Svolvær (Sami: Spållavuolle or Suolu-vær = "Øy weather") is the
administration center in Vågan municipality in Nordland. The town of
Svolvær has 4,736 inhabitants as of 1 January 2020.
Svolvær
was previously an urban municipality, but was merged with Vågan and
Gimsøy municipalities into Vågan municipality in 1964. Svolvær
regained its urban status on 17 May 1996.
The city
has daily calls at Hurtigruten, and daily departures by speedboat to
Bodø and Hamarøy, previously also to Narvik. It has now been
replaced by a bus along a new road that was opened on 1 December
2007. The city also called at Hamarøy in the summer.
Svolvær
Airport, Helle has several daily departures to Bodø and Oslo. From
Bodø there are corresponding flights to the rest of the country.
Svolvær is Lofoten's largest population center. Svolvær houses
Lofoten District Court. At the same time, the entire municipality is
one of Northern Norway's most important artist municipalities. In
Kabelvåg we find Nordland Art and Film School and several galleries
and museums. Nordnorsk Kunstnersenter can be found in Svolvær. The
workshop industry is the largest in northern Norway. Vågan
municipality is also one of Norway's large fish farming
municipalities. Export value was NOK 550 million in 1994.
One
of the most famous mountain peaks at Svolvær is Svolværgeita, which
is Svolvær's landmark and was first climbed in 1910. Another
mountain is Vågakallen, which lies between Kabelvåg and Henningsvær,
which with its 942 masl. looks out over its kingdom, Lofoten and the
Lofoten Sea. According to old legends, Vågakallen is the former king
of Lofoten, who turned to stone in the face of the sun.