page_title: Gulen
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Gulen / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Norsk bokmål: no:Rutle i no:Gulen kommune, no:Norge. Norsk nynorsk: nn:Rutle i nn:Gulen kommune, nn:Noreg. English: no:Rutle in en:Gulen municipality, en:Norway.
context_page_description: Gulen is a municipality in the southwestern part of Vestland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Eivindvik. Other villages in Gulen include Brekke, Byrknes, Dalsøyra, Dingja, Instefjord, Mjømna, Rutledal, and Ytre Oppedal.
  The municipality of Gulen sits to the south of the Sognefjorden and it surrounds the Gulafjorden, which is considered to be the place where Norway's west-coastal Vikings met for the Gulating, a governing body. The area along the Gulafjorden called Flolid is now a national historic place, where an open-air theater and annual summer play commemorates the Vikings who gathered there 1000 years ago to accept Christianity.
  The 597-square-kilometre municipality is the 190th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Gulen is the 264th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,297. The municipality's population density is 4 inhabitants per square kilometre and its population has decreased by 0.2% over the previous 10-year period.
  In 2016, the chief of police for Vestlandet formally suggested a reconfiguration of police districts and stations.
context_section_description: Gulen has an area of about 600 square kilometres (230 sq mi) including about 1500 small islands, islets, and skerries. The largest of the islands are Byrknesøyna, Hiserøyna, Mjømna, and Sandøyna.  The mainland is characterized by small valleys and large mountains crossing the landscape. The lake Dingevatn is one of Norway's deepest lakes.
  Gulen is bounded on the north by the Sognefjorden and the Sognesjøen, and to the south by the Fensfjorden with the North Sea to the west of the municipality. Gulen is bordered by the municipalities of Solund and Hyllestad to the north (across the Sognefjorden), by Høyanger to the east, and by Austrheim (across the Fensfjorden), Lindås, and Masfjorden to the south.
  The area is a geological region that contains a relatively low nutrition content ground, which characterizes the types of flora. The moors, which are frequently covered with wild purple heather, are the dominating picture of the area. Due to the large quantity of rain in the area, there are many types of moss and lichen in Gulen.  Most of the land in Gulen is very mountainous and inhospitable.
caption: View of the Rutle area in northern Gulen (photo: Bjarne Thune)
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