Leikanger, Sogn og Fjordane County, Norway

🇳🇴 Leikanger is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative centre was the village of Hermansverk, which also was the administrative centre of the old Sogn og Fjordane county. Leikanger is located on the north side of the Sognefjorden and to the east of the Fjærlandsfjorden. It is bordered on the north and east by the municipality of Sogndal, on the west by Balestrand, and on the south (across the Sognefjorden) by Vik.

General information Leikanger was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. The original municipality was large and it was identical to the old Leikanger parish (prestegjeld) with the six sub-parishes (sokn) of Leikanger, Fresvik, Rinde, Vangsnes, Tjugum, and Mundal. In 1849, the sub-parishes of Vangsnes, Tjugum, and Mundal were transferred into the newly created Balestrand parish (prestegjeld). The new parish was separated from Leikanger municipality in 1850 to form the new Balestrand Municipality. This split left Leikanger with 2,368 residents.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the Hella-Eitorn area was transferred from Balestrand back to Leikanger. Also, the Tingstad area was transferred to neighboring Sogndal municipality. These changes left Leikanger with 2,680 residents. On 1 January 1992, the sub-parishes of Leikanger lying south of the Sognefjorden, including Feios and Fresvik were transferred to the municipality of Vik. This move left Leikanger with only one sub-parish: Leikanger.

On 1 January 2020, Leikanger was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Balestrand and Sogndal to form a much larger municipality called Sogndal.

Name The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Leikanger farm (Old Norse: Leikvangir) since the first Leikanger Church was built there. The first element is leikr which means "game", "sports", or "contest". The last element is the plural form of vangr which means "field" or "meadow". Thus it means a meadow used for sports or games. Prior to 1889, the name was written Lekanger.

Churches The Church of Norway had one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Leikanger. It was part of the Sogn prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

Geography Leikanger is located on the north side of the Sognefjorden and to the east of the Fjærlandsfjorden. It is bordered on the north and east by the municipality of Sogndal, on the west by Balestrand, and on the south (across the Sognefjorden) by Vik.

Buildings and structures East of Leikanger, there are the Sognefjord Spans, three powerline spans with length over 4 km (2.5 mi), which are currently the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th longest spans in the world. In 1955, the first Sognefjord Span was built near Leikanger. It was the longest span in the world from 1955 until 1997.