Ullensvang

 

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".^[9] Prior to the 2020 municipal merger, this municipality was called Ullensvang herad, but after the merger it was called Ullensvang kommune.

 

 

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.^[10][11]

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).^[10][12]

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

 

On 1 January 1838, the large parish of Kinsarvik was established as a municipality (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The large parish was made up of the main parish 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. On 1 January 1882, a small area of Ullensvang (population: 22) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Vikør. On 1 July 1913, the municipality of Ullensvang was divided into three parts: the northwestern part became Kinsarvik Municipality, the southern part became Odda Municipality, and the rest remained as Ullensvang Municipality, albeit much smaller. This left Ullensvang with 1,941 residents.^[13]

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 into one large municipality: all of Ullensvang Municipality, all of Eidfjord Municipality, and most of Kinsarvik Municipality (except for the Lussand-Kvanndal area which went to Granvin Municipality). The newly enlarged municipality was named Ullensvang. On 1 January 1965, the Åsgrenda area of Kvam Municipality (population: 61) was transferred to Ullensvang. This new, large municipality of Ullensvang that was created in 1964-1965 was not long-lived. On 1 January 1977, the area that once was Eidfjord Municipality became its own municipality once again. This left Ullensvang with 3,937 residents.^[13]

On 1 January 2020, the three neighboring municipalities of Jondal, Odda, and Ullensvang 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.^[14] On 1 January 2022, the Ytre Bu area of Ullensvang (population: 24) was transferred to the neighboring Eidfjord Municipality.^[15][16]

 

The municipality of Ullensvang 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. It continues up to the vast Hardangervidda plateau in the east, including part of the Hardangervidda National Park. The lakes Kvensjøen and Veivatnet as well as the mountain Hårteigen are all located in Ullensvang on the plateau.^[21]

The lowland areas of Ullensvang near the Hardanger fjord 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.^[24] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Hordaland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Ullensvang 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 mayors (Nynorsk: ordførar) of Ullensvang:^[44]

 

 

• 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 Norwegian teacher and folklorist
• Eiliv Austlid (1899 in Ullensvang – 1940), a Norwegian farmer and army officer
• Torbjørn Mork (1928 in Odda – 1992), a Norwegian physician and civil servant

• Nils Tjoflot (1865 in Tjoflot – 1898), a Norwegian violinist
• Georg Brochmann (1894 in Ullensvang – 1952), a journalist, writer and playwright
• Zinken Hopp (1905 in Ullensvang – 1987), a Norwegian author, poet and playwright
• Claes Gill (1910 in Odda - 1973), a Norwegian author, poet, and actor ^[45]
• Anne B. Ragde (born 1957 in Odda), a Norwegian novelist^[46]
• Frode Grytten (born 1960), a Norwegian writer and journalist who grew up in Odda
• Knut Olav Åmås (born 1968 in Odda), a Norwegian writer, editor, and politician
• Svein Olav Herstad (born 1969 in Odda), a jazz pianist
• Leif Einar Lothe (born 1969 in Odda), a Norwegian 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 Norwegian 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

 

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.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ullensvang.

 

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Hardanger.

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway (in Norwegian)