Sykkylven Municipality


Sykkylven is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Aure. Other villages in the municipality include Ikornnes, Straumgjerde, and Tusvika.
The municipality is the 252nd largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Sykkylven Municipality is the 136th most populous municipality in Norway, with a population of 7,617. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 1.5% over the previous 10-year period.
WWW Official Site

General information

The municipality of Sykkylven was established on 1 August 1883 when the large Ørskog Municipality was divided into two: the southern part became Sykkylven Municipality and the northern part remained as Ørskog Municipality. On 1 June 1955, the Søvik-Ramstad area of Ørskog Municipality on the southern side of the Storfjorden was transferred to Sykkylven Municipality.

Name

The municipality is named after Sykkylvsfjorden. The first element is sík, which means "small lake" or "inlet". The last element is iflir, which is frequently used in the Sunnmøre area in the names of fjords. It possibly comes from the word viflir, which means "low, wet terrain". Historically, the name was spelled Søkelven. In 1889, the spelling was changed to Søkkelven. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Sykkylven.
The slogan for the municipality was formerly "Sykkylven - vennlig, vill og vakker", meaning "Sykkylven - friendly, wild and beautiful". The current slogan is "Skaparkraft", literally meaning "creative" or "creating force", believed to create focus on the municipality's need for creating a new creative drive towards diversifying the somewhat one-sided furniture industry and more focus on tourism, especially "experience industry" possibilities.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 30 April 1984 by royal decree. The official blazon is "Argent, a pile embowed issuant from base azure". This means the arms have a field with a tincture of argent, which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The charge is a pile with embowed sides. The design was chosen to symbolize the landscape of the Sykkylvsfjorden and is reminiscent of a large mountain silhouette from the municipality. The arms were designed by Norbert Hovet and Kårstein Blindheim. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes within Sykkylven Municipality. It is part of the Nordre Sunnmøre prosti in the Diocese of Møre.
Parish Church nameLocation of the churchYear built
SykkylvenSykkylven ChurchAure1990
IkornnesIkornnes ChurchIkornnes1978

Geography

Sykkylven is a part of the Sunnmøre region and is surrounded by the beautiful alpine mountain range Sunnmørsalpene, including the mountain Råna. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Brekketindane, located on the border of Ørsta Municipality and Sykkylven Municipality. Most of the people in Sykkylven live along the Sykkylvsfjorden, which is a branch of the Storfjorden. The Sykkylven Bridge crosses the fjord connecting Aure to Ikornnes.
Sykkylven Municipality shares land borders with Fjord Municipality to the east, Stranda Municipality to the southeast, and Ørsta Municipality to the southwest. The Hjørundfjorden forms part of the western municipal border, and the Storfjorden forms the northern border. Across the Storfjorden to the north lies Ålesund Municipality.

Economy

Sykkylven is primarily an industrial community where furniture and furnishings manufacturing is the dominant industry. Some of the largest factories in the industry are located here. Major companies in Sykkylven include Ekornes AS, Scandinor ANS, Hjellegjerde, Brunstad AS, Hjelle, and Cylindra. Drones are also manufactured. Agriculture is important along the fjord and in the valleys. The farms are small, with an emphasis on livestock. There is also some fish farming at Hundeidvik and Søvik, along the Storfjorden. The local newspaper Sykkylvsbladet is published in Sykkylven.
Ekornes is the largest employer ; however, a new round of layoffs was announced in January 2023.

Government

Sykkylven Municipality is 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 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 Sunnmøre District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Sykkylven Municipality is made up of 29 representatives who 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 Sykkylven Municipality 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:
  • 1883–1887: Lars P. Grebstad
  • 1888–1898: Ole E. Vik
  • 1899–1904: P.C.N. Aure
  • 1905–1907: Ole E. Vik
  • 1908–1910: P.C.N. Aure
  • 1911–1919: Ole I. Strømme
  • 1919–1924: P.C.N. Aure
  • 1924–1933: Hans Tandstad
  • 1933–1937: Johan Eidem
  • 1938–1941: Ola Tandstad
  • 1945–1946: Ola Tandstad
  • 1946–1951: Johan Eidem
  • 1952–1956: Jens E. Ekornes
  • 1956–1959: Fridtjof Fredriksen
  • 1959–1963: Ola Tu
  • 1964–1969: Arnold Weiberg-Aurdal
  • 1970–1975: Øystein Eliassen
  • 1976–1986: Johan Welle
  • 1987–1999: Svein Helgheim
  • 1999–2011: Jan Kåre Aurdal
  • 2011–2015: Petter Lyshol
  • 2015–2023: Odd Jostein Drotninghaug
  • 2023–present: Olav Harald Ulstein (FrP

Notable people

Musicians