Fjære is a former municipality in the old

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, ) was a county (''fylke'') in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . ...

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 1846 until 1971. It was located to the north of the town of Grimstad. The name is still used to refer to that area, which is now a part of

Grimstad Grimstad () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the Grimstad (to ...

municipality in

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

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 Fjære was the village of Vik, just east of the historic Fjære Church. Other villages in Fjære included Fevik, Dømmesmoen, Frivold, Kroken, and Rønnes.

History

The municipality of Fjære was created in 1846 when the old municipality of

Øyestad Øyestad is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Aust-Agder Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 1992, when it was merged into the present-day municipality of Arenda ...

was divided. Initially, Fjære had a population of 2,806. The first municipal council met at a farmhouse at Bringsvær, north of Vik. In 1886, the council began meeting in the village of Vik. On 1 January 1878, a part of Fjære located adjacent to the town of Grimstad (population: 948) was transferred from Fjære to Grimstad. Again, on 1 January 1960, another part of Fjære located next to Grimstad (population: 344) was transferred from Fjære to the town of Grimstad. On 1 January 1971, the neighboring municipalities of Fjære (population: 6,189) and Landvik (population: 2,781) were merged with the town of Grimstad (population: 2,794) to form a much larger municipality called

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 ''Fjære'' farm () since the historic Fjære Church was built there. The name is the

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 "

firth Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more often refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to Scan ...

" or "

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 ...

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 Fjære: * 1838-1838: Christian Juell * 1839-1839: Nils Gundersen * 1840-1841: Daniel Vigeland * 1842-1843: Kittel Nilsen * 1844-1845: Aanon Aanonsen * 1846-1849: Steffen Steffensen * 1849-1849: Gjert Sørensen * 1849-1853: Niels Olsen Ribe * 1853-1855: Steffen Steffensen * 1855-1858: Gunder Nielsen Skotta * 1859-1862: Hans Ommundsen Konnestad * 1863-1867: Gunder Nielsen Skotta * 1868-1869: Jørgen Tellefsen Ugland * 1869-1873: Hans Ommundsen Konnestad * 1874-1877: Jørgen Tellefsen Ugland * 1878-1881: Carl Anton Boe * 1881-1885: Knud K. Lien * 1885-1886: Asbjørn Knutsen * 1886-1887: Mathias Hørthe * 1887-1891: Knud K. Lien * 1891-1893: Knud Andersen Grevstad * 1893-1898: Ole Andersen Grevstad * 1898-1910: Ommund Tellefsen Ugland * 1910-1916: Gregorius Mjaaland * 1916-1916: Klemmet Lofthus * 1917-1923: Peder K. Grevstad * 1923-1925: Anders Asdal * 1925-1925: Ole Ribe * 1926-1931: Peder K. Grevstad * 1932-1937: Karl Danielsen * 1938-1941: Olaf Tønnevold * 1945-1945: Olaf Tønnevold * 1946-1947: Thor Håversen * 1948-1955: Karl Ugland * 1956-1959: Sigmund Olsen * 1960-1967: Johan Jørgen Ugland ( H) * 1967-1970: Sigurd Stie ( V)

Municipal council

The

of Fjære was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the 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 ...

Attractions

Fjære Church

Fjære Church () is made of stone and dates back to the middle of the 12th century. Despite being 850 years old, it is an active parish church. It was not completed in one generation, but was created gradually over the centuries. The church grew together with the village and the people, and became the centre of Fjære's history from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

until the present day. The oldest and most valuable individual cultural monuments in and around Fjære Church are the finely sculpted head of a man in stone over the south door, dating from before 1150. The church's unique and beautiful

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

, in the High Gothic style from the Middle Ages. ''Olavskilden'', a fountain associated with St. Olav the Holy. The

Terje Vigen ''Terje Vigen'' is a poem written by Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen and published in 1862. It follows the life of Terje Vigen, a fictional Norwegian man who lives in the town of Grimstad, during the early 19th century. During the Gunboat War, Gr ...

stone monument in memory of the brave men of the 1807–1814 war. The stone monument was erected in 1906 by the friends of Terje Vigen. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

with paneled ceiling and pews with the names of farms painted on them are considered valuable. They were made during the period from 1500–1700. The well-preserved church is located approximately north of the town of Grimstad.

References

External links

*
Fjære school
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fjaere Grimstad Former municipalities of Norway 1846 establishments in Norway 1971 disestablishments in Norway