Vestvågøy 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 Leknes. Some of the villages in the municipality include Ballstad, Borg, Bøstad, Gravdal, Knutstad, Stamsund, Tangstad, and Valberg. With over 11,600 inhabitants, Vestvågøy is the most populous municipality in all of the Lofoten and Vesterålen regions in Nordland county. The Lofotr museum in Borg shows a reconstructed Iron Age Viking chieftain's residence, with a house measuring 80 m, built of stone and turf. The 424 km2 municipality is the 231st largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Vestvågøy is the 99th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 11,619. The municipality's population density is 27.4 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 5.7% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of Vestvågøy was created on 1 January 1963 when the four municipalities on the island of Vestvågøya were merged into one municipality for the whole island. The old municipalities on the island were Borge Municipality (population: 4,056), Buksnes Municipality (population: 4,416), Hol Municipality (population: 3,154), and Valberg Municipality (population: 662). Initially, Vestvågøy had 12,288 residents. The borders have not changed since.

Name

The municipality is named after the island of Vestvågøya. The Old Norse name of the island was Lófót (see Lofoten), but when Lofoten became the name of the whole archipelago, the island became known as Vestvågøy. The first element of the name is the prefix which means "west". The middle element derives from the word which means "bay" or "inlet". The last element is the definite form of the word which means "the island". Thus it means "the west bay island".

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 7 September 1984. The official blazon is "Azure, two stockfish addorsed". This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is two dried codfish (also known as stockfish. The fish have a tincture of argent which means they are commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. This was chosen since the municipality is one of the main Norwegian exporters of (dried) cod or stockfish and has been since the Middle Ages. The arms were designed by Kjell Kvivesen.

Churches

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

Geography

Vestvågøy Municipality is among the most scenic in Norway. It encompassed the whole island of Vestvågøya with the Norwegian Sea to the north and the Vestfjorden to the south. The island has rugged cliffs and peaks facing the southeastern coast. Towards the northwest, however, the land is flat, with extensive farmlands. Most people are found in the town of Leknes and its suburb Gravdal, where Nordland Hospital Lofoten is located. Along the southeastern coast, one finds picturesque fishing villages like Ballstad and Stamsund, where the Hurtigruten (coastal ferry) stops. The coastline is dominated by high mountains, such as the 671 m tall Skottinden, and on the west coast also sandy white beaches. Uttakleiv the most romantic beach in Europe, according to the British newspaper The Times, and the neighbouring Hauklandsstranden is ranked by the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet as the best beach in Norway. The highest point in the municipality is the 955.91 m tall mountain Himmeltindan. In Leknes, the sun (midnight sun) is above the horizon from May 26 until July 17, and in winter the sun does not rise from December 9 until January 4. The midnight sun is best viewed from the western beaches, such as Uttakleiv and Eggum.

Climate

There is an official weather station at Leknes Airport. Vestvågøy has the rare cold-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen Csc). Autumn and winter is much wetter than spring and summer. The driest month (July) get less than one fifth of the precipitation in the wettest month (December), fitting the mediterranean category with only 38 mm of rain, under the 40 mm required for such a classification.

Government

Vestvågøy 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 Vestvågøy 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 mayor of Vestvågøy 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:

Transportation

Leknes is the municipal and administrative centre and is situated in the geographical middle of Lofoten, approximately 68 km west of the town of Svolvær and 65 km east of the village of Å. Leknes is the trading and shopping centre of Lofoten, only rivaled by Svolvær. Leknes Airport is for smaller aircraft, with 7 daily scheduled flights to Bodø Airport and some daily flights to Svolvær and Røst Airport with Widerøe airlines. There is a small bus terminal which serves as a hub with bus links to the rest of Lofoten. The Leknes Havn (harbor) is one of Norway's most important and visited harbors for cruise ships. The Hurtigruten boats have been an important means of communication and transportation for a century. It docks in Stamsund twice every night, one heading south towards Bodø the other heading north towards Svolvær. The European route E10 highway crosses the municipality (and island) with the Sundklakkstraumen Bridge connecting to Vågan Municipality in the north and the Nappstraumen Tunnel connecting to Flakstad Municipality in the south.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Vestvågøy has sister city agreements with the following places:

Notable people

Media gallery