Jostedal is a former municipality in the old

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; literally "Parish and the Fjords") was a Counties of Norway, county in western Norway, from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsda ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1963. It was located in the

Jostedalen Jostedalen is a river valley in Luster Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The long valley runs from the Lustrafjorden at the village of Gaupne, to the north along the river Jostedøla and along the eastern side of the Jostedal Glacier. The ...

valley in the northern part of the present-day municipality of Luster, in

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county, north of the village of

Gaupne Gaupne is the administrative center of the municipality of Luster in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located along the Gaupnefjorden, an arm of the Lustrafjorden, about north of the village of Hafslo. The village of Veitastrond is lo ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

was also located near the

Jostedal Church Jostedal Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Luster Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Jostedal. It is the church for the Jostedal parish which is part of the Sogn prosti (deanery) in the D ...

in the central part of the valley.

History

Jostedal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1963, Jostedal municipality (population: 796) was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Luster (population: 2,674) and

Hafslo Hafslo is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1963. It is located in the present-day Luster Municipality (in Vestland county) in the traditional distric ...

(population: 2,384) which created a newer, larger

Luster Municipality Luster is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative centre is the village of Gaupne. Other villages in Luster include Fortun, Hafslo, Indre ...

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

) is named after the

valley () since the first

was built there. The first element is which is the old name for the river

Jostedøla Jostedøla (or ''Jostedalselva'') is a river which runs through the Jostedalen valley in Luster Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The Jostedøla river begins near the ''Fåbergstølen'' mountain farm where the runoff from the great Josted ...

. The name comes from the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

of the word which means "

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

". This name is likely due to the fact that the water in the river comes from

glaciers A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

and during the summer time the river gets "frothy" or "foamy" due to all of the melting ice and the many waterfalls. The last element is which means "

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

" or "dale". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Jostedalen''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Jostedal'', removing the definite form ending ''-en''.

Geography

The former municipality consisted of

valley which empties into the Gaupnefjord at the village of

. The Gaupnefjord is an arm of the

Lustrafjorden The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, ), nicknamed the King of the Fjords (), is the list of Norwegian fjords, longest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the small village ...

, which is an arm of the famous

Sognefjord The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, ), nicknamed the King of the Fjords (), is the list of Norwegian fjords, longest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the small village ...

, the second largest fjord in the world. There are three major glacial lakes in the area: Tunsbergdalsvatn, Nigardsbrevatn, and Styggevatn (''vatn'' is Norwegian for lake). Other lakes in Jostdedal include

Austdalsvatnet Austdalsvatnet is a lake in the northwestern part of Luster Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the Breheimen mountain range at the end of the Austdalsbreen glacier, just north of the lake Styggevatnet. It is about east o ...

and

Styggevatnet Styggevatnet is a glacial lake from the glacier Jostedalsbreen in Luster Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The lake lies just southeast of the lake Austdalsvatnet. The lake is regulated by a dam and it empties into the river Jostedøla. ...

. The river

runs through the valley up to its

headwater The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

s at the

Jostedalsbreen Jostedal Glacier or is the largest glacier in continental Europe. It is in Vestland county in Western Norway. Jostedalsbreen lies in the municipalities of Luster, Sogndal, Sunnfjord, and Stryn. The highest peak in the area is Lodalskåpa a ...

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

, a plateau glacier which is the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an mainland's largest with an area of .

Jostedalsbreen National Park Jostedalsbreen National Park () is a national park in Norway that encompasses the largest glacier on the European mainland, Jostedalsbreen. The park was established by royal decree on 25 October 1991, and then in 1998, it was enlarged to the nort ...

and

Breheimen National Park Breheimen National Park () () is a national park that was established in 2009. The park is located in Skjåk Municipality and Lom Municipality in Innlandet county and in Luster Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The park covers of the B ...

are located on either side of the Jostedalen

Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

was

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council.

Mayors

The

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Jostedal: *1838-1839: K.A. Bugge *1840-1841: Lars R. Faaberg *1842-1845: M.S. Fasting *1846-1846: Lars T. Kronen *1847-1849: Christian B. Heltberg *1850-1850: Anders A. Haugen *1851-1852: Christian B. Heltberg *1853-1855: I.H. Vamberg *1856-1856: O. Christian Rasch *1857-1858: Lars T. Kronen *1859-1861: O. Christian Rasch *1862-1862: Jon A. Haugen *1868-1869: Lars T. Kronen *1870-1874: Rasmus L. Faaberg *1875-1875: Andreas E. Hansen *1876-1876: Anders Christensen Ormbergstøl *1877-1878: Tøger Kronen *1879-1880: Anders Christensen Ormbergstøl *1881-1882: Anton Hansen *1883-1896: Anders Christensen Ormbergstøl *1897-1904: Kristen Andersen Ormbergstøl *1905-1907: Lars Rasmussen Faaberg *1908-1910: Ole E. Myklemyr *1911-1922: Lars Rasmussen Faaberg *1923-1935: H.N. Bruheim *1836-1836: Hans Moen *1936-1937: H.N. Bruheim *1938-1939: Ove W. Haug *1940-1941: Hans Moen *1941-1945: K.R. Vigdal *1946-1947: Kristen Bakken *1948-1951: Johannes Grov *1952-1955: Hallvard Hesjevoll *1956-1963: Johannes Grov

Municipal council

The

of Jostedal was made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Notable people

Kåre Øvregard Kåre Øvregard (19 February 1933 – 30 January 2025)

(born 1933), a

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

* Kristen Øyen (born 1938), a forester

References

External links

* *http://www.jostedal.com/ {{use dmy dates, date=June 2023 Luster, Norway Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 1963 disestablishments in Norway