Gaular

Gaular is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre was the village of Sande. Other villages in the municipality included Bygstad, Hestad, and Vik. Gaular was sometimes referred to as Fosselandet (the land of the waterfalls) because it was home to 28 large and small waterfalls. The municipality was centered on the river Gaula. The Viksdalen valley was located in Gaular. At the time of its dissolution in 2020, the municipality is the 190th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Gaular is the 263rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,027. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 9.8% over the last decade. In 2016, the chief of police for Vestlandet formally suggested a reconfiguration of police districts and stations. He proposed that the police station in Gaular be closed. The parish of Indre Holmedal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The original municipality was identical to the Indre Holmedal parish (prestegjeld) which included the sub-parishes (sokn) of Bygstad, Sande, and Vik. In 1912, the name of the municipality was changed to Gaular. On 1 January 1990, parts of the Hestad area (west of Sunde-Klepp, west of Bygstad) were transferred from Fjaler to Gaular. On 1 January 2020, the neighboring municipalities of Gaular, Førde, Naustdal, and Jølster were merged to form the new Sunnfjord Municipality. The municipality (originally the parish) was named Indre Holmedal, after the old Holmedal farm (Hǫlmudalr) since the first Holmedal Church was built there. The meaning of the first element of Holmedal is uncertain, but it may have been an old name for a local river, Holma. It is unknown what the river name meant. The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The prefix indre (which means "inner") was added to distinguish the area from its neighbor, Ytre Holmedal.