Fjaler

Fjaler kommune
Municipality
View of Fjaler to the left of the fjord
Coat of arms Sogn og Fjordane within Norway
Fjaler within Sogn og Fjordane
Coordinates: 61°18′22″N 05°27′48″E / 61.30611°N 5.46333°ECoordinates: 61°18′22″N 05°27′48″E / 61.30611°N 5.46333°E
Country	Norway
County	Sogn og Fjordane
District	Sunnfjord
Administrative centre	Dale i Sunnfjord
Government
• Mayor (2003)	Arve Helle (Ap)
Area
• Total	416.56 km^2 (160.83 sq mi)
• Land	389.91 km^2 (150.55 sq mi)
• Water	26.65 km^2 (10.29 sq mi)
Area rank	234 in Norway
Population (2013)
• Total	2,871
• Rank	278 in Norway
• Density	7.4/km^2 (19/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	-1.9 %
Demonym(s)	Dalsfjording Fjalerbu[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1429
Official language form	Nynorsk
Website	www.fjaler.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Fjaler is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre is the village of Dale. Other places in Fjaler include Espedal, Flekke, Folkestad, Guddal, and Hellevika.

Fjaler was the birthplace of famous Norwegian poet Jakob Sande. The Red Cross Nordic United World College at Haugland, one of the twelve United World Colleges of the world is also located here, as well as the Nordic Art Centre at Dalsåsen. There is a bridge connecting Dale to Eikenes in Askvoll municipality, and buses depart from Dale to Førde, Rysjedalsvika, Hyllestad, and the western part of Fjaler. Førde Airport, Bringeland is located about 28 kilometres (17 mi) to the east, with flights to Oslo and Bergen.

General information

Map of Fjaler

View of Dale Church

Ytre Holmedal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The original municipality was identical to the Ytre Holmedal parish (prestegjeld) with the sub-parishes (sokn) of Holmedal, Dale, and Fjaler. In 1912, the name Ytre Holmedal was changed to Fjaler.^[2]

On 1 January 1990, some changes were made to the boundaries between the municipalities of Fjaler, Gaular, and Askvoll. The areas surrounding the villages of Fure, Folkestad, and Våge (population: 482) in Askvoll were transferred to Fjaler municipality. The areas surrounding the villages of Vårdal, Holmedal, Rivedal, and a part of Hestad (population: 731) in Fjaler were transferred to Askvoll municipality. The parts of Hestad that did not go to Askvoll (population: 90) were transferred to Gaular municipality.^[3]

Name

The name (Old Norse: Fjalir) originally belonged to the fjord (now called the Dalsfjorden). The name is probably the plural form of Old Norse fjǫl (fjalir, earlier fjalar^[4]), which means "board". The old name was revived in 1913; before then the name of the municipality was Ytre Holmedal.^[5]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 8 February 1991. The arms show two grey bridges on a red background. The two bridges represent the old, historic bridges in the municipality that are part of the old post road that goes through Fjaler on its way to Trondheim.^[6]

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Fjaler. It is part of the Sunnfjord deanery in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

Churches in Fjaler

Parish (Sokn)	Church Name	Location of the Church	Year Built
Fjaler	Dale Church	Dale	1864
	Folkestad Chapel	Våge	1913
	Guddal Church	Guddal	1870
	Hellevik Chapel	Hellevika	1978

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Fjaler, are responsible for primary education (up to and including 10th year), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Fjaler is made up of 23 representatives that are elected to every four years. For 2015–2019, the party breakdown is as follows:^[7]

Fjaler Kommunestyre 2015–2019

Party Name		Name in Norwegian	Number of representatives
	Labour Party	Arbeiderpartiet	7
	Conservative Party	Høgre	2
	Christian Democratic Party	Kristelig Folkeparti	1
	Green Party	Miljøpartiet Dei Grøne	1
	Centre Party	Senterpartiet	8
	Socialist Left Party	Sosialistisk Venstreparti	1
	Liberal Party	Venstre	3
Total number of members:			23

Mayor

The mayor (ordførar) of a municipality in Norway is a representative of the majority party or a majority coalition of the municipal council who is elected to lead the council. Gunhild Berge Stang of the Liberal Party was elected mayor in the 2015 elections. Nina Yndestad of the Labour Party holds the post of vice mayor. ^[8]

Geography

Fjaler municipality lies to the south of the Dalsfjord in the Sunnfjord region. The municipality of Askvoll lies to the north (across the fjord), the municipality of Gaular lies to the northeast, the municipality of Høyanger lies to the southeast, and the municipalities of Hyllestad and Solund lie to the southwest.

References

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
2. Natvik, Oddvar (9 February 2005). "Some historical data on the 26 Kommunes".
3. Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway.
4. http://norse.ulver.com/dct/new/version2.html
5. Rygh, Oluf (1919). Norske gaardnavne: Nordre Bergenhus amt (in Norwegian) (12 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 263.
6. "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
7. "Fjaler municipality Municipal council election 2015" (in Norwegian). Valgresultat.no. 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-17. line feed character in |title= at position 20 (help)
8. "Gunhild blir ny ordførar i Fjaler" (in Norwegian). NRK Sogn og Fjordane. Retrieved 2015-09-17.

External links

• Map of Fjaler