Gildeskål

The municipality of Gildeskaal (later spelled Gildeskål) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1853, the eastern (inland) district of Gildeskaal (population: about 1,150) was separated to become the new municipality of Beiarn. This left Gildeskaal with about 2,400 residents. The municipal boundaries have not changed since.^[6]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Gildeskaal farm (Old Norse: Gildaskáli) since the first Gildeskål Church was built there. The first element is the plural genitive case of gildi which means "feast" or "banquet". The last element is skáli which means "hall".^[7] On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Gildeskaal with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Gildeskål, using the letter å instead.^[8][9]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 12 February 1988. The official blazon is "Azure, a chalice argent" (Norwegian: I blått en sølv kalk). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a chalice. The chalice 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 arms are canting since the meaning of the municipal name Gildeskål refers to a banquet hall (or guildhall) which, of course, is a place where one might drink from a chalice. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen.^[10][11][12]

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Gildeskål. It is part of the Bodø domprosti (arch-deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Gildeskål is a coastal municipality that encompasses part of the mainland as well as many islands. Major islands include Fleina, Fugløya, Nordarnøya, Sørarnøya, and Sandhornøya. The southern part of the municipality includes part of the Saltfjellet mountains and the northern part of the municipality borders the Saltfjorden and the Vestfjorden.

There are many lakes in the municipality including: Fellvatnet, Langvatnet, Litle Sokumvatnet, and Sokumvatnet.

All municipalities in Norway are 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.^[13] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Salten og Lofoten District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Gildeskål is made up of 17 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 mayors of Gildeskål:^[33]

Sandhornøy Bridge connects the island of Sandhornøya to the mainland. The Kjellingstraumen Bridge crosses the outer end of the Beiar Fjord.

There is a VLF-transmitter in Gildeskål that is used for sending messages to submerged submarines (call sign: JXN, frequency: 16.4 kHz). It uses as antenna multiple wires spun between two mountains (photo). The transmitter building is located at 66°58′58″N 13°52′23″E / 66.98278°N 13.87306°E / 66.98278; 13.87306 (JXN transmitter).

• Elias Blix (1836–1902) a Norwegian professor, theologian, hymn writer and politician
• Harald Sund (1876–1940) a Norwegian architect, artist and illustrator
• Håvard Lund (born 1970) a Norwegian jazz musician (clarinet and saxophone) and composer

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway (in Norwegian)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gildeskål.

• Nordland travel guide from Wikivoyage