Leknes (Sami: Liehkke) is a town and administration center in Vestvågøy municipality in Nordland. Leknes was granted city status following a decision by the municipal council on 14 September 2002, and is now, together with Svolvær, one of two cities in Lofoten. The settlement Leknes has 3,599 inhabitants as of 1 January 2020, and is the settlement with the largest population growth in Lofoten and Vesterålen in the period 2000 to 2008.
Geography
Leknes is located in a small hilly marsh area deep
in the Buksnesfjord in Vestvågøy municipality. Leknes is bounded on
the northeast by Leknes airport and large bog landscapes, and on the
south / southeast by Europavei 10 and Buksnesfjorden. But Leknes is
constantly growing beyond its borders (especially to the east and
south), and the E10 is no longer as clear a border as it used to be.
Together with the neighboring settlement of Gravdal and the site
of Fygle, Leknes constitutes an almost continuous settlement of
4,220 inhabitants as of 1 January 2009. Leknes and Fygle grew
together in the early 1980s.
The bedrock belongs to the
Lofoten eruptions. At Leknes there is also a supracrustal series
that belongs to the Leknes group and consists of quartzite, mica
shale, amphibolite and marble.
The sun over the horizon and
the possibility of midnight sun at Leknes from sunrise 26 May to
sunset 18 July. The last sunrise before dark is December 7 and the
first sunrise after dark is January 5.
Society
Leknes has
many central functions for Vestvågøy municipality and for
Vest-Lofoten, such as a sports and swimming hall, upper secondary
school and sheriff's office.
Leknes Airport is one of the
busiest short-haul airports in Norway with daily departures to Oslo,
Bodø, Svolvær and Røst. Leknes also serves as a hub for bus routes
in Lofoten. The harbor at Leknes is often visited by cruise ships,
with over 60 calls in 2008. E10, which is the main traffic artery in
Lofoten, runs just outside Leknes center and connects Leknes to the
rest of Lofoten and on to the Norwegian mainland.
The local
newspaper for West Lofoten, Lofot-Tidende, is based in Leknes. In
addition, the regional newspapers Avisa Nordland and Lofotposten
have offices in Leknes.
Leknes has an Adventist church, a
parish house belonging to the local Pentecostal church, a parish
house belonging to the Læstadian parish, and a parish house
belonging to the Church of Norway.