Aurland () is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the village of Aurlandsvangen. Other villages include Bakka, Flåm, Undredal, and Gudvangen.
The municipality is the 60th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Aurland is the 293rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,766. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 3.2% over the previous 10-year period.
General information
Aurland was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The original municipality was identical to the Aurland parish (prestegjeld) with the sub-parishes () of Aurlandsvangen, Flåm, and Undredal. In 1859, the sub-parish of Nærøy was created by separating it from the sub-parish of Undredal. The municipal borders have not changed since 1838.
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old village of Aurland () since the first Vangen Church was built there. The first element is which means "gravel" or "moist earth". The last element is which means "land" or "district".
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 22 May 1987. The official blazon is "Azure, a goat buck's head erased argent" (). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is the head of a male goat. The goat head has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. A goat was considered an appropriate symbol for the municipality since the area is famed for its goat farming and its production of goat cheese. The arms were designed by Inge Rotevatn. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.
Churches
The Church of Norway has four parishes () within the municipality of Aurland. It is part of the Sogn prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.
History
The earliest inhabitants lived by hunting and fishing until they gradually started farming about 2,000 years ago. Agriculture is still important with the rich valley floors and abundant mountain pastures. As in all of western Norway, the area was overpopulated in the middle 19th century, and cotters were forced to clear land far up the mountainsides. This difficulty led to emigration and in the 20-year period after 1845, 1,050 people moved out of the community—most of them moving to America.
Tourism came to the community as early as the middle of the 19th century, in the form of sport fishing and hunting. Tourists from England were dominant during this time and one can still find English names for mountaintops, hunting cabins, and fishing holes.
Later, a different type of tourist came to the region. These tourists came to enjoy the natural beauty of the area. These tourists created a need for jobs in the form of transportation and lodging. Three or four ships would anchor in the Nærøyfjord at a time which created the need for scores of horse-drawn carriages to take the tourists up to Stalheim hotel, located just over the border in Voss municipality to the southwest.
Government
All municipalities in Norway are 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. The municipality falls under the Sogn og Fjordane District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.
Municipal council
The municipal council of Aurland is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:
Mayors
The mayor of a municipality in Norway is a representative of the majority party of the municipal council who is elected to lead the council. The mayors of Aurland: