Stranda


Stranda is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stranda. Stranda consists of three smaller villages and one larger central village. The smaller villages are Hellesylt, Geiranger, and Liabygda. The central village, Stranda, has about 2,600 inhabitants. There is also the small village of Helsem which is located just south of the village of Stranda. Stranda Municipality is also known for tourist attractions like the Geirangerfjorden and Sunnylvsfjorden.
The municipality is the 134th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Stranda is the 191st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 4,523. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 0.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The parish of Stranden was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. On 1 January 1892, the northern district of the municipality was separated to form the new Stordal Municipality. This left Stranda with 1,459 residents. The spelling was changed to Stranda in 1918. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, Sunnylven Municipality was merged into Stranda, forming a new, larger Stranda Municipality.

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Strǫnd. The name is identical with the word strǫnd which means "beach" or "strand". Before 1918, the name was written Stranden.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 2 May 1986 and were designed by Jarle Skuseth. The arms show a gold and blue figure which symbolizes the fjords and mountains hovering over the beach.

Churches

The Church of Norway has four parishes within the municipality of Stranda. It is part of the Austre Sunnmøre prosti in the Diocese of Møre.
Parish Church nameLocation of the churchYear built
StrandaStranda ChurchStranda1838
LiabygdaLiabygda ChurchLiabygda1917
SunnylvenSunnylven ChurchHellesylt1859
GeirangerGeiranger ChurchGeiranger1842

Geography

The West Norwegian Fjords, entailing Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2005 at the 29th Session of the World Heritage Committee in Durban, South Africa. The West Norwegian Fjords is the first natural World Heritage site in Norway, and the third natural site in the Nordic – Baltic region.
The West Norwegian Fjords are characterised as the best geologically developed and preserved example of classic fjord landscape. The geology and ongoing erosional processes have provided a basis for the active development of ecological and biological processes as well as the development of traditional, in part extreme, land use that has not harmed the integrity of the natural site.
Due to its natural environment, this scenic area is one of the most visited in the Nordic countries. The area has examples of landforms shaped and developed by ice and water, a landscape with significant geomorphological features, and a very young landscape in terms of Earth history that is continuously being formed by active erosional processes. The area represents the most extreme and dramatic fjord landscape in the world and has an exceptional aesthetic importance.
The Seven Sisters waterfall is located along the Geirangerfjord. The mountain Dalsnibba and the lake Djupvatnet are located along Norwegian County Road 63 in the southern part of the municipality. The mountains of Kvitegga and Hornindalsrokken lie on the southern municipal border.

Government

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

Municipal council

The municipal council of Stranda is made up of 25 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayor

The mayors of Stranda :
Tourism has long and strong traditions in Stranda. The villages of Geiranger and Hellesylt have long been well-known destinations. The first cruise ship with tourists from abroad came to Geiranger in 1869. Today, Geiranger is the second largest cruise ship port in Norway, visited by 160 cruise ships every summer. The Coastal Steamer runs daily round trips Ålesund-Geiranger from April to mid-September. Altogether about 700,000 tourists visit Geiranger each summer.
Royal persons, especially Queen Sonja, have contributed to make the fjord famous all over the world. By annual trips, visiting, and even spending the night on these abandoned mountains farms such as Skageflå, and publishing a book about these trips with her own photos that have also been exhibited in New York, among other places. Other historic farms include Knivsflå and Me-Åkernes.

Sports and leisure

In the alpine area at Strandafjellet, there are six Ski tows and alpine pistes. Each winter alpine competitions are hosted there. Strandafjellet is one of the few places in the world where one could actually ski from the top of a mountain and go the whole way down, to the fjord. Every year roughly 250 telemark skiers come together in the race Alperittet, from above sea level and down to the fjord. The Geiranger – From Fjord to Summit race runs from Geiranger to Dalsnibba each year.

Culture

In Hellesylt, one may visit Hægstad Gård which contains woodcarvings, scenes from Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen, and in Geiranger the new Norwegian Fjord Centre shows local history and pictures from Geiranger.

Trade and industry

The municipality of Stranda has a great variety as to trade and industry. About 160 farms produce milk and meat products. Many factories have long traditions for making meat products, especially salted and cured meat. Also the making of furniture and textile products is an important industry that gives good work to many persons. Stranda is the place where P.I. Langlo industrialized the furniture industry in Norway in 1919.. The Grandiosa factory, Norway's biggest pizza-producing factory is situated in Stranda. There are also much aquafarming and many fish processing factories in the municipality. Tourism is, of course, a very important business in the whole district.

In popular culture