" or "having a lot of something".

Government

During its existence, this municipality was 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 ...

was

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.

Municipal council

The

of Borgund was made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The

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 ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

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 Borgund: * 1864-1867: Haakon Henrikson Eraker * 1868-1873: John Knutson Hegg * 1874-1875: Haakon H. Kvamme, Sr. * 1876-1883: John Knutson Hegg * 1884-1887: Roar H. Husum * 1888-1891: Ola Kirkevold * 1892-1901: John Knutson Hegg * 1902-1910: Anders L. Nesset * 1911-1914: Ola E. Eggum * 1915-1916: Jakob S. Hovland * 1917-1917: Lars A. Nesse * 1918-1919: Håkon H. Kvamme, Jr. * 1920-1922: Ola O. Kvenshagen * 1923-1928: Lars A. Nesse * 1929-1931: Ola O. Kvenshagen * 1936-1945: Nils A. Lyslo * 1945-1945: Roar O. Husum * 1946-1947: Hallvard Borlaug * 1952-1955: Roar O. Husum * 1948-1951: Torstein Hillestad ( Ap) * 1956-1957: Olav Sletthagen( Ap) * 1958-1963: Anders Lunden ( Ap)

References

External links

* {{use dmy dates, date=May 2023 Lærdal Former municipalities of Norway 1864 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway