Lesja is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The

administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of the municipality is village of Lesja. Other villages in the municipality include

Bjorli Bjorli (or ''Bjørli'') is a village in Lesja Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It lies along the Rauma river near the municipal border with Rauma Municipality. Bjorli is served by the Bjorli Station on the Raumabanen railway line pro ...

Lesjaskog Lesjaskog is a village in Lesja Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located at the west end of the lake Lesjaskogsvatnet about west of the village of Lesjaverk and about east of the village of Bjorli. The European route E1 ...

Lesjaverk Lesjaverk is a village in Lesja Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It lies in the upper Gudbrandsdal valley approximately northwest of Dombås and about east of the village of Lesjaskog. The village lies along the European route E136 h ...

, and Lora. Lesja is located in the northwestern edge of

county. It is bordered in the north by the municipalities of

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of t ...

and Sunndal (in

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is t ...

county) and Oppdal (in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denma ...

county). It is bordered to the east by the municipality of Dovre; in the south by Vågå and Lom municipalities; in the southwest by the municipality of Skjåk; and to the west by Rauma municipality. The municipality is the 25th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Lesja is the 279th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,986. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

is and its population has decreased by 9.5% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

of ''Lesje'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 Janu ...

law). In 1863, the eastern part of the municipality (population: 2,537) was separated to become the new municipality of Dovre. This left Lesja with 3,666 residents.

Name

The municipality was named after the old ''Lesja'' farm ( non, Lesjar). There are two different interpretations of the meaning of the name. It might derive from ''læs'' meaning "

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

", or it is a shortened version of "Leirsjøar" meaning "muddy lakes", referring to two relatively large and shallow lakes which occupied the valley bottom until the late 19th century, when both lakes were drained in order to gain more

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bo ...

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

was granted on 23 January 1987. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The ...

is "Per fess

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to ...

and azure, a pile issuant from the base" ( no, På sølv grunn blå skjoldfot med spiss oppover). This means the arms have a horizontal division line with a triangle pointing up from the line. The field (background) has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

on the upper part which means it is colored white most of the time, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The lower part has a blue color. The design is meant to represent the

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

of Lesja Church, which sits on a hill and its roof line and spire are visible from far away. The arms were designed by Einar H. Skjervold.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church ...

has one parish () within the municipality of Lesja. It is part of the Nord-Gudbrandsdal prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or reside ...

) in the

Diocese of Hamar The Diocese of Hamar ( no, Hamar Bispedømme) is a diocese within the Church of Norway. The Diocese of Hamar includes all of the churches in Innlandet county plus the churches in Lunner in Viken county. Administratively, the diocese is divid ...

Geography

Lesja is highly mountainous, and lies on the east–west watershed, with the lake Lesjaskogsvatnet draining both west to the Rauma river and east to the Gudbrandsdalslågen river. The largest part (82%) of the municipal area is over above sea level, with the highest mountain peaks reaching above an elevation of in the northeast. The most populated areas lie between along the Gudbrandsdalslågen river and highway E136. Abundant summer farms ('' seter'' or ''sæter'') are situated close to the treeline, both in the main valley and its tributaries. The summer farms were of major importance for farming until recently, but today only few are used in the traditional way, and mainly as grounds for grazing dairy cattle and sheep. More than 400 lakes are situated within the municipality, mainly above treeline, including the lake Aursjøen. The Norwegian

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

is common both in lakes and rivers, even in lakes above above sea level. The landscape is hummocky in general, and owes its appearance mainly to erosion by the Scandinavian Ice Sheet during the last glacial period.

Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park

Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park was founded in 2002 and encompasses part of the former Dovre National Park area, as founded in 1974. It is encompassing areas in Lesja and Dovre in Innlandet as well as areas in

and

. It includes the Dovrefjell mountain range.

Economy

The municipality is primarily

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

. Recent censuses show over 40% of the residents in the community are in farming. Rail service is provided by the Rauma Line, connecting with the Dovre Line at Dombås in Dovre and extending to the terminus in Åndalsnes on the

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...

in Møre og Romsdal County. Lesja is located in a mountain region, comprising the south-westerly portion of the Dovrefjell range. It is the site of the Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park, lies just north of Jotunheimen National Park and lies just west of Rondane National Park, so

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

and outdoor sports such as

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ( ...

are also important. The

ski area lies in Lesja.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Lesja, are responsible for

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/ kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in '' primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

, senior citizen services,

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refe ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or adminis ...

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and ...

, and municipal

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types o ...

s. The municipality is governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

of elected representatives, which in turn elects a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

. The municipality falls under the Østre Innlandet District Court and the

Eidsivating Court of Appeal The Eidsivating Court of Appeal ( no, Eidsivating lagmannsrett) is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Hamar. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Innlandet and eastern Viken. Thes ...

Municipal council

The

of Lesja is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featu ...

breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayor

The mayors of Lesja (incomplete list): *1947-1955: Ola O. Mølmen ( Bp) *1956-1959: Sverre J. Botheim ( Sp) *1960-1963: Ola O. Mølmen ( Sp) *1964-1967: Sverre J. Botheim ( Sp) *1968-1969: Ola O. Mølmen ( Sp) *1970-1971: Andreas Mølmen ( Heile Lesja) *1972-1975: Karl Stålaker ( Sp) *1976-1987: Jo Nordahl Botheim ( Sp) *1988-1991: Osvald Haugbotn ( Sp) *1992-1999: Jo N. Bottheim ( Sp) *1999-2011: Per Dag Hole ( Sp) *2011-2015: Steinar Tronhus ( Ap) *2015–present: Mariann Skotte ( Sp)

History

Since it is located on a pass providing access to the Gudbrandsdalen, ''Lesja'' lies on an important trade route used in prehistoric times.

Earliest recorded history

The area is first mentioned in the written chronicle of the

Heimskringla ''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derive ...

''(The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway)'' by

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

. The account of King Olaf's (A.D. 1015–1021) conversion of

Dale-Gudbrand Dale-Gudbrand is a historical Norwegian person that appears in the ''Separate Saga of St. Olaf'' in Snorri Sturluson's ''Heimskringla''. He is said to have lived at the farm in Hundorp in the Gudbrand Valley around the year 1000, and to have be ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

is popularly recognized. King Olaf's success was short-lived, for in 1029 the Norwegian nobles, seething with discontent, rallied round the invading Knut the Great, and Olaf had to flee. To avoid engaging a fleet of 25 ships, 400 of King Olav's men and 100 loyal peasant farmers from

Romsdal Romsdal is a traditional district in the Norwegian county Møre og Romsdal, located between Nordmøre and Sunnmøre. The district of Romsdal comprises Aukra, Fræna, Midsund, Molde, Nesset, Rauma, Sandøy, and Vestnes. It is named after ...

built a road up from the

Romsdalfjord Romsdalsfjord or Romsdal Fjord ( no, Romsdalsfjorden) is the ninth-longest fjord in Norway. It is long and located in the Romsdal district of Møre og Romsdal county. It flows through the municipalities of Molde, Ålesund, Vestnes, and Rauma ...

which passed through the area that became known as Lesjaverk. His men fled along this road and across Gudbrandsdal. There he was not warmly received since he had killed King Thorer of Gudbrandsdal, so he went on to Hedmark. From there he proceeded to Sweden and on to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. On his return a year later he fell at the

Battle of Stiklestad The Battle of Stiklestad ( no, Slaget på Stiklestad, non, Stiklarstaðir) in 1030 is one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway. In this battle, King Olaf II of Norway () was killed. During the pontificate of Pope Alexander III ...

Lesjaverk (The Lesja iron works)

Iron smelting is recorded in Lesja municipality at

(Lesja Iron Works) as early as 1614, when King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway authorized the Romsdal Market at Devold on the

Rauma river The Rauma is a river that runs through ''Romsdalen'', a valley in Møre og Romsdal and Innlandet counties in Norway. It runs for from ''Lesjaskogsvatnet'', a lake in the municipality of Lesja, to the town of Åndalsnes in the municipality of Ra ...

4 miles upstream of Åndalsnes. With this change,

assumed the role as principal market town for

formerly held by

Veøy Veøy is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. It initially consisted of all of the present-day Vestnes Municipality, as well as the southern part of Molde Mun ...

. This change was made to provide the ironworkers at ''Lesjaverk'' with a convenient outlet for their products as well as providing them a market to purchases goods and food supplies such as

stockfish Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called "hjell" in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage lif ...

and grain.

Art and culture

Jakob Bersveinson Klukstad (1710 to 1773), who was born in Lom spent most of his career on Klukstad farm in Lesja. Klukstad was the foremost Norwegian sculptor and painter of his generation. His work can still be seen in churches at Lesja, Skjåk, and Heidal.

Emigration from Lesja

The Lesja area in the Gudbrandsdal was source of numerous emigrants to America. According to Du Chaillu, "...during the great famine of 1867; a year memorable in the annals of Northern Europe, when, in consequence of an early and heavy frost in summer, the crops were destroyed, and desolation and death spread over vast districts. The lichen and the bark of the birch tree, mixed with a little flour, became the food of the people after the cattle had been eaten up and nothing else was left. The year following a strong tide of emigration set out for America."

World War 2

After the German invasion of April 1940, while King Haakon and the Norwegian government were moving from Elverum to the west coast, the King and Crown Prince Olaf arrived in Otta on the night of April 13. The prime minister and his colleagues, who were then in Lesja, were summoned and a communiqué, ending "God save Norway," and urging resistance to the unprovoked attack was issued. They now intended to relocate to the west coast, but the Germans had dropped paratroopers higher in the Gudbrandsdalen, at Dombås, cutting off the rail route. It was not until the evening of the 21st that the King was able to travel by road from Otta to Lesja on the east–west watershed and then down the narrow

to Åndalsnes. During the war a British fighter squadron (flying 'Gloster Gladiators') flew from the icebound surface of lake Lesjaskogsvatnet.

No. 263 Squadron RAF No 263 Squadron was a Royal Air Force fighter squadron formed in Italy towards the end of the First World War. After being disbanded in 1919 it was reformed in 1939 flying mainly strike and heavy fighter aircraft until becoming No 1 Squadro ...

operated with 18

Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed private ...

biplane fighters in late April 1940 as part of the Norwegian Campaign.

Famous residents

* Jakob Klukstad (1705–1773) a wood carver and painter, lived most of his life and died in Lesja *

Edvard Storm Edvard Storm (21 August 1749 – 29 September 1794) was a Norwegian poet, songwriter and educator. His writings were frequently characterized by the Norwegian romantic nationalism common to the age. Background Storm was from Vågå in Oppland, N ...

(1749–1794) a

national romantic Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

poet and teacher in Lesja *

Christen Pram Christen Henriksen Pram (4 September 1756 – 28 November 1821) was a Norwegian/Danish economist, civil servant, poet, novelist, playwright, diarist and magazine editor. He is held as the first Norwegian novelist, although his writing was carried ...

(1756 in Lesja – 1821) an economist, civil servant, poet, novelist, playwright, diarist and magazine editor * Jens Holmboe (1752 in Lesja – 1804) a Norwegian bailiff, helped settle the

Målselvdalen Målselvdalen is the largest valley in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The river Målselva runs through the valley, ending at the Målselvfjorden (an arm off the main Malangen fjord). The long valley runs to the north, along with the river, ...

* John Flittie (1856 in Lesja – 1913) emigrated 1867, became the first

North Dakota Secretary of State The North Dakota Secretary of State is an elected office in the U.S. state of North Dakota. The incumbent was Alvin A. Jaeger. Duties of the Secretary of State include being the custodian of the state's Great Seal and other official state docum ...

Frederick Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

(1862-1934) summered at the house he built in 1921, Villa Høifagerli, in

* Sigurd Einbu (1866 in Lesjaskog – 1946) a Norwegian self-taught astronomer * Ragnvald Einbu (1870 in Lesja – 1943) a painter and woodcarver of fairy-tale and genre figures * Lars Magnus Moen (1885 in Lesja – 1964) politician and Minister, member of the Storting 1928-1957 * Olaf Heitkøtter, (Norwegian Wiki) (1928-2013) a mountain ranger in Lesja, has written seven books *

Ola Enstad Ola Enstad (10 November 1942 – 2 August 2013) was a Norwegian sculptor. Biography He was born in Lesjaskog in Oppland, Norway. Enstad first studied architecture at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim. Enstad attended the Norweg ...

(1942 in Lesjaskog – 2013) a Norwegian sculptor * Arne Hyttnes (born 1950 in Lesjaskog) a Norwegian banker Christen Henriksen Pram.jpg, Christen Henriksen Pram, 1886 Tora Berger 2006.jpg, Tora Berger, 2006

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every ye ...

*
Bjorli ski center in Lesja

Map of Lesja
from Kulturnett.no {{use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Municipalities of Innlandet Populated places on the Gudbrandsdalslågen 1838 establishments in Norway