Editing Sør-Fron (section)

==General information==
[[File:Skutelen.jpg|thumb|left|Panoramic view over Sør-Fron from Skutelen]]
[[File:Rondane-Smiubelgen.jpg|thumb|left|Smiubelgen in Rondane National Park]]
The [[prestegjeld]] of [[Fron, Norway|Fron]] was established as a civil municipality on 1 January 1838 when the new [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law went into effect. On 1 January 1851, the municipality was divided in two. The northwest portion became [[Nord-Fron Municipality]] (population: 4,685) and the southeast portion became Sør-Fron Municipality (population: 3,421). On 27 July 1956, a small area of Sør-Fron municipality (population: 7) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of [[Vestre Gausdal]].<ref name="DJ" />

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1966, the municipalities of [[Nord-Fron]] (population: 5,758) and Sør-Fron (population: 3,648) were merged to form a new [[Fron, Norway|Fron Municipality]] (with similar borders to the old Fron municipality that existed from 1838-1851 minus the [[Sjoa (village)|Sjoa]] area had switched from Nord-Fron to [[Sel, Norway|Sel]]).<ref name="DJ" />

This merger was not well-liked among the residents of the new municipality. On 1 January 1977, the merger was reversed and [[Nord-Fron]] (population: 6,131) and Sør-Fron (population: 3,509) were recreated using their old borders from 1965.<ref name="DJ">{{Cite web |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |year=1999 |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |language=no |isbn=9788253746845}}</ref>

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the old ''Fron'' farm ({{langx|non|Frón}}) since the first [[Sør-Fron Church|Fron Church]] was built there. The first element is {{wikt-lang|non|sør}} which means "southern". The last element is uncertain, but it may come from the word {{wikt-lang|non|frón}} which means "earth" or "land". Thus the name of the municipality is "(the) southern (part of) Fron" (since the parish of Fron was divided in 1851 into a "north" and a "south" part). Historically, it was called ''Søndre Fron'', using another word which also means "south".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DohBAAAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Kristians amt |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |year=1900 |edition=4 |location=Kristiania, Norge |pages=99 & 120 |language=no |author-link=Oluf Rygh}}</ref> Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Søndre Fron''. On 3 November 1917, a [[royal decree|royal resolution]] changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Sør-Fron'', using an alternate word for "south".<ref>{{Cite journal |year=1917 |title=Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1917. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m |url=https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2015102381014_001 |journal=[[Norsk Lovtidend]] |language=no |location=Kristiania, Norge |publisher=Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri |pages=1057–1065}}</ref> {{See also|Nord-Fron#Name}}

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 4 March 1988. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Vert (heraldry)|Vert]], a club [[argent]] [[in bend]]"'' ({{langx|no|På grøn grunn ei skråstilt sølv klubbe}}). This means the arms have a green [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a [[Club (weapon)|club]]. The club has a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[argent]] which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The club is reminiscent of the club that Kolbein Sterke used in the year 1021 when [[Olaf II of Norway|King Olav Haraldsson]] met the people of Fron and [[Dale-Gudbrand]] at [[Hundorp]]. This meeting is recorded in a book by [[Snorri Sturluson|Snorre Sturlusson]]. "Look, our god is coming with a lot of light," said King Olav. Dale-Gudbrand and the farmers looked at the sun that was just rising. Kolbein then took the club and smashed to pieces the statue of the god [[Thor]] standing at Hundorp. After this, the people of the area were [[Christians]], according to Snorre. The arms were designed by Amund Rudi. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Sør-Fron |access-date=2023-04-17 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sør-Fron, Oppland (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-05-19.html |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1988-03-04 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1988-03-04-208 |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Solerød |first=Helene Amblie |date=2017-12-08 |title=Om kommunevåpenet |url=https://www.sor-fron.kommune.no/tjenester/om-sor-fron/om-sor-fron-kommune/historia-om-kommunevapenet/ |access-date=2022-06-12 |publisher=Sør-Fron kommune |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has one parish ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Sør-Fron. It is part of the [[Sør-Gudbrandsdal prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Hamar]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Sør-Fron'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="2"|Sør-Frøn||[[Sør-Fron Church]]||[[Hundorp]]||1792
|-
|[[Espedalen Chapel]]||[[Espedalen]]||1974
|}