Sør-Aurdal 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' ...

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

county,

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 ...

. It is located in the traditional district of

Valdres Valdres () is a traditional district in central, southern Norway, situated between the districts of Gudbrandsdalen and Hallingdal. The region of Valdres consists of the six municipalities of Nord-Aurdal, Sør-Aurdal, Øystre Slidre, Vestre S ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the municipality is the village of

Bagn Bagn is the administrative centre of Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located in the Begnadalen valley, about to the southeast of the town of Fagernes. The river Begna runs through the village on its way thr ...

. Other villages in the municipality include Begna,

Hedalen Hedalen is a valley in Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The long valley is a side valley which branches off the main Begnadalen. The river Urula flows through the valley. The central part of the valley is located about to t ...

, and

Begnadalen Begnadalen or Begndalen is a valley in Norway. The valley runs through Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county and Ringerike Municipality in Buskerud county. The long valley follows the river Begna from Bagn to the lake Sperillen. The E ...

. The municipality is the 101st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sør-Aurdal is the 233rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,866. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

is and its population has decreased by 8.9% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

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 ''Søndre Aurdal'' 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 ...

law). On 1 January 1894, the new

Etnedal Municipality Etnedal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bruflat. The municipality is the 216th largest by area out of the 356 ...

was established by merging the eastern valley area of ''Nordre Etnedal'' (population: 362) from the neighboring Nordre Aurdal municipality and the ''Søndre Etnedal'' area (population: 1,331) from the neighboring municipality of Søndre Aurdal. Then on 1 January 1984, the unpopulated northern side of the

Makalaus Makalaus or Makalausfjellet is a mountain on the border of Nord-Aurdal Municipality and Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The tall mountain lies about southeast of the town of Fagernes. See also *List of mountains of Norw ...

mountain was transferred from Sør-Aurdal to

Nord-Aurdal Nord-Aurdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town Fagernes ...

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the ''Aurdalen'' valley () since it was a central geographic feature of the area. The first word in the name is which is essentially a prefix that means "south". The second word comes from the local valley name. The first element of that word is the

genitive case 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 ca ...

of the old river name, , now named . The river name comes from the word which means "

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

". The last element of the second word is which means "

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

" or "dale". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Søndre Aurdal''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Sør-Aurdal''. Both and mean "south" (more specifically, "søndre" means "southern"), so the name ''Sør-Aurdal'' means "(the) southern (part of) Aurdal". (The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

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.)

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted by royal decree on 9 February 1990. 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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''" Azure, a box

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', ''Chasse (casket), chasse'', or ''phylactery'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary, or the room in which one is stored, may also be called a ''feretory''. Relics may be the purported ...

Or"'' (). This means the arms have a blue

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is a

. The charge 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 ...

of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The arms show the silhouette of a gilt-copper

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

(

chasse A chasse, châsse or box reliquary is a shape commonly used in medieval metalwork for reliquaries and other containers. To the modern eye the form resembles a house, though a tomb or church was more the intention,Distelberger, 21 with an obl ...

). It was designed to look like the one found in the Hedal Stave Church, except that this one has five blue arches which are inspired by the arches on a similar medieval chasse from the nearby medieval St. Thomas Church at

Filefjell Filefjell is a mountainous area in Norway. It is located between Lærdal in the Vestland county and Valdres in Innlandet county. It is the historical, as well as modern, main route, linking Western Norway and Eastern Norway. The European route E1 ...

(now in the

Bergen Museum The University Museum of Bergen () is a university museum in Bergen, Norway. The museum features material related to anthropology, archaeology, botany, geology, zoology, art, and cultural history. History The University Museum of Bergen was fo ...

) and representing the five

parishes of the municipality (Bagn, Reinli, Hedalen, Bruflat, and Begnadalen). It also has two dragon heads in the design since Sør-Aurdal is one of only two municipalities in Norway that have two

stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ...

es that are still in use. The color blue was chosen to represent the two river systems in the municipality that were historically important for the

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, truckssawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

s in Sør-Aurdal. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The

has five parishes () within the municipality of Sør-Aurdal. It is part of the Valdres prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the 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 residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Hamar The Diocese of Hamar () 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 Municipality in Akershus county. Administratively, the diocese is divided into 1 ...

Geography

Sør-Aurdal municipality is bordered on the north by the municipalities of

and

Etnedal Etnedal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bruflat. The municipality is the 216th largest by area out of the 356 ...

, on the northeast by

Nordre Land Nordre Land is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Land. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dokka. Other villages in the municipality include Vest-Torpa, Nord-T ...

, on the east by

Søndre Land Søndre Land is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Land, Norway, Land. The administrative centre of the municipality is the v ...

(all of which are in

county). It is also bordered on the south by Ringerike and

Flå Flå is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Flå. The municipality of Flå was established when it was separated from the municipality of Nes on 1 January 1905. The munici ...

municipalities, and on the west by

Nesbyen Nesbyen is a town and the administrative center in Nesbyen (municipality), Nesbyen municipality in the county of Buskerud, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Hallingdal. Summary Having a population of about 3,500 inhabitant ...

and Gol municipalities (all of which are 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 ...

). Sør-Aurdal is part of the traditional district of

in central, southern Norway, situated between the

Gudbrandsdal Gudbrandsdalen (; ) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending toward the Romsdalen vall ...

and

Hallingdal Hallingdal () is a valley as well as a traditional district located in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud county in Norway. It consists of six municipalities: Flå, Nes, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål and Hol. Hallingdal is one of the ma ...

valleys. Sør-Aurdal includes parts of several smaller valleys including

Vassfaret Vassfaret is a forested mountain valley in southern Norway. The valley is located on the border of the municipalities of Flå, Nesbyen, and Ringerike in Buskerud county and Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county. The valley lies between t ...

, and Vidalen. The river Begna is the main river flowing through the municipality.

History

Reinli Stave Church (built 1190-1250) is the third church on the same location in Reinli. A new tower was added in 1685 and the building was reconditioned by the Society for Preservation of Ancient Buildings in 1885. Olaf Haraldsson traveled through Valdres in 1023, and also visited Reinli. It is assumed, then, that there was a

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

temple at the same location before the first church, some time before the year 1000. Hedal Stave Church was built after 1160 and in 1699 it was rebuilt and changed. An old legend says the valley was abandoned during the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

and the church later discovered by a

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

hunter. A hide is hanging in the church, although now there is only a small part left as visitors have cut away pieces over the years.

Government

Sør-Aurdal Municipality is responsible for

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

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

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. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

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

economic development In economics, economic development (or 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 object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. 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, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the

Vestre Innlandet District Court Vestre Innlandet District Court () was a district court located in Innlandet county, Norway. This court was based at four different courthouses which are located in Gjøvik, Fagernes, Lillehammer, and Vågåmo. The court is subordinate to the Eid ...

and the

Eidsivating Court of Appeal The Eidsivating Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Hamar, with jurisdiction over the Eidsivating judicial district (), comprising the counties of Innlandet, Østfold, a ...

Municipal council

The

of Sør-Aurdal is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, 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 oft ...

Mayors

The

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

() of Sør-Aurdal: * 1838-1842: Ole Ellingsen Østvold * 1842-1845: Christoffer Juckam * 1846-1849: Johan H. Corneliussen * 1850-1851: Lars K. Kirkeberg * 1852-1859: Erik Tidemandsen Wold * 1860-1860: John Nilsen Fjeld * 1860-1863: Lars K. Kirkeberg * 1864-1871: Mikkel Sörböen * 1872-1881: Erling Wold * 1882-1883: Ole G. Nerbye * 1884-1891: Erling Wold * 1892-1893: Ole M. Øvergaard * 1894-1898: Erling Wold * 1899-1904: Arne Fönhus, Jr. * 1905-1907: Erling Wold * 1908-1913: Ole M. Øvergaard * 1914-1919: Ole O. Tronrud * 1920-1925: Arne H. Grøv * 1926-1927: Kristoffer Eid * 1928-1931: Eirik Klemmetsrud * 1932-1940: Arne H. Grøv ( V) * 1941-1944: Kristoffer Eid ( NS) * 1945-1945: Arne H. Grøv ( V) * 1946-1963: Harald Bakken ( Ap) * 1964-1981: Hallgrim Tronrud ( Ap) * 1982-1991: Kristoffer Storruste ( Ap) * 1992-1999: Svein Thorsrud ( Sp) * 1999-2007: Knut Torgersen ( Ap) * 2007–2019: Kåre Helland ( Sp) * 2019–present: Marit Hougsrud ( Sp)

Media gallery

Reinli Stavkyrkje, Sør-Aurdal.JPG, Reinli Stavkyrkje Hedalen Stavkyrkje, Sør-Aurdal.jpg, Hedal Stavkyrkje Begnadalen - panoramio.jpg, Begnadalen Svartsetera, Bagn Bygdesamling.JPG, Svartsetera, Bagn Bygdesamling

Attractions

* Bagn Bygdesamling is a museum that is associated with

Valdres Folkemuseum The Valdres Folkemuseum is a folk museum located at Storøya, Oppland, Storøya outside Fagernes in Nord-Aurdal in Innlandet county, Norway. Overview Valdres Folk Museum was founded in 1901. It is located in the traditional rural district of Va ...

. It is located south of

. It consists of twelve log houses and a building for permanent displays. A part of the museum is at Sandviken and the farm is Bagnsbergatn. *

Bautahaugen Samlinger Bautahaugen Samlinger (Bautahaugen collections) is a small museum in Hedalen, Sør-Aurdal municipality, Norway. The museum is a subsidiary of Valdres Folkemuseum. History Bautahaugen was founded in 1902, by local trader Erik J. Bergsrud (1848– ...

is another museum that is also associated with Valdres Folkemuseum. It is located in the middle of

. It consists of a collection of houses and items from Hedalen. The Hedal Stave Church is located just nearby.

Notable residents

* Ola Hermundsen Berge (1768 in Sør-Aurdal - 1825), a Norwegian folk artist and rose painter * Hans Jacob Stabel (1769–1836), a priest in Sør-Aurdal in 1806 and a member of the

constitutional assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the munic ...

in 1814 * Haldor Boen (1851 in Sør-Aurdal – 1912), an American congressman from

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

* Mikkjel Fønhus (1874 in Sør-Aurdal - 1973), a journalist, novelist, and short story writer about animals in the wilderness *

Sigurd Islandsmoen Sigurd Islandsmoen (August 27, 1881 – July 1, 1964) was a Norwegian composer. Sigurd Islandsmoen made significant contributions to the music of the Church of Norway. In all he wrote some 70 opuses, among these five feature-length works for o ...

(1881 in Bagn – 1964), a composer of music for the

* Rolf Andvord (1890 in Sør-Aurdal – 1976), a Norwegian jurist and diplomat * Per Juvkam (1907 in Sør-Aurdal – 2003), a Lutheran Bishop of Bjørgvin from 1961-1977 * Ruth Lagesen (1914 in Bagn – 2005), a Norwegian pianist and conductor * Morten Bakke (born 1968 in Hedalen), a retired football goalkeeper with over 300 club caps

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 ...

*
Map of Sør-Aurdal municipality
in Kulturnett.no
Mikkjel Fønhus biography
from

Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sor-Aurdal Municipalities of Innlandet 1838 establishments in Norway