Evenes (Norwegian) or Evenášši (Northern Sami) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Ofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bogen. Other villages in Evenes include Liland, Tårstad, Dragvik, and the village of Evenes.

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Evenes Municipality Evenes kommune Evenášši suohkan
Municipality
View of Bogen in Evenes
Flag Coat of arms
Nordland within Norway
Evenes within Nordland
Coordinates: 68°32′11″N 16°55′55″E
Country	Norway
County	Nordland
District	Ofoten
Established	1 January 1884
• Preceded by	Ofoten Municipality
Administrative centre	Bogen i Ofoten
Government
• Mayor (2019)	Terje Bartholsen[1] (Ap)
Area
• Total	252.80 km2 (97.61 sq mi)
• Land	241.48 km2 (93.24 sq mi)
• Water	11.31 km2 (4.37 sq mi)  4.5%
• Rank	#285 in Norway
Population  (2023)
• Total	1,310
• Rank	#310 in Norway
• Density	5.4/km2 (14/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	−4.8%
Demonym	Evenesværing[2]
Official languages [3]
• Norwegian form	Bokmål
• Sámi form	Northern Sami (semi-official)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1853[4]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

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The 253-square-kilometre (98 sq mi) municipality is the 285th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Evenes is the 310th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,310. The municipality's population density is 5.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (14/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 4.8% over the previous 10-year period.^[5][6]

The municipality of Evindnæs was established on 1 January 1884 when the old Ofoten Municipality was split into two new municipalities: Evindnæs and Ankenes Municipality. Initially, Evindnæs had 2,397 residents. The spelling was later changed from Evindnæs to Evenes. On 1 January 1912, the southern part of Trondenes Municipality in Troms county (population: 291) was transferred to Evenes (and Nordland county). On 1 July 1925, the southern district of Evenes on the south side of the Ofotfjorden (population: 3,270) was separated to become the new Ballangen Municipality. This left Evenes with 2,323 residents.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the small, unpopulated Ramnes area in western Evenes was transferred to the neighboring Tjeldsund Municipality. On 1 January 1999, the small Veggen area of Narvik Municipality (population: 9) was transferred to Evenes Municipality.^[7][8]

Evenes is located on the northern shore of the Ofotfjorden, and borders Tjeldsund Municipality (in Troms county) to the west and north and Narvik Municipality to the east and south (across the fjord).

There are lowlands in the western part of the municipality (Liland and Evenes area), while in the eastern part (Bogen), the mountains go almost straight up from the fjord. The highest mountain is Lilletinden (1,137 metres or 3,730 feet), which can be climbed without climbing equipment, even with skis in the winter and early spring. The view is stunning.

The most noticeable mountain when driving on the European route E10 highway, which crosses through Evenes, is perhaps the steep Niingen (1,090 metres or 3,580 feet) just east of Bogen. Strandvatnet lake next to Bogen village is surrounded by mountains and is a relatively rare Meromictic lake. There is trout in most lakes in Evenes, and Arctic char spawns in Østervikvatnet (lake) a few kilometres east of Bogen. Niingsvatnet is partly located in Evenes.

The large cave Trollkirka (the Troll Church) is located in the western part of the municipality (near Tårstad). German fortifications from World War II can be seen at Evenestangen, which is also a good place for fishing in the fjord.

Evenestangen is also the site of the sculpture Stone House by Danish artist Bjørn Nørgaard. The sculpture is part of the Artscape Nordland project.^[15]

The 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.^[18] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Midtre Hålogaland District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Most people work in public services and there is also some small-scale agriculture.

Harstad-Narvik Airport (international airport) is located in the western part of the municipality, with daily flights to Oslo, Trondheim, Bodø, Tromsø and Andenes, as well as charter flights to southern Europe filled with sun-hungry tourists. The Royal Norwegian Air Force has a substantial infrastructure at Evenes, but the base was closed following the end of the Cold War, though it is often used by other NATO allies during their winter training. The large C-5 Galaxy from the United States Air Force has made several landings at the airport. A mobile hospital was built inside a small mountain at Osmarka, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of the airport, using NATO infrastructure funds. The United States Navy moved the hospital to Kuwait before the Gulf War started in 1991. To achieve this, a large transport ship used the deep water harbour near Bogen, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) east of the airport. This harbour was also built with funds from NATO, to enable heavy equipment to be moved north to Troms by road.

The Evenes Church was the first church in Ofoten, built about the year 1250. The original church and a subsequent church has been lost in fires; the present church is a wooden church (built in 1800) inspired by Danish Biedermeier mansion building style. Some relics from the original churches remain in the church today, most notably a stone baptismal font from the 13th century.

Liland used to be the commercial centre of the entire Ofotfjord area right up until the emergence of Narvik as a commerce/industry centre in the early 20th century.

During World War II, the Germans found the wide and fairly deep Bogen bay, with its mostly hard rock bottom well suited for anchoring, to be perfect for a naval base. Narvik is only 10 nautical miles (19 km) to the east (further into the fjord). The German battleship Tirpitz and cruiser Admiral Hipper were stationed in Bogen during part of the war (8 July – 23 October 1942, returned 11 March 1943). The battleships Scharnhorst and Lützow were based in Bogen for a shorter time. Additionally, several destroyers and submarines used Bogen as a base for shorter periods. Thus, this bay was one of Germany's most powerful naval bases during parts of the war and constituted a very real threat to Allied Arctic Convoys. The Allies had an obvious need for intelligence about these powerful German warships, and the British provided a radio set to the local resistance group. This radio was set up at Liland, 9 km west of Bogen, and codenamed Lyra.

• Jens Martin Arctander Jenssen (1885 Evenes – 1968) a Norwegian politician, teacher and librarian
• Terje Wold (1899 in Evenes – 1972) a Norwegian judge and politician; from 1958 to 1969 he was the 15th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway
• Alf Rekstad (born 1951 in Bogen, Evenes) a Norwegian speed skater, competed in the 10,000m. at the 1980 Winter Olympics
• Jens Fredrik Ryland (born 1974) a Norwegian guitarist with the progressive black metal band Borknagar; brought up in Evenes