Vossestrand Municipality
Vossestrand is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1868 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Voss Municipality in the traditional district of Voss in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Oppheim. Other villages in the municipality included Stalheim, Vinje, and Myrkdalen.
Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 187th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Vossestrand Municipality was the 527th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about. The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 4.8% over the previous 10-year period.
General information
The municipality of Vossestrand was created on 1 January 1868 when the old Voss Municipality was divided into two separate municipalities. The northern part became Vossestrand Municipality and the southern part remained as a smaller Voss Municipality. On 21 August 1869, an unpopulated area of Voss Municipality was administratively transferred to Vossestrand Municipality.During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the following areas were merged to form a new, larger Voss Municipality:
- all of Voss Municipality
- all of Vossestrand Municipality
- part of Evanger Municipality, everything except for the Bergsdalen and Eksingedalen areas which became part of Vaksdal Municipality
Name
The municipality is named after an old name for the area, Strand. The name Vossestrand was created in the 1860s when the municipality was established. The first element is named after the traditional district of Voss. That name is likely derived from the word vǫrr which means "water" (likely the old district name was originally used as the name for the lake Vangsvatnet. The last element is derived which means "beach" or "shore".Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Vossestranden. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Vossestrand, removing the definite form ending -en.
Churches
The Church of Norway had two parishes within Vossestrand Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Vossestrand prestegjeld and the Voss prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.| Parish | Church name | Location of the church | Year built |
| Oppheim | Oppheim Church | Oppheim | 1871 |
| Vinje | Vinje Church | Vinje | 1871 |