Voss

Voss ( pronunciation  (help ·info ) ) is a municipality and a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages include Bolstadøyri, Borstrondi, Evanger, Kvitheim, Mjølfjell, Oppheim, Stalheim, and Vinje.

The 2,042-square-kilometre (788 sq mi) municipality is the 35th largest by area of Norway's 356 municipalities. Voss is Norway's 77th most populous municipality, with a population of 15,740. Its population density is 8 inhabitants per square kilometre (21/sq mi) and its population has increased by 6% over the last 10 years.[3][4]

The parish of Voss was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1867, a small area in northern Voss (population 28) was transferred to the municipality of Hosanger. On 1 January 1868, the municipality's northern district (population 2,009) was separated to form the new municipality of Vossestrand. This left 7,592 residents in Voss. On 21 August 1868, an unpopulated area of northern Voss was transferred to Vossestrand. On 1 January 1885, the western district of Voss (population 2,045) was separated to form the new municipality of Evanger. This left Voss with 5,403 residents.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Voss (population 10,575), the municipality of Vossestrand (population 1,573), and most of the municipality of Evanger (population 1,075) were all merged into a new, larger municipality of Voss. (The rest of Evanger was merged into the new municipality of Vaksdal.)[5]

On 1 January 2020, the neighboring municipality of Granvin merged with Voss, creating a larger Voss municipality. Before the merger, it was known as Voss kommune, but afterward it was called Voss herad, using the title herad which Granvin formerly had used.[6]

The Old Norse form of the name was Vǫrs, and this might have been the old name of lake Vangsvatnet. If so, the name probably is derived from the word vǫrr, meaning "wave" or "sea" (-s is a common suffix in old Norwegian place names).[7]

Voss's coat of arms was adopted in 2019 for use starting in 2020 after Granvin and Voss merged. The arms were similar to the old arms of Granvin Municipality and used the colors of the old arms of Voss. The arms are red with a white hardanger fiddle (Hardingfele), a Norwegian folk instrument. The area has an active folk-music tradition.[8]

The old arms were granted on 8 July 1977. They show a deer on a red background. The arms are based on the seal of Peter, who was the owner of the farm Finne in Voss, one of the largest farms in Western Norway during the Middle Ages. He used a silver deer on a red background as his personal coat of arms in 1303. His son also used a deer on his seals, as did most of their relatives until 1460. The shape and position of the deer varied, but it always was the main figure.[9]

Current arms since 2020

Arms from 1977 to 2019

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

View of Voss Church

Local youth perform at the [1] Voss Kulturhus

A girl of Voss, c. 1900

Fire in Voss after April 1940 bombing (Voss church is at far left)

After the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, Voss was the main point of mobilisation for the Norwegian Army in the west, since the city of Bergen had already fallen on 9 April. From Bergen and the Hardangerfjord, the Nazis met stiff Norwegian resistance. In Hardanger, some of the Germans climbed up the mountains from Aalvik; the rest went through Granvin. To break down this resistance, the Luftwaffe bombed Voss on 23 and 24 April, and the surrounding countryside on 25 April. Nine people lost their lives in the bombing, which completely destroyed the old wood-built town centre. On 26 April, German forces entered Voss, which remained occupied until 8 May 1945.

In 1964, Voss was enlarged with the incorporation of the neighbouring municipalities Vossestrand and Evanger, which had until then been separate municipalities within the traditional district also known as Voss.

All municipalities in Norway, including Voss, 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. Voss is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elects a mayor.[10] Voss falls under the Bergen District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Voss's municipal council (Heradsstyre) is made up of 43 representatives who are elected to four-year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

The mayors of Voss (incomplete list):

Voss is in the innermost part of Bolstadsfjorden and includes the valleys that head inland from there. Voss has several large lakes: Evangervatnet, Hamlagrøvatnet, Lønavatnet, Oppheimsvatnet, Torfinnsvatnet, and Vangsvatnet. In the north, Voss reaches to the Nærøydalen valley, which leads to the Nærøyfjorden. The Stalheimsfossen waterfall near Stalheim sits just above that valley. The Raundalen valley in the east is the main route of the Bergensbanen railway line, which connects eastern and western Norway.

Voss has a humid continental climate (Dfb in the Köppen climate classification if 0 °C (32 °F) is used as winter threshold. If the original −3 °C (27 °F) is used, then Voss will be classified as an oceanic climate (Cfb). The wettest time of year is October - January, and the driest season is April - July. The all-time high temperature is 34.1 °C (93.4 °F) recorded 24 July 2014; the all-time low is −30.4 °C (−22.7 °F) recorded 8 January 2010.

Voss is surrounded by snow-capped mountains, forests, lakes and fast-flowing whitewater rivers. This has led to its development as a notable center of skiing, water sports, skydiving, paragliding and other adventure sports. Every year in the last week of June the area hosts the Ekstremsportveko[32] (Extreme Sports Week), which is regarded as the world's premier extreme sports festival. Bømoen, the local airstrip, is home to Skydive Voss, one of the largest dropzones in Norway, as well as a gliding club. The rivers provide various levels of white water, attracting kayaking, rafting and river boarding. Kite surfing and para-bungee may be seen on lake Vangsvatnet. The ski area, to the north of the town, is accessible via a cable car, Hangursbanen. There is also chair lift access from Bavallen, a short distance northeast of Voss.

The town's proximity to the Sognefjord and its position between Bergen and Flåm on the scenic railway have made it popular with tourists. One of the sights on the road to Flåm is the waterfall Tvindefossen.

The Voss Museum displays several old farmsteads, including a larger-than-life stone statue of Lars O. Kindem. Next to the open-air part, there is a museum with over 20,000 items from traditional farm life.

Voss has a wide range of habitats, from high barren mountains to rich fertile valleys. The large areas of coniferous forests provide food and shelter for a host of species, while the many wetland areas are regarded as some of the most interesting birding habitats in the county. There is a bird reserve at Lønaøyane with marked paths and a tower hide. Over 155 species have been seen there. Many are common in Scandinavia, but the area has also produced such unexpected species as the great egret, European hobby, and woodlark.

Voss is a winter sports center and has in recent times been the home of many world-class athletes in several winter sports, most prominently biathlon, but also alpine skiing, nordic skiing and freestyle skiing. In all, athletes from Voss have won 6 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 7 bronze medals at winter Olympic games. Athletes from Voss have been present, representing Norway, at every winter Olympic games except one since 1948 Winter Olympics, the exception being 1972.

Like the rest of Western Norway, Voss saw large-scale emigration, particularly to the United States, in the 19th and early 20th centuries.