Granvin
| Granvin herad | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Municipality | |||
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| Coordinates: 60°31′37″N 6°43′10″E / 60.52694°N 6.71944°ECoordinates: 60°31′37″N 6°43′10″E / 60.52694°N 6.71944°E | |||
| Country | Norway | ||
| County | Hordaland | ||
| District | Hardanger | ||
| Administrative centre | Granvin | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor (2007) | Jan Ivar Rødland (Ap) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 213 km2 (82 sq mi) | ||
| • Land | 205 km2 (79 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 325 in Norway | ||
| Population (2008) | |||
| • Total | 964 | ||
| • Rank | 406 in Norway | ||
| • Density | 4.7/km2 (12/sq mi) | ||
| • Change (10 years) | -7.4 % | ||
| Demonym | Gravensar[1] | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| ISO 3166 code | NO-1234 | ||
| Official language form | Nynorsk | ||
| Website | www.granvin.kommune.no | ||
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| Historical population | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1951 | 1,158 | — |
| 1960 | 1,102 | −4.8% |
| 1970 | 1,039 | −5.7% |
| 1980 | 996 | −4.1% |
| 1990 | 1,036 | +4.0% |
| 2000 | 1,044 | +0.8% |
| 2007 | 977 | −6.4% |
| 2008 | 964 | −1.3% |
| 2009 | 950 | −1.5% |
| Source: Statistics Norway. | ||
Granvin is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. The population is 964. About half of these, 444 people, live in the village of Granvin, situated at the end of a side arm of the Hardangerfjord.[2]
General information
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the farm Granvin (Norse Grǫnvin), since the first church was built there. The first element is grǫn f which means 'spruce', the last element is vin f 'meadow, pasture'. Granvin is one of few parishes in Vestlandet with forests made of spruce.
The name of the parish was written "Graven" before 1858 - and in the period 1892-1898.
Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 13 May 1988. The arms show a hardanger-fiddle (Hardingfele), which is a Norwegian folk instrument. Granvin is situated in the Hardanger region, and has an active folk-music tradition.[3]Geography
The municipality is situated along both sides of Granvinsfjorden, an arm of the Hardangerfjord, and the valley extending inland from the end of the fjord, in the region of Hardanger. On both sides of the fjord and valley, there are high mountains. Norwegian National Road 13 runs through Granvin. From 1935 to 1988, a railway line, the Hardanger Line, connected Granvin with Voss, but the railway line was then closed. A car ferry service connects Kvanndal in the west of Granvin with Utne and Kinsarvik on the south side of the Hardangerfjord. The largest lake in Granvin is Granvinsvatnet.
History
The parish of Graven was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt), which also included two annexes, Ulvik and Eidfjord. In 1858, Ulvik became the main parish, so that Granvin and Eidfjord became annexes to Ulvik, and the name of municipality was changed accordingly. Granvin and Eidfjord were separated from Ulvik as municipalities of their own on 1 May 1891.
In April 1940, during the German invasion of Norway during World War II, there was some fighting between German and Norwegian forces in Granvin. German forces landed in the village of Granvin on 25 April as part of their pincer movement towards the Norwegian military camps at Voss. There was fighting at Skjervefossen for most of that day, until the Norwegian forces retreated late at night to avoid encirclement. Four Norwegian soldiers and at least 30 German soldiers fell in the fighting.[4]
The population of Granvin has been dropping in recent years. In 1951, the population was 1158. Since then, it has dropped by 16.8% to 964 in 2008. This development is common in many smaller, rural municipalities in Norway.[5]
Notable residents
- Lars Jonson Haukaness (1863-1929) - Impressionist painter
- Hans Dahl (1849-1937) - Romanticism painter.
References
- ↑ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
- ↑ "Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality. 1 January 2008" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
- ↑ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 21 September 2008.
- ↑ Wilhelm Hansteen, Operasjonene til lands på Vestlandet og i Hallingdal og Numedal, Oslo, 1971, pp. 170-183
- ↑ "Population changes in municipalities 1951-2008. Granvin." (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
External links
Media related to Granvin at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of Granvin at Wiktionary- Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
Hordaland travel guide from Wikivoyage- Hardanger travel guide from Wikivoyage
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