Bru is a former municipality in the old

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 ...

. The municipality existed from 1923 until 1964 and it included several islands including

Svanøya Svanøy (also called Svanøyna and Brulandet) is an island in the municipality of Kinn in Vestland county, Norway. The island is located in the Sunnfjord district of the county. The island lies just to the west of the mainland, in the mouth of th ...

Askrova Askrova is an island in Kinn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located along the Brufjorden, near the mouth of the Førdefjorden, about northwest of the island of Svanøya. Askrova sits about southwest of the town of Florø and a ...

, and Stavøya as well as parts of the mainland including the Solheimsdalen valley, east of the village of

Norddalsfjord Norddal or Norddalsfjord is a village in Kinn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village lies along the Norddalsfjorden at the entrance to the Solheimsdalen valley. It sits at the mouth of the Norddalselva river on a small peninsula that ...

. It is now part of the present-day

Kinn Municipality Kinn is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020. It is in the traditional districts of Nordfjord and Sunnfjord. The municipality is the only non-contiguous municipality in Norway since the municipality of ...

which is in

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 in the traditional district of

Sunnfjord Sunnfjord ( - in contrast to Nordfjord) is a traditional district in Western Norway located in Vestland county. It includes the municipalities of Askvoll, Fjaler, the southernmost parts of Kinn, Sunnfjord, and the southernmost parts of Brem ...

. 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 Bru was the village of

Stavang Stavang is a village in Kinn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the mainland at the mouth of the Førdefjorden, where it empties into the Brufjorden, about straight southeast of the town of Florø. The islands ...

History

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 ...

of ''Bru'' 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' ...

on 1 January 1923 when the large municipality of

Kinn Kinn is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020. It is in the traditional districts of Nordfjord and Sunnfjord. The municipality is the only non-contiguous municipality in Norway since the municipality ...

was divided into three:

(population: 2,508) in the west, Bru (population: 1,560) in the centre, and Eikefjord (population: 929) in the east. 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, Bru municipality ceased to exist and its lands were divided. * All of Bru located north of the Førdefjorden (population: 1,155) was merged with the town of

Florø is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Kinn which is in Vestland county, Norway. The town was founded by royal decree in 1860 as a ladested on the island of Florelandet, located between the Botnafjorden and Solheimsfjord ...

(population: 2,040),

(population: 3,567), Eikefjord Municipality (population: 919), the Husefest and Breivik areas of

Bremanger Municipality Bremanger is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village of Svelgen is the administrative centre of the municipality. Other villages include Bremanger, Berle, Davik, Isane, Kalvåg, Svelgen, Rugsund, and Ålfoten. Bremanger i ...

(population: 9), and the Steindal area of Vevring Municipality (population: 25) were combined to form the new municipality of

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

. * All of Bru located south of the Førdefjorden (population: 92) was merged with

Askvoll Municipality is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre is the Askvoll (village), village of Askv ...

(population: 3,086) and the parts of Vevring Municipality located south of the Førdefjorden (population: 407).

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the island ''Brulandet'', now called

, () since the first Bru Church was built on the island (the church site was mved off the island to the mainland village of

in 1872). The old name of the island is identical to the plural

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

of the word which means "

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

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.

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 Bru: * 1923-1925: Bjarne Svanøe * 1925-1926: Nikolai Haave * 1926–1937: Per Hjertenes * 1938–1940: Per Straumsnes * 1945–1945: Per Straumsnes * 1946-1947: Per Hjertenes * 1948-1955: Tor Grønnevik * 1956–1964: Anton Holm

Municipal council

The

of Bru was made up of 17 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:

References

External links

* {{use dmy dates, date=May 2023 Kinn Former municipalities of Norway 1923 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway