Jevnaker is a

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

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Jevnaker with a population of 4,302. The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

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

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

). The area of Lunner was separated from the municipality of Jevnaker on 1 January 1898 to form a municipality of its own. From 2020 to 2023 the municipality belonged to Viken county, it was

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The ...

before that. The municipality is (together with Gran and Lunner) a part of the

Hadeland Hadeland () is a traditional district in the southeastern part of Norway. It is centered on the southern part of the large lake Randsfjorden in Innlandet and Akershus counties. The district consists of the municipalities Gran in Innlandet cou ...

traditional region A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

. The Hadeland region has a population of about 30,000. The region spreads over a large area including several villages and towns.

Name and coat-of-arms

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old ''Jevnaker'' farm (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ''Jafnakr''), since the first church was built here. The first element is ''jafn'' which means "even" or "flat" and the last element is ''akr'' which means " field" or "

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

". Prior to 1889, the name was written ''"Jævnaker"''. The

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achiev ...

is from modern times, granted in 1983. The arms show three silver-colored

glasses Glasses, also known as eyeglasses (American English), spectacles (Commonwealth English), or colloquially as specs, are vision eyewear with clear or tinted lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically u ...

, since

glassblowing Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer''. A '' lampworke ...

has been a long tradition and industry in the municipality (see Hadeland Glassverk). The red colour of the background was also chosen as the colour of the glass when hot.

Geography

Jevnaker is situated at the southern end of the Randsfjorden. The municipality is bordered to the north by the municipality of Gran, to the east by Lunner, and to the southwest by Ringerike (in

Buskerud Buskerud () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardanger ...

county). Jevnaker municipality has an area of , measuring on a north–south axis and on an east–west axis. The municipality lies in the extreme south of Oppland county. The highest point is Svarttjernshøgda with a height of .

Economy

Jevnaker is home to Hadeland Glassverk, an old glassblowing factory with over 600,000 visitors each year, ranking it as the third most popular

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

destination in Norway. The Kistefos Træsliberi, an industrial museum with a very impressive Art collection, is also located in Jevnaker

Demographics

In 2015, 96 inhabitants had Polish parents and/or were Polish (themselves); 66 had Lithuanian parents and/or were Lithuanian.

Notable people

* Ulrik Frederik Lange (1808 in Jevnaker – 1878) educator and Mayor of Lillehammer, 1850s and 60s * Carl M. Rynning-Tønnesen (1924 in Jevnaker – 2013) police chief of Kristiansand 1979 to 1992 * Kjell Knudsen (born 1931 in Jevnaker) civil servant and county mayor of Akershus, 1969 to 1975 * Tor Bomann-Larsen (born 1951 in Jevnaker) a children's writer, non-fiction writer and novelist * Jonas Rønning (born 1970 in Jevnaker) a Norwegian comedian, actor and cabaret artist * Leonardo Pereira (1997 in Jevnaker) a famously unemployed man
retrieved 20 August 2024

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, 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 year on its web site. All rele ...

*
Official website

Gallery Roenland
{{authority control Municipalities of Akershus Hadeland