Evenes

Evenes (Sami Evenášši) is a municipality in the county of Nordland, Norway.

The old municipality of Ofoten was split into Evenes and Ankenes January 1, 1884. Ballangen was separated from Evenes July 1, 1925.

The name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Evenes (Norse (*Øyvindarnes), since the first church was built there. The first element is (probably) the genitive case of the male name Øyvindr, the last element is nes n 'headland'.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1990). It shows an old wheel (to represent communication).

Geography

Evenes is located on the northern shore of Ofotfjord, and borders Skånland municipality in Troms county to the north, Narvik municipality to the east, and Tjeldsund to the west. There are lowlands in the western part of the municipality (Liland and Evenes area), while in the eastern part (Bogen), the mountains go almost straight up from the fjord. The highest mountain is Lilletinden (1137 m), which can be climbed without climbing equipment, even with skis in the winter and early spring. The view is stunning. The most noticeable mountain when driving the E10, which crosses through Evenes, is perhaps the steep Niingen (1090 m) just east of Bogen. The large cave Trollkirka (the Troll Church) is located in the western part of the municipality (near Tårstad). German fortifications from World War II can be seen at Evenestangen, which is also a good place for fishing in the fjord. Niingsvatnet is partly located in Evenes.

Evenestangen is also the site of the sculpture Stone House by Danish artist Bjørn Nørgaard. The sculpture is part of the Artscape Nordland project.

Economy

Most people work in public service and there is also some small scale agriculture. Harstad/Narvik Airport, Evenes is located in the western part of the municipality, with daily flights to Oslo, Trondheim, Bodø and Tromsø, as well as charter flights to southern Europe filled with sun-hungry tourists. The Royal Norwegian Air Force has a substantial infrastructure at Evenes, but the base was closed following the end of the Cold War, though it is often used by other NATO allies during their winter training. The large C-5 Galaxy from the United States Air Force has made several landings at the airport. A mobile hospital was built inside a small mountain at Osmarka, 5 km east of the airport, using NATO infrastructure funds. The United States Navy moved the hospital to Kuwait before the Gulf War started in 1991. To achieve this, a large transport ship used the deep water harbour near Bogen, 13 km east of the airport. This harbour was also built with funds from NATO, to enable heavy equipment to be moved north to Troms by road.

History

The church at Evenes was the first church in Ofoten, built ca. 1250. The original church and a subsequent church has been lost in fires; the present church is a wooden church(const. 1800) inspired by Danish Biedermeier mansion building style. Some relics from the original churches remain in the church today, most notably a stone baptismal font from the 13th century.
Liland used to be the communications centre of the entire Ofotfjord area right up until the emergence of Narvik as a commerce/industry centre in the early 20th century.

During the second world war, the Germans found the wide and fairly deep Bogen bay, with its mostly hard rock bottom well suited for anchoring, to be perfect for a naval base. Narvik is only to the east (further into the fjord). The German battleship Tirpitz and cruiser Admiral Hipper were stationed in Bogen during part of the war (8 July - 23 October 1942, returned 11 March 1943). The battleships Scharnhorst and Lützow were based in Bogen for a shorter time. Additionally, several destroyers and submarines used Bogen as a base for shorter periods. Thus, this bay was one of Germany's most powerful naval bases during parts of the war, and constituted a very real threat to Allied Arctic Convoys. The Allies had an obvious need for intelligence about these powerful German warships, and the British provided a radio set to the local resistance group. This radio was set up at Liland, 9 km west of Bogen, and codenamed Lyra.