Gulen (municipality)

Gulen Municipality
Gulen kommune
Evindvig herred  (historic name)
View of Eivindvik (photo: Bjarne Thune)
View of Eivindvik (photo: Bjarne Thune)
Flag of Gulen Municipality
Coat of arms of Gulen Municipality
Vestland within Norway
Vestland within Norway
Gulen within Vestland
Gulen within Vestland
Coordinates: 61°01′27″N 05°07′10″E / 61.02417°N 5.11944°E / 61.02417; 5.11944
CountryNorway
CountyVestland
DistrictSogn
Established1 Jan 1838
 • Created asFormannskapsdistrikt
Administrative centreEivindvik
Government
 • Mayor (2023)May-Lynn Osland (Ap)
Area
 • Total
599.42 km2 (231.44 sq mi)
 • Land577.11 km2 (222.82 sq mi)
 • Water22.31 km2 (8.61 sq mi)  3.7%
 • Rank#190 in Norway
Population
 (2023)
 • Total
2,228
 • Rank#265 in Norway
 • Density3.9/km2 (10/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years)
Decrease −3.3%
DemonymGuling[1]
Official language
 • Norwegian formNynorsk
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeNO-4635[3]
WebsiteOfficial website

Gulen is a municipality in the western part of Vestland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Eivindvik. Other villages in Gulen include Brekke, Byrknes, Dalsøyra, Dingja, Instefjord, Mjømna, Rutledal, and Ytre Oppedal.

The municipality of Gulen sits to the south of the Sognefjorden and it surrounds the Gulafjorden, which is considered to be the place where Norway's west-coastal Vikings met for the Gulating, a governing body. The area along the Gulafjorden called Flolid (just east of the village of Eivindvik) is now a national historic place, where an open-air theater and annual summer play commemorates the Vikings who gathered there 1000 years ago to accept Christianity.

The 599-square-kilometre (231 sq mi) municipality is the 190th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Gulen is the 265th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,228. The municipality's population density is 3.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (10/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 3.3% over the previous 10-year period.[4][5]

In 2016, the chief of police for Vestlandet formally suggested a reconfiguration of police districts and stations. He proposed that the police station in Gulen be closed.[6]

  1. ^ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. ^ "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
  3. ^ Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (26 January 2023). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
  4. ^ Statistisk sentralbyrå. "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian).
  5. ^ Statistisk sentralbyrå. "09280: Area of land and fresh water (km²) (M)" (in Norwegian).
  6. ^ Fjelltveit, Ingvild; Raunholm, Per Vidar (20 December 2016). "Foreslår å legge ned 17 lensmannskontor i Vest politidistrikt". NRK Hordaland (in Norwegian). Retrieved 20 October 2017.