Kviteseid

Kviteseid is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional districts of Vest-Telemark and Upper Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kviteseidbyen. Other villages in Kviteseid include Åsgrend, Brunkeberg, Eidstod, Fjågesund, Kilen, Morgedal, and Vrådal.

The 708 km2 municipality is the 163rd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Kviteseid is the 258th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,427. The municipality's population density is 3.9 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 3.2% over the previous 10-year period.

Kviteseid Seminar was the first public teacher training school in Norway which started in 1819 and was in operation until 1889. Kviteseid Library (Kviteseid Folkebibliotek) was founded in 1895. The library was first based on a book collection from Kviteseid Seminar. The main industries of the municipality are forestry, agriculture, tourism, and hydroelectric power. The Telemark Canal goes through Kviteseid. There are also several ski resorts in Kviteseid.

The little village of Morgedal is located in northern Kviteseid. It is known as the "Cradle of Modern Skiing" ("Skisportens vugge") and the home of Sondre Norheim. Here, the Olympic Flame was lit for the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, and 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.

General information
The parish of Hvideseid was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The spelling of the name was later changed to Kviteseid. On 11 October 1873, an unpopulated area of Kviteseid was transferred to Seljord Municipality. The boundaries have not changed since that time.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Kviteseid farm (Hvítingseið) since the Old Kviteseid Church was built there. The first element comes from the old name for the lake Kviteseidvatnet. That name is the plural genitive case of the word which means "white" or "the white one". The last element is which means "isthmus" or "path between two lakes". Prior to 1889, the name was spelled "Hviteseid".

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 27 November 1987. The official blazon is "Or, a lock plate sable" (På gull grunn eit svart låsskilt). This means the arms have a field (background) 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 charge is a black lock plate. The lock design is based on one from the Tveitloftet medieval storehouse on the local Tveit farm dating back to the year 1350. The design symbolises the long traditions of lock-making and building construction in the area. The arms were designed by Daniel Rike. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

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

Geography
Kviteseid borders the municipalities of Seljord to the northwest; Nome to the east; Drangedal, Nissedal, and Fyresdal to the south; and Tokke to the west. The highest point is Sveinsheia at 1141 m above sea level. There are several large lakes that are located in or partially in Kviteseid including Kviteseidvatnet, Flåvatn, and Bandak (all three of which are part of the Telemark Canal, plus Nisser and Vråvatn.

Government
Kviteseid 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. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Telemark District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Kviteseid is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Kviteseid:


 * 1838-1841: Ole Blom
 * 1842-1843: Ole Bjørnsen Haukom
 * 1844-1861: Tormod Knudsen Borgejorde
 * 1862-1879: Knut Taraldsen
 * 1880-1883: Bjørn Brekke
 * 1884-1890: Knut Taraldsen
 * 1890-1900: Ludvig Kristoffersen
 * 1901-1913: Sigurd Torleivson Kolltveit (V)
 * 1914-1919: Halvor Straand
 * 1920-1922: Sigurd Kolltveit
 * 1923-1924: Knut Skarprud
 * 1925-1928: Halvor Straand
 * 1929-1932: Olaf Hegland (V)
 * 1932-1933: Torleiv Kolltveit
 * 1934-1941: Sigurd Rinden (Ap)
 * 1941-1945: Håkon Eikland (NS)
 * 1945-1946: Sigurd Rinden (Ap)
 * 1946-1947: Knut Nørstrud (Ap)
 * 1948-1951: Trygve Bergland
 * 1952-1967: Svein Landsverk (Ap)
 * 1968-1970: Sigurd Rinden (Ap)
 * 1970-1975: Øystein Strondi (Ap)
 * 1976-1979: Arne Bjørnson (Sp)
 * 1980-1983: Nils Sandvik (Sp)
 * 1984-1991: Johannes Skarprud (Ap)
 * 1992-1998: Inge Fjalestad (Sp)
 * 1998-1999: Anne Lise Råmunddal (Sp)
 * 1999-2003: Karin Maria Larsen (Ap)
 * 2003-2015: Torstein Tveito (Sp)
 * 2015-2019: Tarjei Gjelstad (Ap)
 * 2019–2023: Bjørn Nordskog (Sp)
 * 2023-present: Tarjei Draugedal (KrF)

Notable people

 * Peter Paulson Paus (1590 - 1653 in Kviteseid), a high-ranking cleric and provost of Upper Telemark from 1633-1653
 * Knut Mevasstaul (1785 in Kviteseid – 1862), a painter specializing in rosemåling
 * Sondre Norheim (1825 in Morgedal – 1897), a pioneer skier and father of Telemark skiing
 * brothers Torjus Hemmestveit (1860–1930) and Mikkjel Hemmestveit (1863–1957) born in Morgedal, two Norwegian-American Nordic skiers who shared the Holmenkollen medal in 1928
 * Olav Bjaaland (1873 in Morgedal – 1961), a skiing champion and polar explorer who was one of the five men to reach the South Pole as part of Amundsen's South Pole expedition in 1911
 * Einar Landvik (1898 in Kviteseid – 1993), a Nordic skier who competed in 1924 Winter Olympics
 * Dyre Vaa (1903 in Kviteseid – 1980), a sculptor and painter
 * Solveig Muren Sanden (1918 in Vrådal – 2013), an illustrator and comics artist