Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Jondal

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Country
  
Norway

District
  
Hardanger

Area rank
  
305 in Norway

Area
  
247.1 km²

Local time
  
Monday 6:36 PM

County
  
Hordaland

Administrative centre
  
Jondal

Demonym(s)
  
Jondøl Jondøling

Population
  
1,094 (2014)

Official language form
  
Nynorsk

Jondal httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Weather
  
1°C, Wind SW at 10 km/h, 86% Humidity

Points of interest
  
FONNA Glacier Ski Resort, Folgefonni Breførarlag AS, Herand Kulturhistoriske Senter

Jondal is a municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. It is located on the Folgefonna peninsula in the Hardanger district, on the eastern shore of the Hardangerfjorden. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Jondal. Other villages in Jondal include Herand, Kysnesstranda, and Torsnes.

Contents

Map of Jondal Municipality, Norway

General information

The municipality of Jondal was established on 1 January 1863 when it was separated from the large municipality of Strandebarm. Initially, Jondal had a population of 1,663.

On 1 January 1965, there were many municipal mergers in Norway due to the Schei Committee's work. Two changes effected Jondal municipality: the part of Jondal located on the northwestern side of the Hardangerfjorden (population: 515) was transferred to Kvam municipality and the Kysnesstranda area of Strandebarm municipality (population: 100) was transferred to Jondal.

Then on 1 January 2013, the southwestern part of the Folgefonna peninsula (south of Kysnesstranda) was transferred to Jondal from Kvinnherad municipality. This added forty new residents and 37.1 square kilometres (14.3 sq mi) of land area to the municipality.

In 2016 the chief of police formally suggested that the police station be closed down.

Name

The municipality is named after the Jondalen valley in which the village of Jondal sits. The Old Norse form of the name was Jónardalr. The first element is an old rivername Jón (now called Jondalselvi) and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The meaning of the rivername is unknown.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted in 1987. The arms are red with three gold-colored boat hooks. This design was chosen to symbolise the importance of sailing and shipping along the Hardangerfjord. Historically, Jondal has been known for its shipyards and sailing college.

See also: Coats of arms of Åsnes, Fet, Marker, and Nordre Land

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Jondal. It is part of the Hardanger og Voss deanery in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

Geography

Jondal is located on the southeast side of the Hardangerfjorden on the Folgefonna peninsula. It is bounded by the large Folgefonna glacier to the southeast (inside Folgefonna National Park). The lake Juklavatnet is located on the municipal border with Kvinnherad. The 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) long tunnel runs under the glacier from Jondal to Mauranger in Kvinnherad.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Jondal, 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. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Jondal is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to every four years. For 2011–2015, the party breakdown is as follows:

Famous residents

  • Herborg Kråkevik, a singer and actress
  • Bjørg Hope Galtung, the mayor of Jondal from 1979 to 1993 (only leaving to sit in the national Parliament)
  • References

    Jondal Wikipedia