Aure, Norway

Aure Municipality Aure kommune
Municipality
View of Arasvika in Aure
Flag Coat of arms
Møre og Romsdal within Norway
Aure within Møre og Romsdal
Coordinates: 63°16′07″N 08°36′28″E / 63.26861°N 8.60778°E / 63.26861; 8.60778
Country	Norway
County	Møre og Romsdal
District	Nordmøre
Established	1 Jan 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Administrative centre	Aure
Government
• Mayor (2019)	Hanne Berit Brekken (Ap)
Area
• Total	641.29 km2 (247.60 sq mi)
• Land	621.52 km2 (239.97 sq mi)
• Water	19.76 km2 (7.63 sq mi)  3.1%
• Rank	#179 in Norway
Population  (2023)
• Total	3,381
• Rank	#218 in Norway
• Density	5.4/km2 (14/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	−5.3%
Demonym	Aurgjelding[1]
Official language [2]
• Norwegian form	Neutral
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1576[3]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

Aure is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the region of Nordmøre. The administrative centre is the village of Aure. Other villages in Aure include Gullstein, Stemshaug, Todalen, Tjeldbergodden, Arasvika, and Tømmervåg. Aure has one of the largest wooden churches in Norway, Aure Church.

The 641-square-kilometre (247 sq mi) municipality is the 179th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Aure is the 218th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,381. The municipality's population density is 5.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (14/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 5.3% over the previous 10-year period.^[4][5]

The municipality was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1894, the southern district of Aure (population: 942) was separated to form the new municipality of Valsøyfjord. Then on 1 July 1914, the northeastern district of Aure (population: 851) was separated to form the new municipality of Stemshaug.^[6]

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, Stemshaug Municipality (population: 877), the part of Valsøyfjord Municipality on the island of Ertvågsøya (population: 141), and the part of Tustna Municipality on Ertvågsøya (population: 85) were all merged into Aure. On 1 January 1976, the district of Aure located south of the Vinjefjorden (population: 158) was merged into the neighboring Halsa Municipality. On 1 January 2006, Tustna Municipality was merged into Aure.^[6]

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Aure farm (Old Norse: Aurar) since the first Aure Church was built there. The name is the plural form of aurr which means "gravel" or "mud".^[7]

The original coat of arms was granted on 22 March 1991 and it was in use until 1 January 2006 when Aure was merged with Tustna municipality to form a new, larger Aure municipality. The official blazon is "Gules, two addorsed eagle heads erased Or" (Norwegian: I rødt to adosserte gull ørnehoder). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is two heads of a sea eagle facing opposite directions. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The design was chosen since there is a large population of these birds in the municipality. The arms were designed by Even Skoglund. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.^[8][9][10]

A new coat of arms was granted on 21 December 2005, just before the merger of the municipalities of Tustna and Aure so that it could be used starting on 1 January 2006 when the two municipalities were merged. It was decided to combine the arms of the two municipalities by using the charge from the old arms of Tustna and the colors from the old arms of Aure. The official blazon is "Azure, a klippfisk argent" (Norwegian: I blått en sølv klippfisk). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a klippfisk which is a split and salted dried fish, usually cod. Traditionally, the fish was spread out on a rock to sun dry which gives the klippfisk its symmetrical shape (as opposed to the stockfish). 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 design was chosen since the klippfisk industry was pioneered in the Tustna area starting in the 1690s. The arms were designed by Jarle Skuseth. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.^[8][9][11]

• 
  Current arms of Aure (since 2006)
• 
  Old arms of Aure (before 2006)
• 
  Old arms of Tustna (before 2006)

The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Aure. It is part of the Ytre Nordmøre prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre.

The municipality includes many islands as well as some parts of the mainland. Islands of Aure include Ertvågsøya, Grisvågøya, Rottøya, Ruøya, Skardsøya, Solskjelsøya, Stabblandet, and Tustna. The Vinjefjorden, Arasvikfjord, and Edøyfjorden surround the municipality. Several bridges connect the islands including the Mjosund Bridge, Aursund Bridge, and Dromnessund Bridge.

Aure 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.^[12] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Møre og Romsdal District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Aure is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

The mayors (Nynorsk: ordførar) of Aure:

Agriculture and aquaculture employ 13.6% of the workforce, mostly within dairy farming, fishing, and fish farming. Manufacturing industry and construction employ 25.5%, where the most important industries are the shipyards in Mjosundet and the natural gas processing plant in Tjeldbergodden, as well as the Tjeldbergodden Reserve Power Station. A liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline from the Heidrun oil field terminates here. The remaining 60.5% work in the service industry.^[32]

• Paul Vighals (1886 in Aure – 1962) a Norwegian sport shooter; competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics
• Sivert Todal (1904 in Aure – 1988) a politician, Mayor of Aure 1951–1955 & 1955–1957
• Kristofer Leirdal (1915 in Aure – 2010) a Norwegian sculptor and art educator

• Media related to Aure at Wikimedia Commons
• Aure travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway (in Norwegian)