Editing Forsand (section)

==General information==
[[File:Kjerag.jpg|thumb|left|View of Kjerag, overlooking the Lysefjorden]]
[[File:Landa - Viking house 2.JPG|thumb|left|View of a Viking house in the Landa museum in Forsand]]
The municipality of ''Fossan'' was established on 1 January 1871 when the very large municipality of [[Høgsfjord]] was divided into two: Fossan (located east of the [[Høgsfjorden]] and south of the [[Frafjorden]]) and [[Høle]] (located west of the Høgsfjorden). Initially, Fossan had 2,081 residents.<ref name="Dag">{{Cite book |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |year=1999 |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |language=no |isbn=9788253746845}}</ref>

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Grepstad |first=Jon |title=Nikolai Schei |date=2024-11-25 |work=Store norske leksikon |url=https://snl.no/Nikolai_Schei |access-date=2025-02-21 |language=no |last2=Allkunne}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Hansen |first=Tore |title=kommuneinndelingen i Norge |date=2024-06-18 |work=Store norske leksikon |url=https://snl.no/kommuneinndelingen_i_Norge |access-date=2025-02-21 |language=no |last2=Thorsnæs |first2=Geir}}</ref> On 1 January 1965, the municipality was split, with everything located south and east of the [[Frafjorden]] being transferred to the neighboring municipality of [[Gjesdal]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Askheim |first=Svein |title=Forsand – tidlegare kommune |date=2024-09-19 |work=Store norske leksikon |url=https://snl.no/Forsand_-_tidlegare_kommune#-Historikk_og_kultur |access-date=2025-02-21 |language=no |last2=Thorsnæs |first2=Geir |last3=Helleve |first3=Eirik |last4=Allkunne}}</ref> The reason for this border change was because this area had no road connection with the rest of Forsand, but it was connected by road to Gjesdal.<ref name="Dag" />

On 1 January 2020, Forsand municipality was dissolved. The area on the northwestern shore of the Lysefjorden around the [[Preikestolen]] became a part of the neighboring [[Strand Municipality]] and the rest of Forsand became part of [[Sandnes Municipality]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kommunereformen |url=https://www.forsand.kommune.no/kommunereform.335270.nn.html |access-date=2017-11-04 |publisher=Forsand kommune |language=no}}</ref>

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the old ''[[Forsand (village)|Forsand]]'' farm ({{langx|non|Forsandr}}) since the first [[Forsand Church]] was built there. The first element is {{lang|non|for}} which means "sticking out" or "protruding". The last element is {{wikt-lang|non|sand}} which means "[[sand]]" or "sandy [[beach]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4pBAAAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Stavanger amt |date=1915 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=10 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=226 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref> Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Fossan''. On 3 November 1917, a [[royal decree|royal resolution]] changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Forsand''.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=1917 |title=Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1917. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m |url=https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2015102381014_001 |journal=[[Norsk Lovtidend]] |language=no |location=Kristiania, Norge |publisher=Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri |pages=1057–1065}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 11&nbsp;March 1988 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Vert (heraldry)|Vert]], a heron [[Attitude (heraldry)|vigilant]] [[argent]]"'' ({{langx|no|På grøn grunn ein sølv hegre}}). This means the arms have a green [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a [[heron]] standing on one leg. The charge has a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[argent]] which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The green color in the field symbolizes the importance of the local forests and wildlife. The heron was chosen since it is a common bird that lives in the area, from the fjords all the way up into the mountains. The arms were designed by John Digernes. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Forsand |access-date=2023-07-04 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Forsand, Rogaland (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-11-29.html |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1988-03-11 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LFO/forskrift/1988-03-11-266 |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] had one parish ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Forsand. It was part of the [[Ryfylke prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Stavanger]].

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Forsand'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="2"|Forsand||[[Forsand Church]]||[[Forsand (village)|Forsand]]||1854
|-
|[[Lyse Chapel]]||[[Lysebotn]]||1961
|}