ÃÂ rdal is a former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1859 until its dissolution in 1965. The area is now part of Hjelmeland Municipality in the traditional district of Ryfylke. The administrative centre was the village of ÃÂ rdal where the Old ÃÂ rdal Church is located.
Prior to its dissolution in 1965, the municipality was the 206th largest by area out of the 525 municipalities in Norway. ÃÂ rdal Municipality was the 495th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about . The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 0.1% over the previous 10-year period.
The municipality of Aardal (later spelled ÃÂ rdal) was established in 1859 when the large Hjelmeland Municipality was divided into two: the southern district (population: 1,315) became the new Aardal Municipality and the northern district (population: 3,084) remained as a smaller Hjelmeland Municipality (on the same date the municipality was renamed as Hjelmeland og Fister Municipality). On 6 March 1869, a small area of Aardal Municipality (population: 40) was transferred to the neighboring Hjelmeland og Fister Municipality.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, ÃÂ rdal Municipality was dissolved. On that date, the Sunngardene area of the old ÃÂ rdal Municipality (population: 121) was transferred to the neighboring Strand Municipality. The rest of ÃÂ rdal municipality was merged with the following areas to form a larger Hjelmeland Municipality:
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the ÃÂ rdalen valley () since it is the central geographical feature of the municipality. The first element is the genitive case of the word which means "river" or "creek". The last element is which means "valley" or "dale".
On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Aardal with the digraph "Aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled ÃÂ rdal, using the letter ÃÂ instead.
The Church of Norway had one parish () within ÃÂ rdal Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Hjelmeland prestegjeld and the Ryfylke prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Stavanger.
The municipality was centered around the ÃÂ rdalsfjorden, a branch off the main Boknafjorden. The municipality stretched from the fjord over to the mountainous county border to the east. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Skrumleknuten, a tripoint on the borders of ÃÂ rdal Municipality, Forsand Municipality, and Bykle Municipality (in Aust-Agder county). Hjelmeland Municipality was located to the north, Bykle Municipality (in Aust-Agder county) was located to the east, Forsand Municipality was located to the south, Strand Municipality was located to the southwest, and Fister Municipality was located to the northwest.
While it existed, ÃÂ rdal Municipality was 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 was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Ryfylke District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.
The municipal council of ÃÂ rdal Municipality was made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.
The mayor () of ÃÂ rdal Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:
ÃÂ rdal is well known for the Old ÃÂ rdal Church () which received its final shape after expansion shortly after it was built in the early 17th century. The church was marked by the work of two local artists, the German-born painter Gottfried Hendtzschel (d. 1657 in Stavanger) and the craftsman Lauritz Snekker who was his student. The altarpiece and the pulpit was painted by Hendtzschel. They were both carved by Snekker who was also responsible for most of the carpentry work. The artistic efforts of Hendtzschel and Snekker within various churches in the vicinity formed a part of the Stranganger Renaissance (Stavangerrenaissance), the cultural period which peaked in the middle of the 17th century in the area around Stavanger.