Fana Municipality


Fana is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1972. The area is now part of Bergen Municipality in the traditional district of Midhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Nesttun. The municipality encompassed the present-day boroughs of Fyllingsdalen, Ytrebygda, and Fana, as well as the southern part of the borough of Årstad all south of the city centre of Bergen. The historic Fana Church was the main church for the municipality.
Prior to its dissolution in 1972, the municipality was the 324th largest by area out of the 449 municipalities in Norway. Fana Municipality was the 9th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about. The municipality's population density was and its population had increased by 30.7% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

On 1 January 1838, the parish of "Fane" was established as a formannskapsdistrikt, the predecessor of today's municipalities . The spelling was later changed to "Fana". In 1879, a small area of Fana was transferred to the Laksevåg parish in the neighboring Askøy Municipality.
On 12 August 1955, the northern part of the Fyllingsdalen valley in Fana Municipality was sold to the city of Bergen for. This gave the city a lot of room to grow. On 1 January 1966, another small border adjustment took place: a small part of Fana Municipality located along the lake Ortuvatnet in the Fyllingsdalen valley was transferred to the city of Bergen.
On 1 January 1972, the city of Bergen was greatly expanded and the following areas were merged to for a new, much larger Bergen Municipality with over 200,000 residents:
The municipality is named after the old Fana farm since the first Fana Church was built there. The meaning of the name is uncertain and there are several possibilities for its meaning. One option is that it is the dative case of fana which means "swamp" or "marshland". Another possibility is that it comes from a local dialect word faan which means "dust" or "ash". A third possibility is that it comes from a Gothic language word which means "piece of cloth". Regardless of its meaning, it is thought that the farm was named after the local Fanafjorden or a local mountain.
Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Fane. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Fana.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was for Fana had a blazon saying "Azure, a fleur-de-lis above three billets fesswise in base argent". This means the arms have a blue field and the charge is a fleur-de-lis above three rectangular bars. 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.

Churches

The Church of Norway had three prestegjelds each with their own parish within Fana Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Bergen domprosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.
PrestegjeldParish Church nameLocation of the churchYear built
FanaFanaFana ChurchFanahammeren1150
BirkelandBirkelandBirkeland ChurchNesttun1878
BirkelandBirkelandFantoft ChapelFantoft1883
StoretveitStoretveitStoretveit ChurchFjøsanger1930

Geography

The municipality was located in the central part of the Bergen Peninsula, south of the city of Bergen. The area of the former municipality encompassed the southern half of the present-day Bergen Municipality, specifically the present-day boroughs of Fyllingsdalen, Ytrebygda, and Fana, as well as the southern part of the borough of Årstad. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Gullfjellet.
Bergen Municipality was located to the north, Arna Municipality was located to the northeast, Samnanger Municipality was located to the east, Os Municipality was located to the south, Austevoll Municipality was located to the southwest, Sund Municipality was located to the west, and Fjell Municipality was located to the northwest.

Government

While it existed, Fana Municipality was responsible for primary education, outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Laksevåg Municipality was made up of 53 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayor of Fana Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:
  • 1838–1839: Ivar Munthe Daae
  • 1840–1843: Jens Kobro Daae
  • 1844–1855: Wollert Konow Sr.
  • 1856–1865: Hans Jensen Krog
  • 1866–1867: Nils Nilsson Nøttveit
  • 1868–1869: Rasmus Larsen Bøgenes
  • 1870–1873: Kolbein Karlsen Fantoft
  • 1874–1879: Nils Nilsen Nøttveit
  • 1880–1883: Wollert Konow Jr.
  • 1884–1885: Ole Torbjørnsen Myklestad
  • 1886–1891: Wollert Konow Jr.
  • 1892–1893: Steffen Sælen
  • 1894–1901: Wollert Konow Jr.
  • 1902–1907: Steffen Sælen
  • 1908–1910: Ivar Bergersen Sælen
  • 1911–1913: Steffen Sælen
  • 1914–1916: Ivar Bergersen Sælen
  • 1917–1918: Georg Sivert
  • 1920–1925: Fredrik Odfjell
  • 1926–1931: Wilhelm Mohr
  • 1932–1940: Hjalmar Negaard
  • 1945–1956: Jacob Meland
  • 1956–1959: Kaare Meland
  • 1959–1971: Jacob L. Berstad