Konnerud is a village located south of the city of

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

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 ...

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 ...

. Konnerud has a population of 10 314 (2019)

History

Etymology

One of the local farms gave its name to the entire area. Many of the farms located on Konnerud have names that ends with ''rud'' (mean clearing). It is generally believed that the farms located near Konnerud date from 1100 - 1400.

Mining

Many valuable and high quality metals and minerals including

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

and

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

are located around ''Konnerudkollen'', a small mountain near Konnerud. In the middle 1730s, action was taken to mine these minerals. Due to the lack of prior experience, development had been delayed until Count Wedel-Jarslberg brought in mining experts from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The minerals had to be transported to

Svelvik is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Drammen Municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The town is located along the west shore of the Drammensfjorden, about to the southeast of the Drammen (town), town of Drammen and about north ...

, resulting in expenses which soon exceeded revenues from mining. Many of the fishing lakes of Konnerud, such as ''Svensedammen'' and ''Sagdammen'', exist today purely because of this problem, as the mines needed a place nearby to clean the minerals. The mining provided jobs for newcomers to Konnerud, and investors earned considerable profit until the mining was given up on completely in 1790.

Konnerudkollen Hotel

Konnerudkollen Hotel (Norwegian: ''Konnerudkollen Touristhotel'') opened in 1898 and was used as a place where visitors could relax and get away from the stress of city life. The

King of Norway The Norwegian monarch is the head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and the previous petty king ...

, Haakon VII stayed there. It burned down to the ground in the early 1960s. Today, only two buildings remain of the hotel. Remains of the foundation can still be seen clearly. The lot where the hotel once was placed is now used as a place to keep horses.

Konnerud Old Church

In 1737, Konnerud received a church of their own due to the increased population resulting from the mining operation. The oldest church in Konnerud, (Norwegian: ''Konnerud Gamle Kirke''), was originally built in 1760, but quickly deteriorated because of the lack of care. It was rebuilt again in the middle of 1850 and consecrated during 1858. Konnerud Old Church was designed by the architect, Georg Fredrik Wilhelm Hanstein (1820-1862). The altarpiece was painted by Nils Alstrup Dahl (1876-1940).

Konnerud School

In 1746, Count Wedel-Jarslberg decided that he would build a school in Konnerud (Norwegian: ''Konnerud skole''). The main reason was to attract miners with families to the mines. The school burnt down completely in 1933, but was quickly rebuilt again in 1934, which was doubled in size. The school originally had a house meant for the principal, but the idea was cast away after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when the house was used by

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

commanders. Due to the growing number of children in Konnerud, the school has had buildings attached to it during 1954, 1981, 1996 and finally in 1997. For a long time, Konnerud School was the largest school in Buskerud. The largest number of students was 750 in 1983–84.

Skiing and sports

Konnerud has hosted the FIS Cross-Country World Cup on several occasions. Over half of Konnerud's inhabitants are members of the Konnerud multi-sport club (Norwegian: ''Konnerud Idrettslag''). The Konnerud multi-sport club is one of the largest sports clubs in Norway. Since 2003 the club has - with great success - arranged World Cup Sprint in cross-country skiing in the center of Drammen. Known for its snowy winters, Konnerud is used as a recreational area for the people living in Drammen who loves skiing in the well prepared tracks leading deep into the forests. ''Drammen, Norway Is Ready For Sprint Party'' (xmission.com)
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References

Other sources

* Haugen, Einar (1967) ''Norwegian-English Dictionary A Pronouncing and Translating Dictionary of Modern Norwegian'' (The University of Wisconsin Press)

External links

''Skoger og Konnerud Historielag''
Norwegian {{authority control Villages in Buskerud Drammen