Lavik is a former municipality in the old

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 ...

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 ...

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 western part of the present-day municipality of

Høyanger Høyanger () is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the village of Høyanger. Other villages in Høyanger municipality include Austreim, Bjordal, Kyrkjeb� ...

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. The municipality was mostly on the northern side 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 ...

. A small part of Lavik was located on the southern side of the Sognefjorden, a narrow strip of land running south around the Ikjefjorden, past the village of Øystrebø, all the way south to the border with

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

county. The municipality of Lavik existed from 1838 until 1861 and then again from 1905 until 1964. Upon its dissolution, the municipality was . 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 the municipality was the village of Lavik where

Lavik Church Lavik Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Høyanger Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Lavik on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden. It is the church for the Lavik parish which is part ...

is located.

History

''Ladevig'' (later spelled ''Lavik'') 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 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). In 1858, the district of Klævold was separated from Lavik to constitute a municipality of its own. The split left Lavik with 2,042 inhabitants. ''Klævold'' was later renamed

Kyrkjebø Kyrkjebø is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1858 until 1964 when it became part of the new municipality of Høyanger w ...

. In 1861, Lavik (population: 926) was merged with the municipality of

Brekke Brekke is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The municipality has existed two separate times: from 1850 until 1861 and then again from 1905 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the northeastern part o ...

(population: 898), located on the south side of the

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

, to form the new municipality of

Lavik og Brekke Lavik og Brekke is a Former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane Counties of Norway, county in Norway. It is in the present-day municipalities of Gulen (municipality), Gulen and Høyanger in Vestland county. ...

. On 1 January 1875, a part of Klævold with 90 inhabitants was moved to

. On 1 January 1905, the municipality was divided into two separate municipalities once again: Lavik (population: 1,182) and

(population: 892). 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, Lavik (population: 894) was merged with the neighboring municipality of

(population: 4,742) and the unpopulated Nybø and Nygjerdet areas of

Vik Municipality Vik is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the southern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of Vik is the village of Vikøyri. Other villages in the municipality includ ...

to form the new municipality of

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 ''Lavik'' farm () since the first

was built there. The first element has an uncertain meaning. One possibility is that it comes from the word which means "pile" or "stack". The last element likely comes from the word which means "

inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...

" or "

cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

". Historically the spelling has varied greatly. It was ''Laduigh'' in the 16th century, ''Laduig'' in the 17th century, ''Ladvig'' in the 18th century, ''Ladevig'' in the 19th century, and finally ''Lavik'' in the 20th century.

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 Lavik: *1838-1850: Jacob Gabriel Lund *1851-1852: Hans H. Hellebø *1853-1853: Mattias O. Lønnebotten *1854-1857: I. Løland *1858-1860: Peder Fredrik Hartwig ''(1861-1904: Part of

Municipality)'' *1905-1914: Lasse Trædal *1920-1925: Mons A. Ringereide *1926-1936: Johannes Instefjord *1936-1937: Edvard Hellem *1938-1940: Einar Raasholm *1941-1942: Hans K. Torvund *1943-1945: Kåre Nyheim *1945-1945: Einar Raasholm *1945-1947: Gjert Raae *1948-1955: Thomas Kvammen *1956-1964: Einar Lavik

Municipal council

The

of Lavik 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

*
Map of Lavik parish
(roughly the same as the old municipality) {{use dmy dates, date=June 2023 Høyanger Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 1861 disestablishments in Norway 1905 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway