Editing Lærdal (section)

==General information==
[[File:Borgundstavkirke.jpg|thumb|left|[[Borgund stave church]] ]]
''Lærdal'' was established as a [[List of municipalities of Norway|municipality]] on 1 January 1838 (see [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law). In the 19th century, the name was sometimes spelled ''Leerdahl'' or ''Leirdal''. The municipality of 1838 was created to be identical to the Lærdal [[Church of Norway|parish]] ''([[prestegjeld]])'' that included the sub-parishes ({{lang|no|sokn}}) of [[Borgund, Sogn og Fjordane|Borgund]], [[Tønjum]], Hauge, and [[Årdal|Aardal]]. In 1863, the northeastern sub-parish of [[Årdal|Aardal]] (population: 1,791) was separated from Lærdal to form a separate municipality. In 1864, the eastern sub-parish of [[Borgund, Sogn og Fjordane|Borgund]] (population: 963) was separated from Lærdal to form its own municipality. This left Lærdal with 2,777 residents.<ref name="Dag">{{Cite book |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |year=1999 |isbn=9788253746845 |language=no}}</ref><ref name="em">{{Cite web |last=Natvik |first=Oddvar |date=9 February 2005 |title=Some historical data on the 26 Kommunes |url=http://www.emigration.no/sff/emigration3.nsf/0/326D0346278A5909C1256F570048962C?OpenDocument |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613141425/http://www.emigration.no/sff/emigration3.nsf/0/326D0346278A5909C1256F570048962C?OpenDocument |archive-date=13 June 2008 |access-date=15 June 2008}}</ref>

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1964, Lærdal (population: 1,755) was merged with the municipality of [[Borgund, Sogn og Fjordane|Borgund]] (population: 492) and the Muggeteigen, Luggenes, and Bergmål farms (population: 11) along the Sognefjorden from the municipality of [[Årdal]]. After the merger, Lærdal had a total of 2,258. On 1 January 1992, the [[Frønningen]] area (population: 32) of [[Leikanger Municipality]] was transferred to Lærdal municipality.<ref name="Dag" /><ref name="em" />

On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly created [[Vestland]] county after [[Sogn og Fjordane]] and [[Hordaland]] counties were merged.

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the old village of ''[[Lærdalsøyri|Lærdal]]'' ({{langx|non|Lærardalr}}). The first element is the [[genitive case]] of the old name of the local river {{lang|non|Lærr}}. The meaning of the river name is unknown. The last element is {{wikt-lang|non|dalr}} which means "[[valley]]" or "dale".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lN1LAQAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Nordre Bergenhus amt |date=1919 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=12 |location=Kristiania, Norge |pages=60–61 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 18 December 1987. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Gules]], two dragon heads [[bendwise]] [[Or (heraldry)|Or]]"'' ({{langx|no|På raud grunn to gull drakehovud i skrå rekkje}}). This means the arms have a red [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is two [[dragon]] heads aligned diagonally. The charge has a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[Or (heraldry)|Or]] which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The dragon heads are based on the wooden dragons seen on the gables of the historic [[Borgund Stave Church]] that was built around 1150 in Lærdal. The arms were designed by Inge Rotevatn. 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=Lærdal |access-date=2023-05-13 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lærdal, Sogn og Fjordane (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-14-22.html |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1987-12-18 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1987-12-18-1074 |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has three parishes ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Lærdal. It is part of the [[Sogn prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Bjørgvin]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Lærdal'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="2"|Borgund||[[Borgund Church (Lærdal)|Borgund Church]]||rowspan="2"|[[Borgund, Sogn og Fjordane|Borgund]]||1868
|-
|[[Borgund Stave Church]]||{{circa|1150}}
|-
|Hauge||[[Hauge Church]]||[[Lærdalsøyri]]||1868
|-
|Tønjum||[[Tønjum Church]]||[[Tønjum]]||1832
|}