Lærdal Municipality
Lærdal Municipality
Lærdal kommune | |
|---|---|
| Leirdal herred (historic name) | |
View of Lærdalsøyri | |
|
Flag Coat of arms | |
Vestland within Norway | |
Lærdal within Vestland | |
| Coordinates: 61°03′04″N 07°35′52″E / 61.05111°N 7.59778°E | |
| Country | Norway |
| County | Vestland |
| District | Sogn |
| Established | 1 Jan 1838 |
| • Created as | Formannskapsdistrikt |
| Administrative centre | Lærdalsøyri |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2019) | Audun Mo (Ap) |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,342.52 km2 (518.35 sq mi) |
| • Land | 1,275.43 km2 (492.45 sq mi) |
| • Water | 67.09 km2 (25.90 sq mi) 5% |
| • Rank | #71 in Norway |
| Highest elevation | 1,920.23 m (6,300.0 ft) |
| Population (2025) | |
• Total | 2,188 |
| • Rank | #272 in Norway |
| • Density | 1.6/km2 (4.1/sq mi) |
| • Change (10 years) | −0.6% |
| Demonym | Lærdøl |
| Official language | |
| • Norwegian form | Nynorsk |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| ISO 3166 code | NO-4642 |
| Website | Official website |
Lærdal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Lærdalsøyri. The old Filefjell Kongevegen road passes through Lærdal Municipality on its way to Valdres and later to Oslo.
The 1,342.52-square-kilometre (518.35 sq mi) municipality is the 71st largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway (with over half of this area consisting of mountains). Lærdal Municipality is the 272nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,188. The municipality's population density is 1.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (4.1/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 0.5% over the previous 10-year period.
The Lærdal river valley is long, running from Hemsedal Municipality (Høgeloft mountain) and the Filefjell mountains in the east to the Sognefjorden in the west. About half of the municipal residents live in the main village of Lærdalsøyri; the rest in the small villages in the surrounding valleys such as Borgund, Ljøsne, Tønjum, Erdal, Vindedalen, Frønningen, and Strendene. The Old Lærdalsøyri village has 161 protected buildings. Some of the houses there date back to the mid-18th century. On the night of 18–19 January 2014, a major fire destroyed at least 30 buildings.