Nord-Aurdal

Nord-Aurdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fagernes.

Nord-Aurdal kommune
Municipality
View over Strandefjorden, with Fagernes to the right
Coat of arms
Innlandet within
Norway
Nord-Aurdal within Innlandet
Coordinates: 60°57′35″N 9°15′51″E
CountryNorway
CountyInnlandet
DistrictValdres
Administrative centreFagernes
Government
 • Mayor (2011)Inger Torun Klosbøle (Ap)
Area
 • Total907 km2 (350 sq mi)
 • Land850 km2 (330 sq mi)
Area rank122 in Norway
Population
 (2004)
 • Total6,539
 • Rank151 in Norway
 • Density8/km2 (20/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years)
−0.9%
Demonym(s)Nordaurdøl[1]
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeNO-3451
Official language formNeutral[2]
Websitewww.nord-aurdal.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

The parish of Nordre Aurdal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The area of Nordre Etnedal was transferred from Nord-Aurdal to the neighboring municipality of Etnedal on 1 January 1894.

The municipality is served by Fagernes Airport, Leirin. In Nord-Aurdal, there is an alpine skiing center called Valdres Alpinsenter.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Aurardalr. The first element is the genitive case 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". The name was changed from Nordre- to Nord- Aurdal in the early 20th century. Both nordre and nord mean "north" (more specifically, "nordre" means "northern"), so the name Nord-Aurdal means "(the) northern (part of) Aurdal". (The parish of Aurdal was divided in 1805.)[3]

Coat-of-arms
Gentiana nivalis

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. It was granted by royal decree on 20 December 1985. The arms show three blue flowers of the species Gentiana nivalis (or Snow Gentian) on a yellow background. The flowers, which are locally known as "the blue eyes of Christ", grow abundantly in the area. Three flowers were chosen to represent the three main settlements of the municipality: Aurdal, Fagernes, and Leira. This type of flower only opens in sunlight and heat, so it was chosen to symbolize being open and positive.[4][5]

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Nord-Aurdal by country of origin in 2017[6]
Ancestry Number
 Lithuania81
 Poland73
 Romania62
 Netherlands38
 Syria36
 Eritrea34
 Denmark33

Geography

Nord-Aurdal municipality is located north of Sør-Aurdal municipality, east of Etnedal and Gausdal municipalities, and south of Øystre Slidre and Vestre Slidre municipalities in Oppland county. To the west, it is bordered by Hemsedal and Gol in Buskerud county. Nord-Aurdal is 52.4 kilometres (32.6 mi) on the north–south axis and 43.3 kilometres (26.9 mi) on the east–west axis.

The municipality lies in the western side of Oppland county. Although Fagernes is the administrative center of Nord-Aurdal, the village of Aurdal was the administrative center for the former municipality of Aurdal. Nord-Aurdal is part of the traditional district of Valdres in the central part of southern Norway, situated between the valleys of Gudbrandsdal and Hallingdal.

The highest point in Nord-Aurdal is the Duptjernkampen at 1,325 metres (4,347 ft). About 50% of the land is above 900 metres (3,000 ft). The Tisleifjorden and Aurdalsfjorden are large inland lakes that are located in Nord-Aurdal.

Attractions

Valdres Folkemuseum is located just outside Fagernes and has large collections of old houses, textiles, and music instruments.

  • Valdres Folkemuseum
  • Valdres Museum
  • Skattebustugu

Notable residents
Knut Hamsun, 1939

International relations
Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Norway

Twin towns — Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Nord-Aurdal:[9]

References
  1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
  3. Rygh, Oluf (1900). Norske gaardnavne: Kristians amt (Anden halvdel) (in Norwegian) (4 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 251.
  4. Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2009-01-04.
  5. "Kommunevåpenet for Nord-Aurdal" (in Norwegian). Nord-Aurdal kommune. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
  6. "Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, by immigration category, country background and percentages of the population". ssb.no. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  7. See NRK, Dagbladet Archived 2005-03-08 at the Wayback Machine, and Aftenposten Archived 2005-08-29 at the Wayback Machine
  8. James Christian Meinich Hanson (Odd Lovell. Store norske leksikon
  9. "Vennskapsbyer" (in Norwegian). Nord-Aurdal kommune. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
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