Vågan is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Svolvær. Some of the villages in Vågan include Digermulen, Gimsøysand, Gravermarka, Henningsvær, Hopen, Kabelvåg, Kleppstad, Laupstad, Liland, Skrova, Straumnes, and Sydalen. The 479 km2 municipality is the 209th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Vågan is the 117th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 9,793. The municipality's population density is 20.4 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 6.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

Vågan was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1856, the northwestern part of Vågan Municipality (population: 987) was separated to form the new Gimsøy Municipality. On 1 July 1918, the town of Svolvær (population: 2,429) was separated to form its own municipality. This left Vågan with 3,399 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Gimsøy Municipality (population: 1,551), the town of Svolvær (population: 3,952), and Vågan Municipality (population: 4,820) were merged to form the new, larger Vågan Municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Vågan farm since the first Vågan Church was built there. The name is the plural form of which means "bay" or "inlet". The island of Austvågøya was named after this important site too (which later led the neighboring island to be named Vestvågøya). On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Vaagan with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Vågan, using the letter å instead.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 30 March 1973. The official blazon is "Azure, a cod embowed argent". This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a cod. The cod 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 blue color in the field and the code were chosen because fishing is the main source of income for the municipality. The arms were designed by Hallvard Traetteberg, basing them off the old arms for the town of Svolvær which was merged into Vågan in 1964.

Churches

The Church of Norway has five parishes (sokn) within Vågan Municipality. It is part of the Lofoten prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Geography

The main population centres are the town of Svolvær and the villages of Kabelvåg and Henningsvær, located on the largest island, Austvågøya (although Svolvær and Henningsvær are partly located on smaller islands adjacent to the main island). All three have a picturesque situation under the rugged Lofoten mountains, facing the rough body of water called Vestfjorden. Vågan municipality includes over half of Austvågøya island, all of the islands of Gimsøya, Skrova, Stormolla, Litlmolla, numerous other tiny islets, plus the southwestern tip of the island of Hinnøya. The Moholmen Lighthouse and Skrova Lighthouse are both located in the Vestfjorden. The highest point in the municipality is the 1138.32 m tall mountain Higravtindan. Other mountains include Svolværgeita, Fløya, Trakta, and Vågakallen.

Climate

Skrova near Svolvær has a temperate climate (marine west coast) in the 1991-2020 period.

Government

Vågan 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 Salten og Lofoten District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Vågan is made up of 29 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 mayor of Vågan is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:

History and economy

Kabelvåg is the oldest fishing village in Lofoten, where King Øystein built the first fishing shacks in the early 12th century. The Lofoten Cathedral, built in 1898, seats 1,200 people, and used to be filled to the last seat during the Lofoten fishing in the winter. Henningsvær has a picturesque situation on several islands, and is today more important for fishing. Svolvær is the municipal centre, and has an impressive number of artists' studios and galleries. In addition to the cod fisheries, salmon fish farming and tourism are economically important in Vågan.

Transportation

The islands that make up Vågan are connected by several different bridges. The European route E10 highway connects the neighboring Vestvågøy Municipality to Vågan Municipality (Gimsøya island) by the Sundklakkstraumen Bridge. Gimsøya island then connects to Austvågøya island by the Gimsøystraumen Bridge. The islands of Henningsvær are connected to Austvågøya by the Henningsvær Bridges. The rest of the small islands are only accessible by boats and ferries. In the town of Svolvær, the Svinøy Bridge connects the main part of town to the island of Svinøya. Svolvær Airport, Helle is located just east of the town of Svolvær.

Sister cities

Notable people

Sport

Gallery