Leikanger is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordanecounty, Norway. It was located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center was the village of Hermansverk, which also was the administrative center of the old Sogn og Fjordane county. The Leikanger/Hermansverk urban area had 2,144 inhabitants, about 90% of the municipal population. This urban area is often called Systrond, which is why a person from Leikanger is often called Systrending. The municipality is the 342nd largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Leikanger is the 302nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,331. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 8.1% over the last decade.
General information
Leikanger was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. The original municipality was large and it was identical to the old Leikanger parish' with the six sub-parishes of Leikanger, Fresvik, Rinde, Vangsnes, Tjugum, and Mundal. In 1849, the sub-parishes of Vangsnes, Tjugum, and Mundal were transferred into the newly created Balestrand parish '. The new parish was separated from Leikanger municipality in 1850 to form the new Balestrand Municipality. This split left Leikanger with 2,368 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the Hella-Eitorn area was transferred from Balestrand back to Leikanger. Also, the Tingstad area was transferred to neighboring Sogndal municipality. These changes left Leikanger with 2,680 residents. On 1 January 1992, the sub-parishes of Leikanger lying south of the Sognefjorden, including Feios and Fresvik were transferred to the municipality of Vik. This move left Leikanger with only one sub-parish: Leikanger. On 1 January 2020, Leikanger was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Balestrand and Sogndal to form a much larger municipality called Sogndal.
Name
The municipality is named after the old farm Leikanger, since the first Leikanger Church was built there. The first element is leikr which means "sports" or "athletics" and the last element is the plural form of vangr which means "meadow". Prior to 1889, the name was written Lekanger.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 5 September 1963. The arms are green with a yellow-colored apple tree branch with two apples and three leaves attached. The apple tree branch is a symbol for the many orchards in the municipality and thus for the local economy. The three leaves symbolised the three parishes that used to make up the municipality.
The municipal council of Leikanger was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
Mayor
The mayor of a municipality in Norway is a representative of the municipal council who is elected either by the majority of the council. Jon Håkon Odd of the Labour Party was elected mayor for the 2015-2019 term.
East of Leikanger, there are the Sognefjord Spans, three powerline spans with length over, which are currently the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th longest spans in the world. In 1955, the first Sognefjord Span was built near Leikanger. It was the longest span in the world from 1955 until 1997.
Sister cities/Twin towns
Leikanger has sister city agreements with the following places:
