Sør-Aurdal

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Sør-Aurdal 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 Bagn. Other villages in the municipality include Begna, Hedalen, and Begnadalen.<ref name="snl">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

The Template:Convert 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 is Template:Convert and its population has decreased by 8.9% over the previous 10-year period.<ref name="ssb pop">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ssb area">Template:Cite web</ref>

General information

File:Bagn, Sør-Aurdal.JPG

View over Bagn from Øystre Bagn, with Vestre Bagn to the left and Reinli in the background. Down by the river is the administrative center Bagn.

The parish of Søndre Aurdal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt 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.<ref name="Dag">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="snl" />

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Aurdalen valley (Template:Langx) since it was a central geographic feature of the area. The first word in the name is Template:Wikt-lang 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 of the old river name, Template:Lang, now named Template:Lang. The river name comes from the word Template:Wikt-lang which means "gravel". The last element of the second word is Template:Wikt-lang which means "valley" 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Both Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang mean "south" (more specifically, "søndre" means "southern"), so the name Sør-Aurdal means "(the) southern (part of) Aurdal". (The Church of Norway 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.)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:See also

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted by royal decree on 9 February 1990. The official blazon is "Azure, a box reliquary Or" (Template:Langx). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a reliquary. The charge has a tincture 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 reliquary (chasse). 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 (now in the Bergen Museum) and representing the five Church of Norway 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 industry and sawmills in Sør-Aurdal. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Churches

The Church of Norway has five parishes (Template:Lang) within the municipality of Sør-Aurdal. It is part of the Valdres prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

**Churches in Sør-Aurdal**
Parish (Template:Lang)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Bagn	Bagn Church	Bagn	1736
Begnadalen	Begnadalen Church	Begnadalen	1964
Hedalen	Hedalen Stave Church	Hedalen	c. 1165
Leirskogen	Leirskogen Church	Leirskogen	1924
Reinli	Reinli Stave Church	Reinli	1326
Reinli	Reinli Chapel	Reinli	1964

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 Buskerud).

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

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Sør-Aurdal by country of origin in 2017<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ancestry	Number
Template:Flag	28
Template:Flag	20
Template:Flag	19
Template:Flag	17
Template:Flag	16

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.<ref name="Stagg">Template:Cite book</ref>

Olaf Haraldsson traveled through Valdres in 1023, and also visited Reinli. It is assumed, then, that there was a pagan temple at the same location before the first church, some time before the year 1000.<ref name="Stagg" />

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 and the church later discovered by a bear 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.<ref name="Stagg" />

Government

Sør-Aurdal Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.<ref name="ks">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Vestre Innlandet District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

Mayors

The mayors (Template:Langx) of Sør-Aurdal:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Div col

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)

Template:Div col end

Media gallery

Reinli Stavkyrkje

Reinli Stavkyrkje
Hedal Stavkyrkje

Hedal Stavkyrkje
Begnadalen

Begnadalen
Svartsetera, Bagn Bygdesamling

Svartsetera, Bagn Bygdesamling

Attractions

Bagn Bygdesamling is a museum that is associated with Valdres Folkemuseum. It is located Template:Convert 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 Hedal Stave Church is located just nearby.

Notable residents

File:RolfOttoAndvord.jpg

Rolf Otto Andvord, 1909

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

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External links

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