Haram Municipality

Haram is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative center is Brattvåg, the industrial center of Sunnmøre. Other important villages in the municipality include Austnes, Eidsvik, Helle, Longva, Hildrestranda, Søvik, Tennfjord, and Vatne.

The  municipality is the 280th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Haram Municipality is the 120th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 9,357. The municipality's population density is  and its population has increased by 3% over the previous 10-year period.

Brattvåg IL is a sports club based in the municipality. Tennfjord Mannskor is a male choir from the village of Tennfjord.

General information
The parish of Harham (later spelled Haram) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1890, Haram Municipality was divided into two: the western island district (population: 794) became the new Roald Municipality and the eastern district (population: 1,956) remained as Haram Municipality.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, three municipal changes involving Haram occurred, altering the size of the municipality (and ultimately creating a much larger municipality):
The part of Haram Municipality on the island of Harøya, including the Myklebust area and the smaller surrounding islands to the west of there (population: 287), was separated from Haram Municipality and merged into the neighboring Sandøy Municipality to the northeast.
Most of Vatne Municipality (population: 2,260) to the southeast of Haram Municipality was merged into Haram Municipality. 
The Søvik area in Borgund Municipality (population: 1,191) to the south of Haram Municipality were merged into Haram. 

On 1 January 2020, the Haram Municipality, Skodje Municipality, Ørskog Municipality, Sandøy Municipality, and Ålesund Municipality were merged to form a new, much larger Ålesund Municipality. This occurred because in June 2017, the Parliament of Norway voted to approve the merger. Soon after the merger, there was discontent among the people who had lived in the old Haram Municipality. After lots of discussions, the municipal council of the new Ålesund Municipality petitioned the government to reverse that part of the merger and to recreate Haram Municipality once again. On 3 October 2022, the Parliament of Norway approved a law to recreate Haram Municipality effective on 1 January 2024.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Haram farm () since the first Haram Church was built there. The first element is prefix  which has an unknown meaning. The last element is  which means "stone" or "steep cliff". Prior to 1889, the name was written Harham.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 7 August 1987 and it was in use until 2020 when the municipality ceased to exist. The official blazon is "Per fess engrailed of three lobes argent and azure" (). This means the arms have are divided with a horizontal line that is engrailed three times. The field (background) below the line has a tincture of azure. Above the line, the field 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 design was chosen to look like three waves, symbolizing the importance of the sea in this island municipality. The arms were designed by Eldar Tandstad. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Dialect
The dialect of the area was well known for its practice of H-dropping and the old and traditional pronunciation of the name of the municipality was .

Churches
The Church of Norway has four parishes () within Haram Municipality. It is part of the Nordre Sunnmøre prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre.

Churches in Haram MunicipalityParish ()Church nameLocation of the churchYear builtHaram og FjortoftHaram ChurchAustnes1838Lepsøy ChapelLepsøya1896Fjørtoft ChurchFjørtofta1878VatneVatne ChurchVatne1868HamnsundHamnsund Churchjust south of Søvik1875BrattvågBrattvåg ChurchBrattvåg1977Hildre ChurchHildrestranda1905

Geography
The municipality of Haram includes many islands including Bjørnøya, Fjørtofta, Haramsøya, Løvsøya, Skuløya, and Terøya. The islands of Bjørnøya and Terøya are connected to the mainland via causeways. The islands of Haramsøya and Skuløya are connected with the Ullasund Bridge. The new Nordøyvegen bridge and tunnel network (completed in 2022) connects all of the main islands of Haram to the mainland via the Fjørtoftfjord Tunnel, Nogvafjord Tunnel, Haramsfjord Tunnel, and Lepsøy Bridge. The Haramsfjorden, Vatnefjorden, and Romsdal Fjord all flow through the municipality. The Ulla Lighthouse and Hellevik Lighthouse are both located in the northwestern part of the municipality.

The municipality shares land borders with Vestnes Municipality to the east and Ålesund Municipality to the south. The rest of the municipality is surrounded by sea. The municipality also borders (by sea) Ålesund Municipality and Molde Municipality to the northeast, Ålesund Municipality to the south, and Giske Municipality to the west. The highest point in the municipality is the  tall mountain Blåskjerdingen, located near the border with Vestnes Municipality.

Government
Haram 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. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Sunnmøre District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council of Haram Municipality is made up of 27 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party. 

Mayors
The mayor () of Haram Municipality 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:

1838–1841: Sjur Olsen Hatlemark
1842–1851: Carl Sjursen Haram
1852–1857: Nils Rasmussen Aakre
1858–1862: Jens Kobro Daae
1863–1867: Nils Rasmussen Aakre
1868–1878: Hans Rasmussen Vestre
1879–1900: Nils Ingebrigtsen Alvestad (V)
1901–1911: Nils Nilsen Aakre (V)
1911–1912: Knudt Severin Jonas Olsen Otterlei (V)
1913–1921: Ole Rasmus Knutsen Flem (V)
1922–1925: Knudt Severin Jonas Olsen Otterlei (V)
1926–1928: Martinus Eriksen Otterlei
1929–1934: Karl Gunnarson Rogne (V)
1935–1941: Ole Johanson Skjelten
1941–1945: Martinus Kjerstad (NS)
1945–1955: Lars Larsson Fjørtoft (V)
1984–1985: Robert Hurlen (H)
1986–1988: Svein Ottar Sandal (KrF)
1989–1989: Knut Wahl (Ap)
1990–1991: Robert Hurlen (H)
1992–1999: Margrethe Tennfjord (KrF)
1999–2007: Oddbjørn Vatne (Sp)
2007–2015: Bjørn Sandnes (H)
2015–2019: Vebjørn Krogsæter (Sp)
(2020–2023: Haram Municipality was part of Ålesund Municipality)
2024–present: Vebjørn Krogsæter (Sp)

Media gallery

References

External links
Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway 


Category:Municipalities of Møre og Romsdal
Category:1838 establishments in Norway
Category:2020 disestablishments in Norway
Category:2024 establishments in Norway
Category:Populated places established in 1838
Category:Populated places established in 2020
Category:Populated places disestablished in 2024