Evenes Municipality

Evenes Municipality Evenes kommune Evenášši suohkan
Municipality
View of Bogen in Evenes
Flag Coat of arms
Nordland within Norway
Evenes within Nordland
Coordinates: 68°32′11″N 16°55′55″E / 68.53639°N 16.93194°E / 68.53639; 16.93194
Country	Norway
County	Nordland
District	Ofoten
Established	1 January 1884
• Preceded by	Ofoten Municipality
Administrative centre	Bogen i Ofoten
Government
• Mayor (2019)	Terje Bartholsen[1] (Ap)
Area
• Total	252.79 km2 (97.60 sq mi)
• Land	241.48 km2 (93.24 sq mi)
• Water	11.31 km2 (4.37 sq mi)  4.5%
• Rank	#286 in Norway
Highest elevation [2]	1,134.43 m (3,721.88 ft)
Population  (2024)
• Total	1,330
• Rank	#312 in Norway
• Density	5.3/km2 (14/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	−4.4%
Demonym	Evenesværing[3]
Official languages [4]
• Norwegian form	Bokmål
• Sámi form	Northern Sami (semi-official)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1853[5]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

Evenes (Norwegian) or Evenášši (Northern Sami)^[6] is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Ofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bogen. Other villages in Evenes include Liland, Tårstad, Dragvik, Lakså, and the village of Evenes.

The 253-square-kilometre (98 sq mi) municipality is the 286th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Evenes is the 312th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,330. The municipality's population density is 5.3 inhabitants per square kilometre (14/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 4.4% over the previous 10-year period.^[7][8]

The municipality of Evindnæs was established on 1 January 1884 when the old Ofoten Municipality was split into two new municipalities: Evindnæs Municipality and Ankenes Municipality. Initially, Evindnæs had 2,397 residents. The spelling was later changed from Evindnæs to Evenes. On 1 January 1912, the southern part of Trondenes Municipality in Troms county (population: 291) was transferred to Evenes (and Nordland county). On 1 July 1925, the southern district of Evenes on the south side of the Ofotfjorden (population: 3,270) was separated to become the new Ballangen Municipality. This left Evenes with 2,323 residents.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the small, unpopulated Ramnes area in western Evenes was transferred to the neighboring Tjeldsund Municipality. On 1 January 1999, the small Veggen area of Narvik Municipality (population: 9) was transferred to Evenes Municipality.^[9][10]

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Evenes farm (Old Norse: Øyvindarnes) since the first Evenes Church was built there. The first element is (probably) the genitive case of the male name Øyvindr. The last element is nes which means "headland". Historically, the name was spelled Evindnæs.^[11]

On 11 June 2021, the national government approved a resolution to add a co-equal, official Sami language name for the municipality: Evenášši.^[12] The spelling of the Sami language name changes depending on how it is used. It is called Evenášši when it is spelled alone, but it is Evenášši suohkan when using the Sami language equivalent to "Evenes municipality".^[6]

The coat of arms was granted on 12 January 1990. The official blazon is "Gules, a wheel argent" (Norwegian: I rødt et sølv hjul). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a wagon wheel. The wheel has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The wheel was chosen as a symbol for Evenes as a center of communication and transportation for the region. The arms were designed by Per Hartvigsen after the idea by Aina Heidal from Evenes.^[13][14][15]

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within Evenes Municipality. It is part of the Ofoten prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Churches in Evenes

Parish (sokn)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Evenes	Evenes Church	Evenes	1800
	Bogen Chapel	Bogen	1920

Evenes is located on the northern shore of the Ofotfjorden, and borders Tjeldsund Municipality (in Troms county) to the west and north and Narvik Municipality to the east and south (across the fjord).

There are lowlands in the western part of the municipality (Liland and Evenes area), while in the eastern part (Bogen), the mountains go almost straight up from the fjord. The highest mountain is Litletinden (1,134.43 metres or 3,721.9 feet),^[2] which can be climbed without climbing equipment, even with skis in the winter and early spring. The view is stunning.

The most noticeable mountain when driving on the European route E10 highway, which crosses through Evenes, is perhaps the steep Niingen (1,090 metres or 3,580 feet) just east of Bogen. Strandvatnet lake next to Bogen village is surrounded by mountains and is a relatively rare Meromictic lake. There is trout in most lakes in Evenes, and Arctic char spawns in Østervikvatnet (lake) a few kilometres east of Bogen. Niingsvatnet is partly located in Evenes.

The large cave Trollkirka (lit. 'the Troll Church') is located in the western part of the municipality (near Tårstad). German fortifications from World War II can be seen at Evenestangen, which is also a good place for fishing in the fjord.

Evenestangen is also the site of the sculpture Stone House by Danish artist Bjørn Nørgaard. The sculpture is part of the Artscape Nordland project.^[16]

The weather station at Evenes airport has been recording since 1973, showing a boreal climate (Dfc/subarctic) with milder winters than typical for this climate zone. The all-time high 32.2 °C (90.0 °F) was recorded 18 July 2018. The warmest month on record was July 2014 with mean 17.9 °C (64.2 °F) and average daily high 23.4 °C (74.1 °F). The coldest month in recent decades was February 2007 with mean −7.9 °C (17.8 °F) and average daily low −12.6 °C (9.3 °F). The wettest season is autumn and winter and the driest is March - July, a pattern more typical of oceanic climates.

Evenes 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.^[19] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Midtre Hålogaland District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Evenes is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

The mayor (Norwegian: ordfører) of Evenes 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:^[39]

Most people work in public services and there is also some small-scale agriculture.

Harstad-Narvik Airport (international airport) is located in the western part of the municipality, with daily flights to Oslo, Trondheim, Bodø, Tromsø and Andenes, as well as charter flights to southern Europe filled with sun-hungry tourists. The Royal Norwegian Air Force has a substantial infrastructure at Evenes, but the base was closed following the end of the Cold War, though it is often used by other NATO allies during their winter training. The large C-5 Galaxy from the United States Air Force has made several landings at the airport. A mobile hospital was built inside a small mountain at Osmarka, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of the airport, using NATO infrastructure funds. The United States Navy moved the hospital to Kuwait before the Gulf War started in 1991. To achieve this, a large transport ship used the deep water harbour near Bogen, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) east of the airport. This harbour was also built with funds from NATO, to enable heavy equipment to be moved north to Troms by road.

The Evenes Church was the first church in Ofoten, built about the year 1250. The original church and a subsequent church has been lost in fires; the present church is a wooden church (built in 1800) inspired by Danish Biedermeier mansion building style. Some relics from the original churches remain in the church today, most notably a stone baptismal font from the 13th century.

Liland used to be the commercial centre of the entire Ofotfjord area right up until the emergence of Narvik as a commerce/industry centre in the early 20th century.

During World War II, the Germans found the wide and fairly deep Bogen bay, with its mostly hard rock bottom well suited for anchoring, to be perfect for a naval base. Narvik is only 10 nautical miles (19 km) to the east (further into the fjord). The German battleship Tirpitz and cruiser Admiral Hipper were stationed in Bogen during part of the war (8 July – 23 October 1942, returned 11 March 1943). The battleships Scharnhorst and Lützow were based in Bogen for a shorter time. Additionally, several destroyers and submarines used Bogen as a base for shorter periods. Thus, this bay was one of Germany's most powerful naval bases during parts of the war and constituted a very real threat to Allied Arctic Convoys. The Allies had an obvious need for intelligence about these powerful German warships, and the British provided a radio set to the local resistance group. This radio was set up at Liland, 9 km west of Bogen, and codenamed Lyra.

• Jens Martin Arctander Jenssen (1885 Evenes – 1968), a Norwegian politician, teacher, and librarian
• Terje Wold (1899 in Evenes – 1972), a Norwegian judge and politician who was the 15th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway from 1958 to 1969
• Alf Rekstad (born 1951 in Bogen), a speed skater who competed in the 10,000-meter race at the 1980 Winter Olympics
• Jens Fredrik Ryland (born 1974), a guitarist with the progressive black metal band Borknagar who was brought up in Evenes

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway (in Norwegian)
• Gallery with old pictures from Evenes
• Pictures and information from Evenes (in Norwegian)
• Pictures of Tirpitz and Admiral Hipper in Bogen Archived 4 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
• Pictures from a kayak trip in Evenes
• Nautå nature reserve (in Norwegian)
• Veggen nature reserve (in Norwegian)