Holla, Telemark

Holla is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The 252 km2 municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Nome Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Ulefoss. The municipality was considered part of the traditional district of Grenland, but in 1964 it became been part of the new Nome municipality which has been considered to be part of the Midt-Telemark district.

History
The parish of Hollen (later spelled Holla) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1866, an unpopulated area of Bø Municipality was transferred into Holden Muniicpality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the district of Valebø (population: 259) on the eastern side of the lake Norsjø was merged into Skien Municipality. On the same date, the rest of Holla (population: 4,093) was merged with the neighboring Lunde Municipality (population: 3,080) to form the new Nome Municipality.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hollen farm (Hǫllin) since the first Holla Church was built there. The first element is derived from the word which means "sloping" or "leaning". The last element is derived from the word which means "meadow" or "pasture". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Holden. In 1889, the spelling was changed to Hollen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Holla.

Churches
The Church of Norway had one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Holla. It was part of the Øvre Telemark prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.



Holla Church ruins
The Old Holla Church was a medieval stone church, situated near the Holla gård in today's Ulefoss. The church had a view over lake Norsjø. Today only the ruins (Holla kyrkjeruin) are left.

Holla Church
Holla Church (Holla Kirke) is a Gothic Revival-style church which dates from 1867. The church was donated to the community by Severin Diderik Cappelen (1820-1881) who was the owner of Ulefos Jernværk and served as mayor in Holla. The structure is made of brick and has about 600 seats. The architect was Peter Høier Holtermann (1820-1865). The church was restored during 1916.

Government
While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Holla was made up of 25 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.