Ullensvang Municipality

Ullensvang Municipality Ullensvang kommune
Municipality
Ullensvang herad  (historic name) Kinservik herred  (historic name)
View of Utne in Ullensvang
Coat of arms
Vestland within Norway
Ullensvang within Vestland
Coordinates: 60°18′42″N 06°48′53″E / 60.31167°N 6.81472°E / 60.31167; 6.81472
Country	Norway
County	Vestland
District	Hardanger
Established	1 Jan 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Administrative centre	Odda
Government
• Mayor (2019)	Roald Aga Haug (Ap)
Area
• Total	3,229.90 km2 (1,247.07 sq mi)
• Land	2,962.43 km2 (1,143.80 sq mi)
• Water	267.47 km2 (103.27 sq mi)  8.3%
• Rank	#12 in Norway
Highest elevation [1]	1,721.26 m (5,647.2 ft)
Population  (2025)
• Total	10,981
• Rank	#107 in Norway
• Density	3.4/km2 (8.8/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	−3.9%
Demonyms	Sørfjøre Sørfjording[2]
Official language [3]
• Norwegian form	Nynorsk
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-4618[4]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

Ullensvang is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre is the town of Odda. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Lofthus, Utne, Vikebygd, Alsåker, Botnen, Eitrheim, Håra, Røldal, Seljestad, Skare, Tyssedal, Jondal, Herand, Kysnesstranda, and Torsnes.

The main inhabited part of Ullensvang Municipality lies just to the west of Hardangervidda National Park, which covers most of the Hardangervidda plateau, Europe's largest mountain plateau. Most inhabitants live in the narrow coastal mountainsides and valleys along the Hardangerfjorden and Sørfjorden. The largest urban areas in Ullensvang are Odda, Kinsarvik, Jondal, and Lofthus. The Norwegian National Road 13 and the European route E134 are the two main roads through the municipality. National road 13 crosses the Hardangerfjorden via the Hardanger Bridge, just north of the municipal border.

The 3,229.9-square-kilometre (1,247.1 sq mi) municipality is the 12th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Ullensvang Municipality is the 107th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 10,981. The municipality's population density is 3.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (8.8/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 3.9% over the previous 10-year period.[5][6] The number of inhabitants has shown a decrease of several hundred people since 1980. This development can be seen in light of the general depopulation of rural Norway.

A newly built replica of a historic stave church, opened to the public in 2025, above the centre of the town of Odda.[7][8][9]

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Ullensvang farm (Old Norse: Ullinsvangr) since the first Ullensvang Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of the name of the Norse god Ullin (an alternate form of the name Ullr). The last element is vangr which means "field" or "meadow".[10]

From 1838 until 1869, the name was Kinservik Municipality. On 1 January 1869, the name was changed to Ullensvang Municipality.[11]

Ullensvang Municipality historically used the word herad instead of kommune in its name. Both Norwegian words can be translated to be "municipality", but herad is an older word that historically was only used for rural municipalities. Municipalities can choose to use one or the other, but most use the more modern kommune. From 1838 until the mid-20th century, most municipalities used herad or herred (using the Nynorsk or Bokmål spelling) for their name, but after some legal changes in the law on municipalities in the 1950s and onwards, most municipalities switched to kommune. In 2020, when Ullensvang Municipality was enlarged, the municipal council chose to switch to kommune instead of herad. Since that change, there are now three municipalities in Norway that use herad: Voss Municipality, Kvam Municipality, and Ulvik Municipality. There are also a few municipalities with herad in the name such as Kvinnherad Municipality.[12][13]

The original coat of arms was granted on 8 November 1979 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when a new version of the arms was put into use. The official blazon was "Gules, a bar Or between three fleur-de-lis of the same" (Norwegian: I raudt ein gull bjelke følgd av tre gull liljer, to over og ei under bjelken). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a horizontal stripe across the middle, with three fleur-de-lis designs (two above the stripe, one below). The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The design of the arms was derived from the arms of Sigurd Brynjulvsson Galte, a medieval nobleman from the area. They can be seen on his gravestone from 1302 at the local church. As it is the oldest gravestone in the church, the arms were well known in the village, hence the choice for the arms of this knight as municipal arms. The arms were designed by Magnus Hardeland. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[14][15]

A new coat of arms was granted in 2019 for use starting on 1 January 2020 after Odda and Jondal municipalities were merged with Ullensvang. The new arms were the same design as the previous arms, but they incorporated the colors from the old arms of Odda Municipality (blue and white instead of red and gold). The official blazon for the new arms is "Azure, a bar argent between three fleur-de-lis of the same" (Norwegian: I blå ein sølv bjelke følgd av tre sølv liljer, to over og ei under bjelken).[14][16]

• 
  Arms from 1979 to 2019
• 
  Current arms since 2020

The Church of Norway has eight parishes (sokn) within Ullensvang Municipality. It is part of the Hardanger og Voss prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

On 1 January 1838, the large parish of Kinservik was established as a municipality (see formannskapsdistrikt law) and it was named Kinservik Municipality. The large parish was made up of the main parish of Kinservik and the annex of Ullensvang. On 1 January 1869, Ullensvang became the main parish and Kinsarvik became an annex to Ullensvang. At this time the municipality changed its name to Ullensvang Municipality.[11]

On 1 January 1882, a small area of Ullensvang Municipality (population: 22) was transferred to the neighboring Vikør Municipality. On 1 July 1913, Ullensvang was divided into three parts as follows:[11]

• the southern district (population: 3,077) became the new Odda Municipality
• the northern district (population: 1,736) became the new Kinsarvik Municipality
• the central district (population: 1,941) continued as a much smaller Ullensvang Municipality

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the following areas were merged to form a new, much larger Ullensvang Municipality:[11]

• all of Ullensvang Municipality (population: 2,358)
• all of Eidfjord Municipality (population: 983)
• most of Kinsarvik Municipality (population: 1,513), except for the Lussand-Kvanndal area which went to Granvin Municipality

On 1 January 1965, the Åsgrenda area of Kvam Municipality (population: 61) was transferred to Ullensvang Municipality. After the large merger in 1964, there was a lot of discontent in the area of the old Eidfjord Municipality. On 1 January 1977, the area that was Eidfjord Municipality before 1964 became its own municipality once again. This left Ullensvang Municipality with 3,937 residents.[11]

On 1 January 2020, Jondal Municipality, Odda Municipality, and Ullensvang Municipality were merged into a new, larger Ullensvang Municipality. At that time, the administrative centre was moved from the village of Kinsarvik to the larger town of Odda.[17] On 1 January 2022, the Ytre Bu area of Ullensvang (population: 24) was transferred to the neighboring Eidfjord Municipality.[18][19] Historically, this municipality was part of the old Hordaland county. On 1 January 2020, the newly-enlarged Ullensvang Municipality became a part of the newly-formed Vestland county (after Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane counties were merged).[20]

Ullensvang Municipality is located on the shores of the Hardangerfjorden and the Sørfjorden and it stretches all the way up to the Folgefonna glacier inside Folgefonna National Park on the Folgefonna peninsula in the western part of the municipality. The Folgefonna glacier is actually made up of three large sections: Midtre Folgefonna, Nordre Folgefonna, and Søndre Folgefonna. The municipality continues up to the vast Hardangervidda plateau in the east, including part of the Hardangervidda National Park. The lakes Juklavatnet, Kvennsjøen, Langavatnet, Ringedalsvatnet, Røldalsvatnet, Sandvinvatnet, Valldalsvatnet, Veivatnet, and Votna are all located in the municipality. Ullensvang has many waterfalls including Espelandsfossen, Låtefossen, Skrikjofossen, and Tyssestrengene. The highest point in the municipality is the 1,721.26-metre (5,647.2 ft) tall mountain Sandfloegga.[1] The mountains Hårteigen and Kistenuten are also located in the municipality.[25]

Voss Municipality lies to the north, Ulvik Municipality and Eidfjord Municipality both lie to the northeast, Vinje Municipality (in Telemark county) lies to the east, Suldal Municipality and Sauda Municipality (both are in Rogaland county) lie to the south, Etne Municipality and Kvinnherad Municipality lie to the southwest, and Kvam Municipality lies to the west.

The lowland areas of Ullensvang near the Hardangerfjord has a temperate oceanic climate (marine west coast climate, Cfb in the Köppen climate classification). The average daily high range from 3.0 °C (37.4 °F) in January and February to 20.0 °C (68.0 °F) in July. The driest season is April - August, while the wettest is October - March. The all-time high temperature is 33.5 °C (92.3 °F) recorded 28 July 2019; the all-time low is −14.5 °C (5.9 °F) recorded 9 February 1966. The weather station Ullensvang Forsøksgard has been recording temperature since 1865.

Ullensvang Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.[28] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Hordaland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Ullensvang Municipality is made up of 33 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

The mayor (Nynorsk: ordførar) of Ullensvang Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:[48][49]

In 2016, the chief of police for Vestlandet formally suggested a reconfiguration of police districts and stations. He proposed that the police station for Ullensvang og Eidfjord be closed.[50]

Ullensvang is Norway's biggest supplier of fruit, especially sweet cherries and apples. Every summer a cherry festival is held at Lofthus, where the Norwegian championship of cherry stone spitting is held. The record is 14.24 metres (46.7 ft) by S. Kleivkaas. Each May, a musical festival is held at Ullensvang Hotel (built in 1846), when musicians from all of Norway come to the village. The famous composer Edvard Grieg spent many summers at Lofthus, and the festival is held in his honor. During the summer, the population is doubled due to tourism. Attractions in addition to the previous mentioned, are the medieval Ullensvang Church at Lofthus (built around 1250) and Kinsarvik Church (built around 1150), several waterfalls such as the Skrikjofossen, the flowering season in May, and museums at Aga, Utne, and Skredhaugen.

Noted buildings include one that is inspired by a stave church (and sometimes incorrectly[51] called a copy of a stave church), Lothepus' stave church.

• Nils Christian Egede Hertzberg (1827 in Ullensvang – 1911), a theologian, educator, and politician
• Knud Knudsen (1832 in Odda – 1915), one of Norway's first professional photographers
• Halldor O. Opedal (1895 in Lofthus – 1986), a teacher and folklorist
• Eiliv Austlid (1899 in Ullensvang – 1940), a farmer and army officer
• Torbjørn Mork (1928 in Odda – 1992), a physician and civil servant

• Nils Tjoflot (1865 in Tjoflot – 1898), a violinist
• Georg Brochmann (1894 in Ullensvang – 1952), a journalist, writer and playwright
• Zinken Hopp (1905 in Ullensvang – 1987), an author, poet and playwright
• Claes Gill (1910 in Odda - 1973), an author, poet, and actor [52]
• Anne B. Ragde (born 1957 in Odda), a novelist[53]
• Frode Grytten (born 1960), a writer and journalist who grew up in Odda
• Knut Olav Åmås (born 1968 in Odda), a writer, editor, and politician
• Svein Olav Herstad (born 1969 in Odda), a jazz pianist
• Leif Einar Lothe (born 1969 in Odda), a TV personality who uses the stage name Lothepus
• Marit Eikemo (born 1971 in Odda), an essayist, novelist, journalist, and magazine editor
• Rannveig Djønne (born 1974 in Djønno), a folk musician

• Roger Albertsen (1957–2003), a football midfielder with over 300 club caps and 25 for Norway
• Håkon Opdal (born 1982 in Odda), a footballer with over 350 club caps and 12 for Norway

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway (in Norwegian)