Maridalen is a valley situated just north of Oslo, Norway, just above the suburb of Kjelsås. Considering that Maridalen is within the Oslo city limits, Maridalen has a very low population density. The valley consists of forests, lakes and agricultural land. Most of the valley is made up of the lake Maridalsvannet, which serves as the primary source of drinking water for 90% of Oslo's population. The only

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

powerplant within the City of Oslo,

Hammeren Hydroelectric Power Station Hammeren Hydroelectric Power Station ( no, Hammeren kraftstasjon) is a hydroelectric power station located in Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipali ...

is located at Brekke in Maridalen. The valley is a popular recreational area with many hiking trails and cycling tracks for summer usage, and groomed cross-country trails in winter. Both the lake and valley are protected. Maridalen Church and the church ruins of the ancient St. Margaret's Church are located north of Maridalsvannet. A bus route runs along Maridalen, starting at Nydalen Subway Station.Time table
(Local bus, Maridalen) Ruter

Railway

The Gjøvik Railway Line passes through Maridalen. Originally, the trains stopped at three stations in the area. Movatn Station (created in 1900) is an unmanned station at Movatn. The Snippen stop (opened in 1934) was an unmanned train stop with the address Greveveien. Sandermosen Station is a previously operated stop between Kjelsås Station and Snippen train stop. It was opened in 1909, but closed in 2006.

The name

The

Norse Norse is a demonym for Norsemen, a medieval North Germanic ethnolinguistic group ancestral to modern Scandinavians, defined as speakers of Old Norse from about the 9th to the 13th centuries. Norse may also refer to: Culture and religion * Nor ...

form of the name was ''Margrétardalr''. The first element is the

genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

of ''Margrét'', the last element is ''dalr'' m 'dale, valley'. The old church (now in ruins) just north of the lake was dedicated to

Margaret the Virgin Margaret, known as Margaret of Antioch in the West, and as Saint Marina the Great Martyr ( grc-gre, Ἁγία Μαρίνα) in the East, is celebrated as a saint on 20 July in the Western Rite Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic Church and Anglicanism, o ...

. The valley's name cannot be older than the Christianisation of Norway (around 1000 AD), and it probably replaced an older name that has since been forgotten. This is one of the few examples in Norway where an old name of a large valley has been replaced.

References

Valleys of Oslo {{Oslo-geo-stub