Bru is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The 382 km2 municipality existed from 1923 until 1964 and it included several islands including Svanøya, Askrova, and Stavøya as well as parts of the mainland including the Solheimsdalen valley, east of the village of Norddalsfjord. It is now part of the present-day Kinn Municipality which is in Vestland county in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative center of Bru was the village of Stavang.

History

The parish of Bru was established as a municipality on 1 January 1923 when the large municipality of Kinn was divided into three: Kinn (population: 2,508) in the west, Bru (population: 1,560) in the centre, and Eikefjord (population: 929) in the east. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Bru municipality ceased to exist and its lands were divided.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island Brulandet, now called Svanøya, since the first Bru Church was built on the island (the church site was mved off the island to the mainland village of Stavang in 1872). The old name of the island is identical to the plural genitive case of the word which means "bridge".

Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Mayors

The mayors of Bru:

Municipal council

The municipal council (Heradsstyre) of Bru was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows: