Country Norway District Helgeland Area rank 198 in Norway Area 538.8 km² Local time Sunday 7:06 PM | County Nordland Administrative centre Vevelstad Demonym(s) Vevelstadværing Population 520 (2011) Official language form Bokmål | |
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Weather 1°C, Wind S at 10 km/h, 81% Humidity Points of interest Vevelstad Museum, Stokkasjøen | ||
Vevelstad is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Forvika.
Contents
- Map of Vevelstad Norway
- General information
- Name
- Coat of arms
- Churches
- Geography
- Government
- Municipal council
- References
Map of Vevelstad, Norway
General information
The municipality of Vevelstad was established on 1 July 1916 when it was separated from the municipality of Tjøtta. Initially, the municipality had 1,097 residents. On 1 July 1920, the Giskåen farm area (population: 10) was transferred from Tjøtta to Vevelstad.
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Vevelstad farm (Old Norse: Vifilsstaðir), since the first church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of the Norse male name Vifill and the last element is staðir which means "homestead" or "farm".
Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 13 November 1991. The arms are canting, showing the first letter of the name, V. The municipality already applied for arms in the 1970s, but all the proposals were rejected by either the council or the national archives. Finally the above arms were adopted and granted.
Churches
The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Vevelstad. It is part of the Sør-Helgeland deanery in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.
Geography
The municipality lies in the middle of Norway, surrounded by mountains and fjords. A lot of the municipality is a part of Lomsdal–Visten National Park. The lake Søre Vistvatnet lies in the southeastern part of the municipality inside the national park. Most of the residents live along the coastline or on the island Hamnøya. The mouth of the Velfjorden lies in the southern part of the municipality.
Government
All municipalities in Norway, including Vevelstad, 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 Vevelstad is made up of 13 representatives that are elected to every four years. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows: