Odda Municipality

The municipality of Odda was established on 1 July 1913 when the large Ullensvang Municipality was divided as follows:^[7]

• the southern district (population: 3,077) became the new Odda Municipality
• the northern district (population: 1,736) became the new Kinsarvik Municipality
• the central district (population: 1,941) continued as a much smaller Ullensvang Municipality

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the neighboring Røldal Municipality (population: 676) was merged into Odda Municipality, bringing the total population of the new, larger Odda Municipality to 10,163 residents.^[7]

On 1 January 2020, Jondal Municipality, Odda Municipality, and Ullensvang Municipality were merged. The new municipality is called Ullensvang Municipality and its administrative centre is the town of Odda.^[8] Historically, the old Odda Municipality was part of the old Hordaland county. On 1 January 2020, the newly-enlarged Ullensvang Municipality became a part of the newly-formed Vestland county (after Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane counties were merged).^[9]

The Røldal Stave Church was built in the years 1200–1250 in the present-day village of Røldal. This was one of the oldest structures in the municipality.

During the 19th century, Odda became a significant tourist destination. Visits ranged from English pioneers around 1830 to the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II, who visited Odda every year between 1891 and 1914. This led to the construction of several hotels in the municipality.

Odda Municipality was centred on the modern town of Odda which grew up around smelters built at the head of the Sørfjorden branch of the Hardangerfjord in the mid-twentieth century, drawing migrants from different parts of Norway.^[14]

The carbide production and the subsequent production of cyanamide was started in 1908 after the water power plant was operational and provided the necessary electricity for the arc furnaces. The plant was the largest in the world and remained operational till 2003 shortly after the plant was sold to Philipp Brothers Chemicals Inc. The Norwegian government tried to get the site recognized together with other industrial plants as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[15][16][17] In 2010 an international report stated: What makes Odda smelteverk so important and central to the application of Norway’s hydro power sites and pioneer chemical industry as a World Heritage Site is the fact that here in an internationally unique way the physical remains of an early chemical production process are still present.^[18]

Dialect

Odda grew up around this smelter in the early-twentieth century, drawing migrants from different parts of Norway. As a result, there developed a new dialect, a mixture of that spoken in the home regions of the migrants - a phenomenon termed by linguists "a Koiné language". The town of Odda and neighboring village of Tyssedal - which arose in the same time and socio-economic circumstances as those of Odda - provided valuable insights to linguists studying this phenomenon. The researcher Paul Kerswill conducted an intensive study of the Norwegian spoken in the two communities, relating them to very different geographical origins: The workers in Odda came predominantly (86%) from western Norway. In Tyssedal only about one third came from western Norway; one third came from eastern Norway; and the rest from other parts of the country. The dialects that evolved in these two communities were radically different from each other, though spoken at a short geographical distance from each other.

While it existed, Odda Municipality was 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 was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[22] The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Hardanger District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Odda Municipality was very mountainous and the settlements were all located in valleys. The highest point in the municipality was the 1,721.2-metre (5,647 ft) tall mountain Sandfloegga.^[1] Because of the many mountains, there were many large waterfalls including Låtefossen, Espelandsfossen, and Tyssestrengene.^[42] There are also many large lakes such as Sandvinvatnet, Votna, Valldalsvatnet, Røldalsvatnet, Ringedalsvatnet, Langavatnet, and parts of Ståvatn. On top of the high mountains in western Odda is the vast Folgefonna glacier, including the Buarbreen glacier near the town of Odda. Part of Folgefonna National Park was in Odda as well. The western part of the municipality sat on top of the southern part of the Hardangervidda plateau, which also includes part of the Hardangervidda National Park. The mountains Kistenuten and Sandfloegga are located on the plateau.^[14]

Ullensvang Municipality was located to the north, Vinje Municipality (in Telemark county) was located to the east, Suldal Municipality and Sauda Municipality (both in Rogaland county) were located to the south, Etne Municipality was located to the southwest, and Kvinnherad Municipality was located to the west.

The municipality sat at a crossroads of two major roads. The European route E134 highway runs east–west through Odda municipality, cutting through many mountains in the Røldal Tunnel, Horda Tunnel, Austmannali Tunnel, and Haukeli Tunnel. The other main road is the Norwegian National Road 13 which runs north–south through the municipality. The two roads run together from Seljestad to Håra. At Eitrheim, the Folgefonna Tunnel connects Odda to the neighboring area of Mauranger in Kvinnherad Municipality, cutting through the mountains under the Folgefonna glacier.

The town is used as the backdrop for the fictional town of Edda in the Netflix Norwegian-language drama series Ragnarok.

• List of former municipalities of Norway