Hjørundfjord is a former municipality in

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

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 ...

. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of

Ørsta Municipality is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region of Western Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Ørsta (v ...

in the traditional district of

Sunnmøre Sunnmøre (, ) is the southernmost traditional district of the western Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. Its main city is Ålesund. The region comprises the municipalities () of Fjord, Giske, Hareid, Herøy, Sande, Haram, Stranda Mu ...

. 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 ...

was the village of Sæbø, located on the shores of the

Hjørundfjorden Hjørundfjorden is a fjord in the traditional district of Sunnmøre in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located mostly within Ørsta Municipality, although part of the mouth of the fjord lies in Sykkylven Municipality and the innermost ...

. The villages of Bjørke, Leira, and Store Standal were all a part Hjørundfjord Municipality. Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 204th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Hjørundfjord Municipality was the 480th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 1,776. 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 ...

was and its population had decreased by 3.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality was established on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). The original municipality was the same as the

prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

(parish) of Hjørundfjord. 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, Hjørundfjord Municipality (population: 1,728), Vartdal Municipality (population: 1,315), and

(population: 6,209) were merged to form a new, larger

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 local

(). The first element is the old name of the fjord, . This origin of this name is uncertain, but it may have come from the word which means "

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

". The last element is 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 ...

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 ...

had one parish () within Hjørundfjord Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Hjørundfjord

and the Søre Sunnmøre prosti (

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 ...

Geography

The municipality encircled both sides of the

as well as the Bondalen valley. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Smørskredtindane, whose peak was located about from the border with

Stranda Municipality Stranda is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stranda, ...

. Vartdal Municipality was located to the northwest,

was located to the west,

Volda Municipality Volda is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre is the Volda (village), village of Volda. Other v ...

was located to the southwest, Hornindal Municipality was located to the south (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), Sunnylven Municipality was located to the southeast,

was located to the east, and

Sykkylven Municipality Sykkylven is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre is the village of Aure, Sykkylven, Aure. Othe ...

was located to the northeast.

Government

While it existed, Hjørundfjord Municipality was 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 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. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the

Frostating Court of Appeal The Frostating Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Trondheim. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal. These areas constitute the ...

Municipal council

The

of Hjørundfjord was made up of 17 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 ...

Mayors

The

() of Hjørundfjord Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position: *1838–1851: Hans Olsen Stokke *1852–1853: Ole Olsen Saure *1854–1857: Ole Torstensen Standal *1858–1859: Edvard Storm Munch *1870–1898: Paul Andreas Jetmundsen Aklestad ( V) *1899–1899: Arne Eliasson Grønningsæter *1900–1907: Ole Christian Larsson Tvergrov *1908–1916: John Olson Standal *1917–1919: Jetmund Jakobson Skjaastad *1920–1922: Ole Karlsen Tryggeseth *1923–1931: Bernt Ingebriktson Håndlykken *1932–1934: Knut Jonson Standal *1935–1941: Elias Christian Fanneløb *1941–1942: Trygve Nilsen ( NS) *1942–1945: Ola O. Skylstad ( NS) *1945–1945: Karl A. Tryggeseth *1946–1959: Johannes Bjøringsøy *1960–1963: Jakob E. Øye

Notable people

Knut Skram Knut Skram (born 18 December 1937) is a Norwegian baritone. Considered one of the most important Norwegian opera singers of his generation, his career has spanned more than four decades. Life and career Born in the village of Sæbø in western N ...

(born 1937), a baritone * Rasmus Skylstad (1893–1972), a diplomat

References

External links

Official website about the Hjørundfjord area
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hjorundfjord Ørsta Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Populated places disestablished in 1964