Nord-Aurdal Municipality

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Nord-Aurdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Fagernes. Other urban centres in Nord-Aurdal include the villages of Aurdal, Leira, and Skrautvål. The municipality is served by Fagernes Airport, Leirin. In Nord-Aurdal, there is an alpine skiing center called Valdres Alpinsenter.<ref name="snl">Template:Cite SNL</ref>

The Template:Convert municipality is the 128th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Nord-Aurdal Municipality is the 154th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 6,455. The municipality's population density is Template:Convert and its population has increased by 2.3% over the previous 10-year period.<ref name="ssb pop">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ssb area">Template:Cite web</ref>

General information

The parish of Nordre Aurdal (later spelled Nord-Aurdal) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law).<ref name="Dag">Template:Cite web</ref>

On 1 January 1894, the new Etnedal Municipality was created by merging the eastern valley area of Nordre Etnedal (population: 362) from Nordre Aurdal Municipality plus the Søndre Etnedal area (population: 1,331) from the neighboring Søndre Aurdal Municipality.<ref name="Dag" />

On 1 January 1979, there was a border adjustment in an unpopulated area where part of Etnedal Municipality was transferred to Nord-Aurdal Municipality and another part of Nord-Aurdal Municipality that was transferred to Etnedal Municipality. Then on 1 January 1984, the unpopulated northern side of the Makalausfjellet mountain was transferred from Sør-Aurdal Municipality to Nord-Aurdal Municipality.<ref name="Dag" /><ref name="snl" />

Historically, this municipality was part of the old Oppland county. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became a part of the newly-formed Innlandet county (after Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged).<ref>Template:Cite SNL</ref>

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Aurdalen valley (Template:Langx) since it was a central geographic feature of the area. The first word in the name is Template:Wikt-lang which is essentially a prefix that means "north". The second word comes from the local valley name. The first element of that word is the genitive case of the old river name, Template:Lang, now named Template:Lang. The river name comes from the word Template:Wikt-lang which means "gravel". The last element of the second word is Template:Wikt-lang which means "valley" or "dale". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Nordre Aurdal. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Nord-Aurdal.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Both Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang mean "north" (more specifically, "nordre" means "northern"), so the name Nord-Aurdal means "(the) northern (part of) Aurdal". (The Church of Norway parish of Aurdal that had existed for centuries was divided into two in 1805, just over 30 years before the parish borders were used to defin the new municipality that was established in 1838.)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:See also

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted by royal decree on 13 December 1985. The official blazon is "Or, three cinquefoils azure" (Template:Langx). This means the arms have a field (background) 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 charge is three five-petaled flowers. The arms show three blue flowers of the species Gentiana nivalis which are commonly called "Snow Gentian". The flowers, which are locally known as "the blue eyes of Christ", grow all over Norway, but they grow abundantly in this area. Three flowers were chosen to represent the three main settlements of the municipality: Aurdal, Fagernes, and Leira. This type of flower only opens in sunlight and heat, so it was chosen to symbolize being open and positive. The arms were designed by Bjørn Arnesen who based it off an idea by Ivar Aars. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Churches

The Church of Norway has six parishes (Template:Lang) within Nord-Aurdal Municipality. It is part of the Valdres prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

**Churches in Nord-Aurdal Municipality**
Parish (Template:Lang)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Aurdal	Aurdal Church	Aurdal	1737
Skrautvål	Skrautvål Church	Skrautvål	1785
Svenes	Strand Church	Synnstrond	1735
Tingnes	Tingnes Church	Fagernes	1972
Tisleidalen	Tisleidalen Church	Hovda	1957
Ulnes	Ulnes Church	Ulnes	1250

Geography

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Nord-Aurdal by country of origin in 2017<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ancestry	Number
Template:Flag	81
Template:Flag	73
Template:Flag	62
Template:Flag	38
Template:Flag	36
Template:Flag	34
Template:Flag	33

Nord-Aurdal Municipality is located to the north of Sør-Aurdal Municipality, east of Etnedal Municipality and Gausdal Municipality, and south of Øystre Slidre Municipality and Vestre Slidre Municipality. To the west, it is bordered by Hemsedal Municipality and Gol Municipality in Buskerud county. Nord-Aurdal Municipality measures about Template:Convert on the north–south axis and Template:Convert on the east–west axis.

The municipality lies in the western side of Innlandet county. Although Fagernes is the administrative center of Nord-Aurdal Municipality, the village of Aurdal was the historic centre of the centuries-old Church of Norway parish of Aurdal. Nord-Aurdal Municipality is part of the traditional district of Valdres in the central part of southern Norway, situated between the Gudbrandsdal and Hallingdal valleys.

The highest point in the municipality is the Template:Convert tall mountain Duptjernkampen, a tri-point on the borders of Nord-Aurdal Municipality, Nordre Land Municipality, and Gausdal Municipality.<ref name="elev" /> About 50% of the land is above Template:Convert. The Tisleifjorden and Aurdalsfjorden are large inland lakes that are located in the municipality. The river Begna flows through the municipality as well, with the Strondafjorden being a large lake that the river flows through.

Climate

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Government

Nord-Aurdal 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.<ref name="ks">Template:Cite SNL</ref> The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Vestoppland og Valdres District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

Mayors

The mayor (Template:Langx) of Nord-Aurdal Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Div col

1838–1839: Amund Wessel Kolderup
1840–1841: Thore S. Belgum
1842–1845: Torger Melbye
1846–1849: Amund Wessel Kolderup
1850–1853: Thore S. Belgum
1854–1859: Jean Marie L'Abee
1860–1865: Nils Frydenlund
1866–1881: Erik Kjørstad
1882–1901: Ole Skrutvold
1902–1907: O.T. Svennæs
1908–1913: Th. Aaberg
1914–1919: O.T. Svennæs
1920–1926: Erik Strand
1926–1945: Ivar Simensen
1946–1971: Asbjørn Granheim (Sp)
1972–1981: Nils T. Døvre (KrF)
1982–1987: Lage Westerbø (Sp)
1988–2003: Ola N. Døvre (Sp)
2003–2007: Svein Erik Hilmen (Sp)
2007–2011: Helge Halvorsen (Ap)
2011–2019: Inger Torun Klosbøle (Ap)
2019–present: Knut Arne Fjelltun (Sp)

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Attractions

The Valdres Folkemuseum is located just outside Fagernes and has large collections of old houses, textiles, and music instruments.

Valdres Folkemuseum
Valdres Museum
Skattebustugu

Notable people

Knut Hamsun (1859–1952), a Norwegian author who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
J. C. M. Hanson (1864–1943), an American librarian and author<ref>Template:Cite SNL</ref>
Kaare Strøm (1902–1967), a limnologist
Olav Meisdalshagen (1903–1959), a Norwegian politician who was Minister of Finance from 1947-1951 and Minister of Agriculture from 1955-1956
Asbjørn Granheim (1906–1977), a Norwegian politician who was mayor of Nord-Aurdal from 1945-1971
Inger Helene Nybråten (born 1960), a former cross-country skier, gold medalist at the 1984 Winter Olympics, and twice silver medallist at the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics
Eldbjørg Hemsing (born 1990), a classical violinist
Guro Kleven Hagen (born 1994), a violinist, the 1st concertmaster at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet
Sylfest Glimsdal (born 1966), a former biathlete who competed at three Summer Olympics

International relations

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Twin towns — Sister cities

Nord-Aurdal has sister city agreements with the following places:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

References

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External links

Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway Template:In lang
Valdresen - The local newspaper in Nord-Aurdal.
Valdres Alpinsenter

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Nord-Aurdal Municipality

Contents

General information