Sola, Norway

Sola is a municipality and a Seaside resort in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Solakrossen. Other villages include Tananger, Hålandsmarka, Sørnes, and Stenebyen. Stavanger Airport is located in Sola, just a short distance from the large Stavanger/Sandnes metropolitan area.

The 69 km2 municipality is the 342nd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sola is the 41st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 28,315. The municipality's population density is 411.4 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 15.2f% over the previous 10-year period.

In the western part of Sola, there are 5 km of long, sandy beaches facing the North Sea. With usually ample supplies of wind and waves, the sandy beaches are a popular place for windsurfing.

General information
The municipality of Sola was established in 1930 when the old municipality of Håland was split into Sola (south of the Hafrsfjorden) and Madla (north of the Hafrsfjorden). Initially, Sola had 3,372 residents. On 1 January 2017, a small 350 daa area on the southwestern edge of the village of Solakrossen was transferred from Sandnes municipality to Sola.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Sola farm (Sóli) since the first Sola Church was built there. The meaning of the name is uncertain. One possibility is that it comes from the word which means "sun". Historically, the name was also spelled Sole.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 12 February 1982. The official blazon is "Azure, two bars double embowed argent" (I blått to sølv bjelker dannet ved et omvendt dobbelt buesnitt). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a set of two curved bars that look like waves. 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 blue color symbolizes the sea and the white/silver color symbolizes the whitecaps of the waves washing up to the long, shallow, sandy beaches along the ocean in the municipality. The arms were designed by the painter Roald Kyllingstad. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches
The Church of Norway has four parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Sola. It is part of the Tungenes prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Stavanger.

Geography
The municipality of Sola lies on the west side of the Stavanger Peninsula, south of the Hafrsfjorden. The municipality sits just about 5 km from the centres of the cities of Stavanger and Sandnes. The island of Rott lies just off the western coast of Sola. The Fladholmen Lighthouse lies just off shore of the village of Tananger in northern Sola.

History
According to Snorre Sturlason the Battle of Hafrsfjord took place in the year AD 872, probably outside Ytraberget. Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, is celebrated for having united Norway at this notable battle.

The stone crosses at Tjora date from about the year 1150. In early Christian times, these stone crosses were used as gathering points for religious ceremonies before churches were built. Sola Church Ruins (Sola ruinkirke) is the ruins of a Romanesque stone church dating from about the year 1120. The stone church probably replaced an older wooden church in the area. This wooden church was possibly the one that Erling Skjalgsson had built when he converted to Christianity at the end of the 10th century. Sola Church overlooked the Hafrsfjord and was in use until 1842.The artist Johan Bennetter (1822–1904) used the church as a studio and lived there with his family. During World War II, most of the church was demolished. It was later reconstructed, and the restoration was finished in 1995.

Stavanger Airport, Sola was founded in 1937. At Sola airport, the first opposed landing by paratroopers took place as German Fallschirmjägers from 1st battalion of the 1st Regiment, 7th Flieger Division were dropped on the airfield. Sola Air Station became an important airfield for the Germans during World War II.

Government
Sola 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 Sør-Rogaland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Sola is made up of 41 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 (ordfører) of Sola:


 * 1930–1931: Jakob Svendsen Gimre (H)
 * 1931–1931: Gabriel Bore (Bp)
 * 1932–1934: Gabriel Joa (Bp)
 * 1935–1937: Gabriel Bore (Bp)
 * 1938–1941: Gabriel Joa (Bp)
 * 1942–1943: Sverre Johansson (NS)
 * 1943–1945: Jakob Stokdal (NS)
 * 1945–1945: Gabriel Joa (Bp)
 * 1946–1947: Gabriel Bore (Bp)
 * 1948–1951: Torger Sanne (LL)
 * 1952–1959: Gabriel Joa (Bp)
 * 1960–1961: Knut Rommetveit (Sp)
 * 1962–1963: Leif Sømme (H)
 * 1964–1971: Rasmus Reime (Sp)
 * 1972–1975: Ole Gabriel Ueland (Sp)
 * 1976–1977: Ludvig Klingsheim (H)
 * 1978–1979: Andreas Sanne (KrF)
 * 1980–1987: Kåre Kvalvik (H)
 * 1988–1989: Håkon Rege (FrP)
 * 1990–1991: Trygve Ersland (H)
 * 1992–1995: Trygg Mæland (Sp)
 * 1995–1999: Eli Hellestø (Sp)
 * 1999–2011: Håkon Rege (H)
 * 2011–2019: Ole Ueland (H)
 * 2019–2023: Tom Henning Slethei (FrP)
 * 2023-present: Janne Stangeland Rege (H)

Museums
Museums in Sola include:
 * The Aviation History Museum
 * Rogaland Krigshistorisk Museum, a World War II museum
 * Kystkultursamlingen i Tananger, a Maritime collection

Notable people

 * Andrew Lawrenceson Smith (ca.1620 - ca.1694), a Scottish craftsman, woodcutter, and painter from the Stavanger renaissance
 * Andreas Meling (1839 in Sola – 1928), a ship owner, politician, and mayor of Stavanger from 1893
 * Rasmus Sørnes (1893 in Sola – 1967), an inventor, clockmaker, and radio technician who made advanced astronomical clocks
 * Tor Sørnes (1925 in Sola – 2017), an author, politician, and engineer who invented the VingCard
 * Bjørn Bue (1934 in Sola – 1997), a Lutheran missionary and Bishop of Stavanger from 1986 to 1997
 * Håkon Rege (born 1955), a politician and mayor of Sola from 1999 to 2011
 * Finn Øglænd (born 1957), an author, poet, and literature critic who grew up at Tananger
 * Svein Fjælberg (born 1959 in Sola), a former footballer with 128 caps with Viking FK and 33 with Norway
 * Rita Eriksen (born 1966 in Sola) & Frank Eriksen (born 1961 in Sola), musicians with Eriksen; a roots, country, and blues band
 * Solveig Horne (born 1969), a politician and Minister of Children and Families who lives in Sola
 * Camilla Herrem (born 1986 in Sola), a handball player with 262 caps with Norway women and three Olympic team medals (Gold in London 2012, Bronze in Rio 2016, and in Tokyo 2020)