Volda


Volda is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Volda. Other villages in the municipality include Dravlaus, Folkestad, Fyrde, Lauvstad, Straumshamn, Leira, Bjørke, and Grodås. The municipality is located about south of the city of Ålesund.
The municipality is the 132nd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Volda is the 107th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 10,473. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 6.9% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of Volden was established on 1 January 1838. The original municipality was the same as the parish of Volden, including the sub-parishes of Ørsta and Dalsfjord. On 1 August 1883, the sub-parish of Ørsta was separated from Volden to form a new municipality of its own. This left Volden with 3,485 residents. On 1 January 1893, the Ytrestølen farm in Ørsta municipality was transferred to Volden municipality. In 1918, the name was changed from Volden to Volda. On 1 July 1924, the sub-parish of Dalsfjord was separated from Volda to become a municipality of its own. This left Volda with 4,715 residents.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipalities of Dalsfjord and Volda were merged back together. The new Volda municipality had 7,207 residents.
On 1 January 2020, another large municipal border adjustment took place. The neighboring municipality of Hornindal and the Bjørke and Leira areas of Ørsta Municipality were merged with Volda to make a much larger Volda Municipality.

Name

The municipality is named after the Voldsfjorden. The name is probably derived from an old word meaning "wave". Before 1918, the name was written Volden.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was adopted in 2019 for use starting in 2020. The arms from 1987 were modified by adding two scythes on either side of the tip of a fountain pen. The scythes were taken from the old arms of the former Hornindal Municipality which joined Volda in 2020.
The old arms were granted on 19 June 1987. The arms show a white- or silver-colored tip of a fountain pen on a blue background. This is a symbol for the long history of education in Volda.

Churches

The Church of Norway has six parishes within the municipality of Volda. It is part of the Søre Sunnmøre prosti in the Diocese of Møre.
Parish Church nameLocation of the churchYear built
AustefjordAustefjord ChurchFyrde1773
DalsfjordDalsfjord ChurchDravlaus1910
HornindalHornindal ChurchGrodås1856
KilsfjordKilsfjord ChurchStraumshamn1974
StorfjordenBjørke ChurchBjørke1919
VoldaVolda ChurchVolda1932

Geography

Volda's main geographical feature is the Voldsfjorden which branches off into the Austefjorden, Kilsfjorden, and Dalsfjorden. It is also mountainous, particularly southeast of the fjords, with the Sunnmørsalpene mountains surrounding the region. The tall mountain Eidskyrkja is located in the southeastern part of the municipality.
Volda is bordered by Vanylven Municipality to the south-west/west, the municipalities of Herøy and Ulstein to the west, and Ørsta Municipality to the north and east. To the south it is adjacent to the municipalities of Stryn and Stad in Vestland county.
The dominant centre, both in terms of population and administration, is the village of Volda, in the northernmost part of the municipality. Other population concentrations include Mork, Ekset, Folkestad, Fyrde, Steinsvika, Lauvstad, Bjørkedal, Grodås, and Straumshamn.
Some of the mountains in Volda include Hornindalsrokken, Kvitegga, and Jakta.

Climate

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Volda, 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 Søre Sunnmøre District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Volda is made up of 33 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayor

The mayors of Volda :
Volda is primarily known for strong cultural heritage and academic traditions. A private library at Egset, the first rural of its kind in Norway, is said to have inspired the young Ivar Aasen in the 19th century. Martin Ulvestad, Norwegian-American author who published an English-Danish-Norwegian dictionary in 1895, was born in Volda. The Norsk Landboeblad newspaper was based in Volda in the 1800s. Volda landsgymnas was the first Norwegian secondary school outside a major city. Among the most important institutions today is the Volda University College.
Volda University College is one of 25 university colleges in Norway. Volda University College enrolls about 3,000 students and specializes in education of teachers, animators, and journalists.
There is a thriving creative community in the town, with several animation companies, as well as the Norsk Animasjonsentrum/Norwegian Animation Centre and a yearly animation festival, run in cooperation with Volda University College.
Volda also hosts a national documentary film festival as well as an annual student festival. The festival, is usually held in late April. The national ski festival X2 is also held in Volda during April every year. The Volda TI sports club includes a Third Division association football team that competes in Volda.
As a logical consequence of the huge influx of students, as well as a county hospital, public services are by far the most dominant sector, representing almost 50% of economic life in Volda. Industry and agriculture are also prevalent. Bjørkedalen is noted for its tradition in building wooden boats.
The Sivert Aarflot Museum is located at Ekset in Volda. Volda and its environs are featured prominently in the film Troll Hunter.

Transportation

The Ørsta-Volda Airport, Hovden is located in neighbouring Ørsta Municipality, just north of the village of Volda. The European route E39 highway passes north through the municipality on its way to the city of Ålesund. As noted, the municipality is criss-crossed by fjords; therefore, both Lauvstad and Folkestad are linked to the population centre Volda by ferry. In February 2008, the underwater Eiksund Tunnel connected the municipalities of Ulstein, Hareid, Herøy, and Sande to Ørsta and Volda. The tunnel is the deepest undersea tunnel in the world. The Kviven Tunnel was completed in 2012, connecting Fyrde to the village of Grodås to the south on the other side of a large mountain. This tunnel led to the old Hornindal Municipality joining Volda in 2020.

Notable residents