Sauda () is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sauda, where most of the population lives. Other villages in the municipality include Saudasjøen and Amdal. Despite being in the northern part of the region of Ryfylke, Sauda participates in the Haugalandet Council and is under the jurisdiction of the Haugaland og Sunnhordland District Court.

The municipality is the 196th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Sauda Municipality is the 190th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of . The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 2.3% over the previous 10-year period.

The city of Sauda is the fifth largest city in Rogaland county with 4,227 inhabitants (2025), and the city center is home to Northern Europe's largest smelting plant, Eramet Norway AS. The municipality is situated in the mountain valleys surrounding the Saudafjorden.

General information

left|thumb|Part of the inner seaport in the town of Sauda

thumb|left|View of the narrow Sauda fjord

The municipality of Sauda was established in 1842 when it was separated from the large Suldal Municipality. Initially, Sauda had a population of 1,584. The municipal boundaries have never changed. The municipality declared the urban area of Sauda as a city in 1999.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Sauda farm () since the first Sauda Church was built there. The farm is now part of the village of Saudasjøen. The name seems to come from the word which means "sheep", however, the same word is also the singular past indicative of the verb which means "to seethe" or "to boil", possibly referring to a spring of water.

Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Søvde or Saude. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution established the spelling of the name as Sauda Municipality.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 14 May 1976. The official blazon is "Azure, three pallets dancetty argent" (). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a set of three, vertical, jagged lines. The charge 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 jagged lines symbolically represent a river as a means for hydroelectricity (they can also be seen as "electrical sparks"). Historically, power was generated by watermills, providing a possibility for the development of an industry in the village. Presently, the power is used for melting metal ore in smelters in the municipality. The arms were designed by Johan Matland. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish () within Sauda Municipality. It is part of the Ryfylke prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Stavanger.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ style="font-size:medium"|Churches in Sauda Municipality

!Parish ()!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built

|-

|rowspan="4"|Sauda||Sauda Church||Sauda||1866

|-

|Saudasjøen Chapel||Saudasjøen||1973

|-

|Hellandsbygd Chapel||Hellandsbygda||1956

|-

|Solbrekk Chapel||Sauda||1958

|}

History

left|thumb|The Workers township, Åbøbyen 2005.

left|thumb|Before The Workers township was built, Åbøbyen 1917.

Archaeological excavation in Saudasjøen shows that people have been living in Sauda since the latest Ice Age. In 1349, the Plague/Black Death wiped out about two-thirds of the population in Sauda, causing a decline in both population and economy. Despite this, the population was increasing during the medieval period, and a new type of industry started to grow. Along the fjord, the power from several waterfalls was used to build and run sawmills, and large-scale lumber production was started. People from all over the world, especially from the Netherlands, started to trade with the people of Sauda. This resulted in major ship traffic, giving impetus to further development of the villages and farms in Sauda.

By the end of the 19th century, a new type of adventure would change the lives of the inhabitants forever. The mining industry started in the mountains of Hellandsbygda, making Sauda a small industrial area and trading center for the surrounding region. In 1910, the American company Electric Furnace Company (EFP) began the construction of Europe's largest smelting plant in Sauda. This could only be done because of the large number of waterfalls and rivers that made it possible to build power plants situated a short distance from the smelter, which uses large amounts of electricity.

Sauda's time as a farming village was now over, and the people of today still live on the foundation of the new city that emerged. By the end of World War II, the Germans had finished building a large Aluminum Melting Plant in Saudasjøen, but the production was moved to Årdal Municipality in 1946. The remaining buildings were demolished by the municipality in the 1950s, leaving the industrial area in Saudasjøen empty for decades. In the 1980s, a glass production factory was established together with a couple of mechanic production factories. The population of Sauda reached its peak in the mid-1960s, approximately 6,700 inhabitants. In 1998, the urban area of Sauda was declared to be a city (mostly a symbolic name, with no new municipal authority).

Geography

Sauda Municipality is located in the valleys and mountains surrounding the Saudafjorden. Outside of the main valley, most of the municipality is very mountainous terrain, with mountains like Skaulen () and Kyrkjenuten (). Kyrkjenuten is the highest point in the municipality.

Government

Sauda 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 Haugaland og Sunnhordland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council () of Sauda Municipality is made up of 19 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 Sauda Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:

  • 1842–1849: Orm O. Riisvold
  • 1850–1861: Ole Christian Fløgstad
  • 1862–1865: Orm O. Riisvold
  • 1866–1868: Svend Tengesdal
  • 1869–1873: Ole Christian Fløgstad
  • 1874–1875: Bjedne Birkeland
  • 1876–1879: Ole Christian Fløgstad
  • 1880–1889: Iver Birkeland (MV)
  • 1890–1891: Torjus Øie (V)
  • 1892–1893: Iver Birkeland (MV)
  • 1894–1897: Bjedne Birkeland (MV)
  • 1898–1901: Jakob Teig (MV)
  • 1902–1904: Torjus Øie (V)
  • 1905–1907: Jakob Teig (H)
  • 1908–1916: Kristen Fløgstad (V)
  • 1917–1919: Kristoffer O. Djuve (V)
  • 1920–1922: Kristen Fløgstad (V)
  • 1923–1925: Kristoffer O. Djuve (V)
  • 1926–1928: Sondof Rabbe (V)
  • 1929–1937: Gerhard Haukenes (V)
  • 1938–1941: Jakob Remseth (Ap)
  • 1941–1945: Karl J. Fjørtoft (NS)
  • 1945–1951: Jakob Remseth (Ap)
  • 1952–1955: Erling Larsson (V)
  • 1956–1959: Julius Rydningen (Ap)
  • 1960–1961: Erling Larsson (V)
  • 1962–1963: Paul Engebretsen (Ap)
  • 1964–1967: Erling Larsson (V)
  • 1968–1977: Hans Frette (Ap)
  • 1977–1979: Alf Selland (Ap)
  • 1980–1983: Kåre Årthun (H)
  • 1984–1987: Jan Edvin Birkeland (Ap)
  • 1988–1995: Olav Dybing (Ap)
  • 1995–1999: Anne Marie Brekke (Sp)
  • 1999–2005: Torfinn Opheim (Ap)
  • 2005–2011: Laura Seltveit (Ap)
  • 2011–2015: Frode Sulen (Ap)
  • 2015–2023: Asbjørn Birkeland (Sp)
  • 2023–present: Håvard Handeland (Ap)

Economy

The main activity is industry, with large companies represented like Eramet, Saint-Gobain, Statkraft, Sauda Building Center, Statnett, Elkem, and Effektivt Renhold

Tourism

thumb|right|160px|Industrial museum, Sauda, in winter.

Attractions

  • Rondahaugen – with views over the city and out towards Stavanger
  • Sauda Church, Solbrekk Chapel, Hellandsbygd Chapel, and Saudasjøen Chapel – local churches
  • Allmannajuvet – old mines with guided tour
  • Sauda Smelteverk – melting plant that is still active, guided tour after appointment
  • Nordag – former aluminium melting plant in Saudasjøen
  • Old Graveyard in Saudasjøen – containing tombs of Russian POWs who died when building the Nordag aluminium melting plant during World War II
  • Tveittunet in Saudasjøen – old refurbished estate in Saudasjøen

160px|thumb|Svandalsfossen waterfall, Sauda

  • Jonegarden på Hustveit – old refurbished farm and a lumber mill
  • Løyning – old farm about 10 kilometers away from Sauda
  • Risvoldtunet – food service, conference center, guided tour on a mini power plant
  • Åbøbyen – best conserved North-American styled village area in Norway
  • Honganvikfossen – a waterfall
  • Svandalsfossen – a waterfall
  • Jetegrytene in Åbødalen – rivers and waterfalls
  • Sauda museum – collection in downtown Sauda featuring local heritage
  • Industriarbeidermuseet – museum about the life of local workmen (1920s to 1950s)
  • Fagerheimsaminga – exhibition of carved wooden figures in Saudahallen
  • City walk – arrangement in summer time with a guided tour through the city of Sauda
  • City center – during winter, heated streets are free of snow

Notable people

140px|thumb|Bjørn Eidsvåg, 2016

  • Jakob Aano (1920–2016), a politician who was a member of the Parliament of Norway
  • Paul Engstad (1926–2012), a politician, journalist, and author
  • Hans Frette (1927–1989), a politician, local mayor, and member of the Parliament of Norway
  • Dr. Arne Fjørtoft (born 1937), a politician, journalist, and author
  • Odd Bondevik (1941–2014), the Bishop of the Diocese of Møre in the Church of Norway
  • Kjartan Fløgstad (born 1944), an author who was associated with magic realism in Norway
  • Svein Mathisen (1952–2011), a footballer with 329 club appearances and 25 for Norway
  • Bjørn Eidsvåg (born 1954), a singer, songwriter, and ordained Lutheran minister
  • Torfinn Opheim (born 1961), a former mayor and member of the Parliament of Norway
  • Hildeborg Juvet Hugdal, (Norwegian Wiki) (born 1983), a powerlifter known as the World's Strongest Woman

Twin towns — sister cities

Sauda has sister city agreements with the following places:

  • San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

References

Further reading

  • Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway