Bygland

Bygland kommune
Bygland kommune
	Municipality
	View of Bygland
	Coat of arms Agder within ; Norway
	Bygland within Agder
	Coordinates: 58°55′27″N 07°45′53″E
Country	Norway
County	Agder
District	Setesdal
Administrative centre	Bygland
Government
• Mayor (2011)	Leiv Rygg (Sp)
Area
• Total	1,311.66 km2 (506.43 sq mi)
• Land	1,150.25 km2 (444.11 sq mi)
• Water	161.41 km2 (62.32 sq mi)
Area rank	70 in Norway
Population (2017)
• Total	1,200
• Rank	380 in Norway
• Density	1.0/km2 (3/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	-5.7%
Demonym(s)	Byglending[1]
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-4220
Official language form	Nynorsk[2]
Website	www.bygland.kommune.no
	Data from Statistics Norway

Bygland is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Setesdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bygland. Other villages in the municipality include Åraksbø, Austad, Byglandsfjord, Grendi, Langeid, Lauvdal, Litveit, Longerak, Moi, Ose, Sandnes, Skåmedal, and Tveit. The Norwegian National Road 9 runs through the municipality, following the river Otra where most of the population of Bygland lives.

The 1,312-square-kilometre (507 sq mi) municipality is the 70th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Bygland is the 380th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,200. The municipality's population density is 1 inhabitant per square kilometre (2.6/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 5.7% over the last decade.[3]

General information

View of Åraksbø

View of the Reiårsfossen waterfall

View of Bygland Church

The parish of Bygland was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Since that time, the municipal boundaries have not changed.[4]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Bygland farm (Old Norse: Byggland), since the first Bygland Church was built there. The first element is bygg which means "barley" and the last element is land which means "land" or "farm".[5]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 15 November 1991. The green arms show a yellow European lynx (Lynx lynx), which symbolises the wild and rich nature in the rural highlands of the municipality. The green background symbolises the agriculture and forests in the municipality.[6][7]

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Bygland. It is part of the Otredal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.

**Churches in Bygland**
Parish (Sokn)	Church Name	Location of the Church	Year Built
Bygland	Austad Church	Tveit	1880
	Bygland Church	Bygland	1838
	Sandnes Church	Åraksbø	1844
Årdal	Årdal Church	Grendi	1828

Geography

Bygland lies in the middle of the Setesdal valley which is also a traditional district in Aust-Agder county. The valley includes the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes. The Otra river flows from the glacially scoured Hardangervidda plateau in the north, through the Setesdal valley (and through Bygland), and into the sea near the city of Kristiansand. The municipality is bordered on the north by Valle, in the east by Fyresdal (Telemark county) and Åmli (Aust-Agder county), in the south by Froland and Evje og Hornnes, and in the west by Åseral, Kvinesdal, and Sirdal (all in Vest-Agder county).

Bygland is Aust-Agder's second largest municipality in area. The majority of the area of the municipality lies in the Setesdalsheiene mountains, at an elevation of over 700 metres (2,300 ft) above sea level. The municipality stretches from the small town Byglandsfjord in the south to the farms at Langeid in the north. Lake Byglandsfjorden is 40 kilometres (25 mi) long and lies on the river Otra. Other lakes include the Åraksfjorden, Gyvatn, Hovatn, Kvifjorden, Longerakvatnet, Straumsfjorden, and Topsæ. The rivers Otra and Topdalsfjorden both run through Bygland on their way south. The Reiårsfossen waterfall is one of many waterfalls in the municipality.

History

View of Bygland farmers (c. 1885)

View of a railway station along the Setesdal Line

View of the SS Bjoren

The Setesdal Line was a narrow gauge steam railway which went between Vennesla and Byglandsfjord in Bygland. It was built in 1896. The Setesdal Line's operation was terminated in 1962 and the track was removed between Byglandsfjord and Beihølen.

Other transport up the Setesdal valley was provided by the steamships SS Bjoren and Dølen. First placed in operation in 1866, the SS Bjoren is still in operation as a tourist attraction on lake Byglandsfjorden during the summers.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Bygland, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), 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 Bygland is made up of 15 representatives that are elected to four year terms. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:[8]

*Bygland Kommunestyre 2015–2019*
Party Name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	3
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	5
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	7
Total number of members:		15

Attractions

Byglandsfjord Station, a former railway station constructed in 1896
SS Bjoren, a wood-fuelled heritage steamboat that travels the route between Byglandsfjord-Bygland and Bygland-Ose on the lake Byglandsfjorden in the summer.
Bygland tower, a folk museum.

References

"Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
"Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
Statistisk sentralbyrå (2017). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-11-05.
Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nedenes amt (in Norwegian) (8 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 204.
"Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2017-04-23.
"Kommunevåpenet" (in Norwegian). Bygland kommune. Retrieved 2017-04-23.
"Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.

External links

Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway (in Norwegian)
Aust-Agder travel guide from Wikivoyage
Culture in Bygland on the map (in Norwegian)
The Steamboat Bjoren (in Norwegian)

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[1] "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.

[2] "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.

[ssb_pop-3] Statistisk sentralbyrå (2017). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-11-05.

[4] Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.

[5] Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nedenes amt (in Norwegian) (8 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 204.

[6] "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2017-04-23.

[7] "Kommunevåpenet" (in Norwegian). Bygland kommune. Retrieved 2017-04-23.

[8] "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.