Odda
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Odda kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Hordaland within Norway
Odda within Hordaland
Coordinates: 60°1′33″N 6°40′2″E / 60.02583, 6.66722
Country	Norway
County	Hordaland
District	Hardanger
Municipality ID	NO-1228
Administrative centre	Odda
Government
- Mayor (2007)	Gard Folkvord (Ap)
Area (Nr. 42 in Norway)
- Total	1,616 km² (623.9 sq mi)
- Land	1,478 km² (570.7 sq mi)
Population (2004)
- Total	7,468
- Density	5/km² (12.9/sq mi)
- Change (10 years)	-8.0 %
- Rank in Norway	131
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Official language form	Neutral
Demonym	Odding 1
Data from Statistics Norway
Website: www.odda.kommune.no

Odda (help·info) is a municipality and town in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Odda was separated from Ullensvang on 1 July 1913. Røldal was merged with Odda on 1 January 1964. The town of Odda is the centre of the landscape of Hardanger, located at the end of the Hardangerfjord.

In 1927, Erling Johnson, working at Odda Smelteverk, invented a process to produce fertilizers. This process is now known as the Odda process.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Odda (Old Norse Oddi), since the first church was built there. The name is identical with the word oddi which means "headland".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 8 October 1982. The arms show a canting of an arrowhead (Norwegian language: pilodd). The name of the village, however is not derived from an arrow head, but from a landscape element.²

History

Odda in February, 2004.

The Røldal stave church was built around 1200 - 1250 in Røldal.

Geography

Odda municipality includes the waterfall Låtefossen; the lakes Sandvinvatnet, Votna, Valldalsvatnet, Røldalsvatnet, Ringedalsvatnet, Langavatnet, and parts of Ståvatn; the glacier Buarbreen and parts of Folgefonna National Park.

References

External links

• Media related to Odda at Wikimedia Commons

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