Kvam Municipality Kvam herad | |
|---|---|
| Vikør herred (historic name) | |
View of Norheimsund in Kvam | |
Vestland within Norway | |
Kvam within Vestland | |
| Coordinates:60°22′12″N06°08′38″E / 60.37000°N 6.14389°E /60.37000; 6.14389 | |
| Country | Norway |
| County | Vestland |
| District | Hardanger |
| Established | 1 Jan 1838 |
| • Created as | Formannskapsdistrikt |
| Administrative centre | Norheimsund |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2019) | Torgeir Næss (Ap) |
| Area | |
• Total | 616.94 km2 (238.20 sq mi) |
| • Land | 580.40 km2 (224.09 sq mi) |
| • Water | 36.54 km2 (14.11 sq mi) 5.9% |
| • Rank | #188 in Norway |
| Population (2023) | |
• Total | 8,531 |
| • Rank | #126 in Norway |
| • Density | 14.7/km2 (38/sq mi) |
| • Change(10 years) | |
| Demonym | Kvemming[1] |
| Official language | |
| • Norwegian form | Nynorsk |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| ISO 3166 code | NO-4622[3] |
| Website | Official website |
Kvam is amunicipality inVestland county,Norway. The municipality is located along theHardangerfjorden in thetraditional district ofHardanger. Theadministrative centre of the municipality is the village ofNorheimsund. Other larger settlements in the municipality includeØystese,Bru,Ålvik,Tørvikbygd, Omastranda, andMundheim. Historically, the municipality was namedVikør.[4]
The 617-square-kilometre (238 sq mi) municipality is the 188th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Kvam is the 126th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 8,531. The municipality'spopulation density is 14.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (38/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 0.6% over the previous 10-year period.[5][6]

The municipality (originally theparish) was first namedVikør after the oldVikøy farm (Old Norse:Víkeyjar) since the firstVikøy Church was built there. The first element isvík which means "smallbay", "cove", or "inlet". The last element is thegenitive case ofey which means "island". This is likely referring to the small island in the little cove just east of the farm.[7]
On 1 December 1911, aroyal resolution changed the name of the municipality toKvam, bringing back an old name for the area (Old Norse:Hvammr).[8] The name is identical to the wordhvammr which means "smallvalley" or "grassy hollow", possibly referring the Steinsdalen valley west of Norheimsund.[9][10]
Thecoat of arms was granted on 27 November 1981. The officialblazon is"Azure, apalepatteeargent" (Norwegian:I blått ein innsvinga sølv stolpe). This means the arms have a bluefield (background) and theordinary is apale that curves inwards on each side. The ordinary has atincture ofargent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms were designed to look like theFyksesund, a narrowfjord in the municipality. The shape of the fjord is that it is narrower in the middle and this is symbolized in the design. The arms were designed by Magnus Hardeland. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[11][12][13]
TheChurch of Norway has four parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Kvam. It is part of theHardanger og Voss prosti (deanery) in theDiocese of Bjørgvin.
| Parish (sokn) | Church name | Location of the church | Year built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strandebarm | Strandebarm Church | Bru | 1876 |
| Vikøy | Norheimsund Church | Norheimsund | 1992 |
| Vikøy Church | Vikøy | 1838 | |
| Øystese | Øystese Church | Øystese | 1868 |
| Ålvik | Ålvik Church | Ålvik | 1962 |


Kvam municipality borders the municipality ofVoss to the north and east;Vaksdal,Samnanger, andBjørnafjorden to the west; and theHardangerfjorden to the south. TheFyksesund fjord branches off the main fjord and heads north into the municipality. TheFyksesund Landscape Park surrounds the inner part of the Fyksesund, north of theFyksesund Bridge. The largest lakes areBjølsegrøvvatnet andHolmavatnet. In addition a portion ofHamlagrøvatnet is located in Kvam. TheKvamskogen plateau lies west ofNorheimsund and is home to hundreds ofholiday cabins. TheSteinsdalsfossen waterfall, located inSteine is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Norway.
The oldparish ofVikør was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (seeformannskapsdistrikt law). According to the 1835 census, the parish had a population of 2,321.[14] On 1 January 1882, a small area ofUllensvang municipality (population: 22) was transferred to Vikør. In 1912, the municipality changed its name from "Vikør" to "Kvam".[15][16]
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of theSchei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the Åsgrenda area on the Folgefonna peninsula (population: 61) was moved from Kvam to the neighboringUllensvang Municipality. On the same date, Kvam also gained a considerable amount of territory, making it a much larger municipality. The following places were merged, giving the new Kvam municipality a population of 9,119.[16]
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| Note: The municipal borders were changed in 1965, causing a significant change in the population. Source:Statistics Norway[5][17] and Norwegian Historical Data Centre[18] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kvam Municipality is responsible forprimary education (through 10th grade), outpatienthealth services,senior citizen services,welfare and othersocial services,zoning,economic development, and municipalroads and utilities. The municipality is governed by amunicipal council ofdirectly elected representatives. Themayor isindirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.[19] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of theHordaland District Court and theGulating Court of Appeal.
In 2007, Kvam participated in a trial where the mayor was directly elected. The sitting mayor, Astrid Selsvold, won the election with 26.7% of the votes.
Themunicipal council (Heradsstyre) of Kvam is made up of 27 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by politicalparty.
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 6 | |
| Progress Party(Framstegspartiet) | 6 | |
| Green Party(Miljøpartiet Dei Grøne) | 1 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 4 | |
| Industry and Business Party(Industri‑ og Næringspartiet) | 1 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 2 | |
| Red Party(Raudt) | 1 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 4 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 1 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 1 | |
| Total number of members: | 27 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 6 | |
| Progress Party(Framstegspartiet) | 4 | |
| Green Party(Miljøpartiet Dei Grøne) | 2 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 2 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 3 | |
| Red Party(Raudt) | 1 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 8 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 1 | |
| Total number of members: | 27 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 6 | |
| Progress Party(Framstegspartiet) | 3 | |
| Green Party(Miljøpartiet Dei Grøne) | 1 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 3 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 3 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 9 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 1 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 1 | |
| Total number of members: | 27 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 4 | |
| Progress Party(Framstegspartiet) | 3 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 4 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 4 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 6 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 1 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 2 | |
| Kvam Cross-Party List(Kvam Tverrpolitiske liste) | 3 | |
| Total number of members: | 27 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 6 | |
| Progress Party(Framstegspartiet) | 2 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 4 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 3 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 5 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 1 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 3 | |
| The Independents(Dei uavhengige) | 3 | |
| Total number of members: | 27 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 7 | |
| Progress Party(Framstegspartiet) | 2 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 4 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 4 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 6 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 2 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 2 | |
| Total number of members: | 27 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 7 | |
| Progress Party(Framstegspartiet) | 2 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 5 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 5 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 7 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 2 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 2 | |
| Cross-party local list(Tverrpolitisk grendaliste) | 2 | |
| Green local list(Grøn bygdeliste) | 1 | |
| Total number of members: | 33 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 8 | |
| Progress Party(Framstegspartiet) | 2 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 4 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 7 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 12 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 2 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 3 | |
| Cross-party local list(Tverrpolitisk Grendeliste) | 2 | |
| Total number of members: | 41 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 9 | |
| Progress Party(Framstegspartiet) | 2 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 7 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 6 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 12 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 4 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 1 | |
| Total number of members: | 41 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 12 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 9 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 8 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 7 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 2 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 3 | |
| Total number of members: | 41 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 11 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 10 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 9 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 7 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 2 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 2 | |
| Total number of members: | 41 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 9 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 10 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 9 | |
| New People's Party(Nye Folkepartiet) | 1 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 8 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 1 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 3 | |
| Total number of members: | 41 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 10 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 5 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 10 | |
| New People's Party(Nye Folkepartiet) | 3 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 10 | |
| Socialist Left Party(Sosialistisk Venstreparti) | 2 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 1 | |
| Total number of members: | 41 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 12 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 4 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 9 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 11 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 5 | |
| Total number of members: | 41 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 13 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 5 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 8 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 8 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 7 | |
| Total number of members: | 41 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 9 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 3 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 5 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 4 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 4 | |
| Total number of members: | 25 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 9 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 2 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 6 | |
| Centre Party(Senterpartiet) | 5 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 3 | |
| Total number of members: | 25 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 8 | |
| Conservative Party(Høgre) | 1 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 6 | |
| Farmers' Party(Bondepartiet) | 6 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 4 | |
| Total number of members: | 25 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 8 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 5 | |
| Farmers' Party(Bondepartiet) | 6 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 5 | |
| Total number of members: | 24 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 5 | |
| Christian Democratic Party(Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 2 | |
| Farmers' Party(Bondepartiet) | 3 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 5 | |
| List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders(Arbeidarar, fiskarar, småbrukarar liste) | 1 | |
| Local List(s)(Lokale lister) | 8 | |
| Total number of members: | 24 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 5 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 4 | |
| List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders(Arbeidarar, fiskarar, småbrukarar liste) | 1 | |
| Local List(s)(Lokale lister) | 14 | |
| Total number of members: | 24 | |
| Party name(in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party(Arbeidarpartiet) | 5 | |
| Liberal Party(Venstre) | 7 | |
| Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties(Borgarlege Felleslister) | 12 | |
| Total number of members: | 24 | |
| Note: Due to theGerman occupation of Norway duringWorld War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945. | ||
Themayors (Nynorsk:ordførar) of Kvam:[39]

