Sør-Aurdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. 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 the village of Bagn. Other villages in the municipality include Begna, Hedalen, and Begnadalen. The municipality is the 101st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sør-Aurdal is the 231st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,889. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 8.4% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The parish of ''Søndre Aurdal'' 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 January ...

law). On 1 January 1894, the new Etnedal Municipality 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 mountain was transferred from Sør-Aurdal to Nord-Aurdal.

Name

The municipality (and parish) was named after the valley in which it is located. The Old Norse form of the valley name was ''Aurardalr''. The first element 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 can al ...

of an old river name ''Aur'' (now called ''Bøaelva'') and the last element is ''dalr'' which means " valley" or "dale". The old river name is derived from ''aurr'' which means "

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

". Originally the municipality was named ''Søndre Aurdal''. The name was changed from ''Søndre Aurdal'' to ''Sør-Aurdal'' in the early 20th century. Both ''søndre'' and ''sør-'' 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 ( 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 b ...

parish of Aurdal was divided into two in 1805, just over 30 years before the municipality was established in 1838.)

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted by royal decree on 9 February 1990. It is blue with gold silhouette of the gilt-copper medieval

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''wikt:phylactery, phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it i ...

( chasse) that is based on the one found in the

Hedal Stave Church Hedalen Stave Church ( no, Hedalen stavkyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The stave church is located in the Hedalen valley. It is the church for the Hedalen parish which i ...

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 (now in the Bergen Museum) 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 churches 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 skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

industry and sawmills in Sør-Aurdal.

Churches

The

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

Valdres prosti The list of churches in Hamar is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Hamar which includes all of Innlandet county (plus two municipalities in Viken county) in Norway. The list is divided into several sections, one for each d ...

(

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 residenc ...

) 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 divided ...

Geography

Sør-Aurdal municipality is bordered on the north by the municipalities of Nord-Aurdal and Etnedal, on the northeast by Nordre Land, on the east by Søndre Land (all of which are in Innlandet county). It is also bordered on the south by Ringerike and Flå municipalities, and on the west by Nesbyen and Gol municipalities (all of which are in Viken). Sør-Aurdal is part of the traditional district of Valdres in central, southern Norway, situated between the Gudbrandsdal and Hallingdal valleys. Sør-Aurdal includes parts of several smaller valleys including Begnadalen, Hedalen, Vassfaret, 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 (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", 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 Judaism. ...

temple at the same location before the first church, some time before the year 1000.

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 (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

and the church later discovered by a

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the 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 throughout the Nor ...

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

All municipalities in Norway, including Sør-Aurdal, 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 first ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

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

, senior citizen services, unemployment 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 administe ...

, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elects a mayor. The municipality falls under the

Vestre Innlandet District Court Vestre Innlandet District Court ( no, Vestre Innlandet tingrett) is a district court (Norway), district court located in Innlandet county, Norway. This court is based at four different courthouses which are located in Gjøvik (town), Gjøvik, Fag ...

and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Sør-Aurdal is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayors

The mayors of Sør-Aurdal (incomplete list): *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 Bagn Bydesamling is a small museum located in the hamlet of Dolven, south of Bagn at Sør-Aurdal in Innlandet county Norway. The museum is situated in the traditional district of Valdres and is run as a subsidiary of Valdres Folkemuseum. His ...

is a museum that is associated with

Valdres Folkemuseum The Valdres Folkemuseum is a folk museum located at 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 Valdres. The mu ...

. It is located south of Bagn. 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 is another museum that is also associated with Valdres Folkemuseum. It is located in the middle of Hedalen. It consists of a collection of houses and items from Hedalen. The

is located just nearby.

Notable residents

Ola Hermundsen Berge Ola Hermundsen Berge (31 December 1768 – 28 December 1825) was a Norwegian folk artist and rose painter. Berge was born at Sør-Aurdal in Oppland, Norway. He received training for his folk art in the traditional region of Valdres. A common ...

(1768 in Sør-Aurdal - 1825), a Norwegian folk artist and rose painter * Hans Jacob Stabel (1769–1836), a priest in Sør-Aurdal from 1806; member of the constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814 * Haldor Boen (1851 in Sør-Aurdal – 1912), an American congressman from Minnesota * 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 opus, among these five feature-length works for ...

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

Rolf Andvord Rolf Otto Andvord (31 October 1890 – 8 March 1976) was a Norwegian jurist and diplomat. Biography He was born in Sør-Aurdal as a son of Kristian Andvord (1855–1934), a chief physician, and Ebba Blomstedt (1860–1953). He was a nephew of ship ...

(1890 in Sør-Aurdal – 1976), a Norwegian jurist and diplomat * Per Juvkam (1907 in Sør-Aurdal – 2003), a Lutheran Bishop of Bjørgvin 1961-1977 *

Ruth Lagesen Ruth Lagesen (August 10, 1914 – April 7, 2005) was a Norwegian pianist and conductor. Biography Lagesen was born in Bagn in the Valdres Valdres () is a traditional district in central, southern Norway, situated between the districts of Gudb ...

(1914 in Bagn – 2005), a Norwegian pianist and conductor *

Morten Bakke Morten Bakke (born 16 December 1968) is a retired Norwegian football goalkeeper. Club career During his career, Bakke played for several clubs, most notably Molde and Vålerenga. He scored from the penalty mark in a 1992 Norwegian Football Cup ...

(born 1968 in Hedalen), a retired football goalkeeper with over 300 club caps

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 yea ...

*
Map of Sør-Aurdal municipality
in

Kulturnett.no The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality ( no, Det kongelige kultur- og likestillingsdepartement; short name ''Kultur- og likestillingsdepartementet'') is responsible for cultural policy, regulations and other matters related to the ...

Mikkjel Fønhus biography
from Dagbladet {{DEFAULTSORT:Sor-Aurdal Municipalities of Innlandet 1838 establishments in Norway