is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region of Western Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ørsta. Other villages in the municipality include Hovdebygda, Flåskjer, Liadal, Urke, Barstadvik, Åmdalen, Follestaddalen, Nordre Vartdal, Vartdal, Sæbø, Sætre, Store-Standal, and Ytre Standal. The 662 km2 municipality is the 171st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Ørsta is the 106th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 10,929. The municipality's population density is 16.8 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 4.5% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of Ørsta was established on 1 August 1883 when it was separated from Volda Municipality. The initial population was 2,070. On 1 January 1893, the Ytrestølen farm (population: 13) was transferred from Ørsta to Volda. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Ørsta (population: 6,209) was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Hjørundfjord (population: 1,728) and Vartdal (population: 1,315) to form a new, larger municipality of Ørsta. On 1 January 2020, the Bjørke and Leira areas of Ørsta were transferred to the neighboring Volda Municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Ørstafjorden. The meaning of the fjord name is uncertain, but it may come from the word which means "raging" or "mad" (possibly referring to the water in the fjord). Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Ørsten. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Ørsta.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 13 July 1984. The official blazon is "Azure, three fusils in fess argent". This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a set of three fusils lined up horizontally. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The three diamonds represent the mountains reflecting in the waters of the fjord. The arms were designed by Gudmund Nesset. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Museums

The Brudavoll Farm, part of the Sunnmøre Museum Foundation, is located about 5 km from the village of Ørsta.

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Ørsta. It is part of the Søre Sunnmøre prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre.

Geography

Of the total area, 48% (386 km2) of the municipality is at an altitude of 600 m or more above sea level. Apart from the mountains, Ørsta's dominant geographical feature is fjords: Storfjorden in the north, Vartdalsfjorden, Ørstafjorden in the west, and Hjørundfjorden in the east. Only in the south is it connected by land to neighbouring Volda Municipality. Otherwise, it borders the municipalities of Sula in the north, Hareid and Ulstein (by sea only) in the west, Sykkylven to the northeast, and Stranda to the southeast. The municipality is also the heartland of the Sunnmørsalpene mountains, a particularly rugged and wild area of mountains in the southern part of Møre og Romsdal county. Prolific peaks include Slogen at 1564 m, Skårasalen at 1542 m, Kolåstinden at 1432 m, Ramoen at 1419 m, Saudehornet at 1303 m, and Romedalstinden at 1295 m.

Economy

Important sectors are mechanical industry and furniture manufacturing, agriculture, commercial fishing, and aquaculture. The first two are predominant in the village of Ørsta while agriculture dominates in adjacent valleys like the Follestaddalen, Åmdalen, and Bondalen valleys. On the other hand, the northern part of the municipality has strong maritime traditions, with Vartdal being the home of one of the largest factory trawler fleets in Norway.

Government

Ørsta Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Møre og Romsdal District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Ørsta is made up of 33 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayors of Ørsta:

Transportation

These include Ørsta–Volda Airport, Hovden (Hovdebygda), which is the regional airport for people living in the municipalities Ørsta, Volda, Vanylven, Sande, Ulstein, Hareid, and Herøy, and European Route E39 which transects the municipality in a north–south direction. Ørsta is linked to Sula and Sykkylven by ferry on its northernmost extreme Festøy. It is also linked to Ulstein Municipality by the Eiksund Tunnel, an undersea tunnel that opened on 23 February 2008 that is, currently, the world's deepest at 287 m below the sea surface.

Notable people