Kvam


Kvam is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality is located along the Hardangerfjorden in the traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Norheimsund. Other larger settlements in the municipality include Øystese, Bru, Ålvik, Tørvikbygd, Omastranda, and Mundheim. Historically, the municipality was named Vikør.
The 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 8,457. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 1.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Hvammr, identical with the word hvammr which means " valley", possibly referring the Steinsdalen valley west of Norheimsund. Before 1911, the municipality was named Vikør, which comes from the Old Norse word Vikøyar. It was the name of the farm on which the old Vikøy Church was located.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 27 November 1981. The blue and silver arms are designed to look like the Fyksesund, a narrow fjord in the municipality. The shape of the fjord is that it is narrower in the middle and this is symbolized in the design of the coat-of-arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway has four parishes within the municipality of Kvam. It is part of the Hardanger og Voss prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.
Parish Church nameLocation of the churchYear built
StrandebarmStrandebarm ChurchBru1876
VikøyNorheimsund ChurchNorheimsund1992
VikøyVikøy ChurchVikøy1838
ØysteseØystese ChurchØystese1868
ÅlvikÅlvik ChurchÅlvik1962

Geography

Kvam municipality borders the municipality of Voss to the north and east; Vaksdal, Samnanger, and Bjørnafjorden to the west; and the Hardangerfjorden to the south. The Fyksesund fjord branches off the main fjord and heads north into the municipality. The Fyksesund Landscape Park surrounds the inner part of the Fyksesund, north of the Fyksesund Bridge. The largest lakes are Bjølsegrøvvatnet and Holmavatnet. In addition a portion of Hamlagrøvatnet is located in Kvam. The Kvamskogen plateau lies west of Norheimsund and is home to hundreds of holiday cabins. The Steinsdalsfossen waterfall, located in Steine is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Norway.

History

The old parish of Vikør was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. According to the 1835 census, the parish had a population of 2,321. On 1 January 1882, a small area of Ullensvang municipality was transferred to Vikør. In 1912, the municipality changed its name from "Vikør" to "Kvam".
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the Åsgrenda area on the Folgefonna peninsula was moved from Kvam to the neighboring Ullensvang 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.
All municipalities in Norway, including Kvam, are responsible for primary education, 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. The municipality falls under the Sunnhordland District Court and the Gulating 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.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Kvam is made up of 27 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayor

The mayors of Kvam :