Nord-Aurdal

Nord-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 town Fagernes. Other urban centres in Nord-Aurdal include the villages of Aurdal, Leira, and Skrautvål. The municipality is served by Fagernes Airport, Leirin. In Nord-Aurdal, there is an alpine skiing center called Valdres Alpinsenter.

The 906 km2 municipality is the 128th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Nord-Aurdal is the 152nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 6,401. The municipality's population density is 7.5 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 0.1% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The parish of Nordre 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 Nordre Aurdal municipality and the Søndre Etnedal area (population: 1,331) from the neighboring municipality of Søndre Aurdal. On 1 January 1979, there was a border adjustment in an unpopulated area where part of Etnedal was transferred to Nord-Aurdal and another part of Nord-Aurdal that was transferred to Etnedal. Then on 1 January 1984, the unpopulated northern side of the Makalaus mountain was transferred from Sør-Aurdal to Nord-Aurdal.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Aurdalen valley (Aurardalr) since it was a central geographic feature of the area. The first word in the name is which is essentially a prefix that means "north". The second word comes from the local valley name. The first element of that word is the genitive case of the old river name, Aur, now named Bøaelva. The river name comes from the word which means "gravel". The last element of the second word is which means "valley" or "dale". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Nordre Aurdal. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Nord-Aurdal. Both and  mean "north" (more specifically, "nordre" means "northern"), so the name Nord-Aurdal means "(the) northern (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.)

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted by royal decree on 13 December 1985. The official blazon is "Or, three cinquefoils azure" (På gull grunn tre blå fembladingar, 2-1). 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 three five-petaled flowers. The arms show three blue flowers of the species Gentiana nivalis which are commonly called "Snow Gentian". The flowers, which are locally known as "the blue eyes of Christ", grow all over Norway, but they grow abundantly in this 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. The arms were designed by Bjørn Arnesen who based it off an idea by Ivar Aars. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches
The Church of Norway has six parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Nord-Aurdal. It is part of the Valdres prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

Geography
Nord-Aurdal municipality is located to the north of Sør-Aurdal Municipality, east of Etnedal Municipality and Gausdal Municipality, and south of Øystre Slidre Municipality and Vestre Slidre Municipality. To the west, it is bordered by Hemsedal Municipality and Gol Municipality in Buskerud county. Nord-Aurdal measures about 52.4 km on the north–south axis and 43.3 km on the east–west axis.

The municipality lies in the western side of Innlandet county. Although Fagernes is the administrative center of Nord-Aurdal, the village of Aurdal was the historic centre of the centuries-old Church of Norway parish 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 1325 m. About 50% of the land is above 900 m. The Tisleifjorden and Aurdalsfjorden are large inland lakes that are located in Nord-Aurdal. The river Begna flows through the municipality as well, with the Strondafjorden being a large lake that the river flows through.

Government
Nord-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. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Vestre Innlandet District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Nord-Aurdal is made up of 21 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 of Nord-Aurdal:


 * 1838-1839: Amund Wessel Kolderup
 * 1840-1841: Thore S. Belgum
 * 1842-1845: Torger Melbye
 * 1846-1849: Amund Wessel Kolderup
 * 1850-1853: Thore S. Belgum
 * 1854-1859: Jean Marie L'Abee
 * 1860-1865: Nils Frydenlund
 * 1866-1881: Erik Kjørstad
 * 1882-1901: Ole Skrutvold
 * 1902-1907: O.T. Svennæs
 * 1908-1913: Th. Aaberg
 * 1914-1919: O.T. Svennæs
 * 1920-1926: Erik Strand
 * 1926-1945: Ivar Simensen
 * 1946-1971: Asbjørn Granheim (Sp)
 * 1972-1981: Nils T. Døvre (KrF)
 * 1982-1987: Lage Westerbø (Sp)
 * 1988-2003: Ola N. Døvre (Sp)
 * 2003-2007: Svein Erik Hilmen (Sp)
 * 2007-2011: Helge Halvorsen (Ap)
 * 2011-2019: Inger Torun Klosbøle (Ap)
 * 2019-present: Knut Arne Fjelltun (Sp)

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

Notable people

 * Knut Hamsun (1859–1952), a Norwegian author who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920
 * J. C. M. Hanson (1864–1943), an American librarian and author
 * Kaare Strøm (1902–1967), a Norwegian limnologist
 * Olav Meisdalshagen (1903–1959), a Norwegian politician who was Minister of Finance from 1947-1951 and Minister of Agriculture from 1955-1956
 * Asbjørn Granheim (1906–1977), a Norwegian politician who was mayor of Nord-Aurdal from 1945-1971
 * Inger Helene Nybråten (born 1960), a former Norwegian cross-country skier, gold medalist at the 1984 Winter Olympics, and twice silver medallist at the 1992 & 1994 Winter Olympics
 * Eldbjørg Hemsing (born 1990), a Norwegian classical violinist
 * Guro Kleven Hagen (born 1994), a violinist, the 1st concertmaster at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet
 * Sylfest Glimsdal (born 1966), a former Norwegian biathlete who competed at three Summer Olympics

Twin towns — Sister cities
Nord-Aurdal has sister city agreements with the following places:
 * 🇫🇮 - Kouvola, Etelä-Suomi, Finland
 * 🇸🇪 - Lidköping, Västra Götaland County, Sweden
 * - Skanderborg, Region Midtjylland, Denmark