Notodden

is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Aust-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Notodden. Other population centres include the villages of Bolkesjø, Gransherad, Heddal, Hjuksebø, Hjuksevelta, Rudsgrendi, Tinnoset, and Yli.

The 984 km2 municipality is the 118th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Notodden is the 94th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 13,025. The municipality's population density is 14.3 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 4.2% over the previous 10-year period.

Norway's largest stave church, Heddal Stave Church, is located in Heddal, a few kilometres west the municipal centre. Notodden Airport, is located west of the town of Notodden, along the European route E134 highway. Norsk Hydro was founded in this town. Notodden is well known for the annual Notodden Blues Festival, which is considered one of the best blues festivals in Europe. It also has a well-known metal festival called Motstøy Festivalen. The football club Notodden FK is headquartered here.

General information
On 1 January 1913, the newly-designated kjøpstad (town) of Notodden (population: 4,821) was separated from Heddal Municipality to form a separate self-governing town as an enclave within Heddal Municipality. This left Heddal with 2,890 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Heddal Municipality was dissolved and the following areas were merged to form a new, larger Notodden Municipality:
 * most of Gransherad Municipality (population: 1,115) - except for the upper Jondalen valley which became part of Kongsberg Municipality
 * all of Heddal Municipality (population: 4,844)
 * the Rudsgrendi area of Hovin Municipality (population: 21)
 * the town of Notodden (population: 7,523)

Name
The municipality (originally the town) is named after a small cotter's farmstead (husmannsplass) located on the old Tinne farm since this was the original site of the town (near the mouth of the river Tinnelva at the lake Heddalsvatnet). The first element is derived from the word which means "to fish using a seine". The last element is the definite singular form of which means "headland". Thus it is a "headland for net fishing".

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 11 August 1939. The official blazon is "Azure, a pale wavy and four lightning bolts in saltire argent" (På blå bunn en loddrett sølvelv som sender lynstråler av sølv til begge sider). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a wavy vertical bar and four lightning bolts emanating from the centre and making an X-shape. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The design symbolizes that Notodden was created by the exploitation of hydroelectric power on the river Tinnelva when Norsk Hydro started its operations with saltpeter production and power development in 1905. The vertical bar represents the Tinnfoss waterfall along the river and the lightning bolts represent electricity. The arms were designed by Jens Høibø. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

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

Government
Notodden 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 Notodden is made up of 41 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 Notodden:


 * 1913-1913: Johannes Strandli (Ap)
 * 1914-1914: Mathias Kleppen (H)
 * 1915-1915: Gunnulf Tinne (H)
 * 1916-1916: Mathias Kleppen (H)
 * 1917–1919: Nerid Asland (H)
 * 1920–1922: A.C. Aasnes (H)
 * 1923–1924: Olav Andresen (Ap)
 * 1925-1925: Frimann Nergaard (H)
 * 1926–1927: Hans Helgesen (Ap)
 * 1928–1931: Olav Andresen (Ap)
 * 1932-1932: Johan Bugge (H)
 * 1933–1934: Jens Røkke (H)
 * 1935–1940: Olav Andresen (Ap)
 * 1941–1945: Arne Bergsvik (NS)
 * 1945-1945: Kai Birger Knudsen (Ap)
 * 1945-1945: Nerid Asland (H)
 * 1946-1946: Kai Birger Knudsen (Ap)
 * 1947–1949: Johannes P. Løkke (Ap)
 * 1950–1955: Ole Styrvold (Ap)
 * 1956–1959: Johannes P. Løkke (Ap)
 * 1960–1971: Henry Finrud (Ap)
 * 1972–1975: Egil Bergsland (Ap)
 * 1976–1983: Hans T. Kasin (Ap)
 * 1984–1991: Per Nagelsaker (Ap)
 * 1992–1993: Sveinung O. Flaaten (H)
 * 1993–1995: Anund Sisjord (KrF)
 * 1995–1999: Nils Buverud (Ap)
 * 1999–2007: Bjarne Bakken (Ap)
 * 2007–2011: Lise Wiik (Ap)
 * 2011–2015: Jørn Christensen (H)
 * 2015–present: Gry Fuglestveit (Ap)

Geography
The municipality is located in Aust-Telemark, along the border with Buskerud. Notodden Municipality includes the lands between the lakes Tinnsjå and Heddalsvatnet lake. The rivers Tinnelva and Heddøla both run through the municipality. The Blefjell mountains are located in the northern part of the municipality.

Climate
Notodden has a humid continental climate (Dfb). Situated inland at low altitude in the Telemark region, is one of the warmer towns in Norway in summer, but winters can be cold. The weather station at Notodden Airport has been recording since March 1970 (temperature and wind speed). Precipitation data is from a different station in Notodden. The all-time high temperature 33.3 °C was recorded on 27 July 2018.

Twin towns
In 2008, the Notodden council decided to end the twin city agreements with Ilisalmi, Nyköping, and Stelle. At the same time Suwałki was approved as a new twin city.

The following cities are twinned with Notodden:
 * 🇺🇸 Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States
 * 🇵🇱 Suwałki, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland

Former twin cities of Notodden:
 * 🇫🇮 Iisalmi, Eastern Finland, Finland
 * 🇸🇪 Nyköping, Södermanland County, Sweden
 * 🇩🇪 Stelle, Lower Saxony, Germany

Notable people

 * Kåre Nordstoga, an organist
 * Hans Herbjørnsrud, an internationally known author who was born in Heddal
 * Olav Gunnarsson Helland (1875–1939), a Hardanger fiddlemaker who many consider the finest of the twentieth century
 * Klaus Egge (born 1906 in Gransherad), a composer
 * Ådne Søndrål, an Olympic gold medalist
 * Seasick Steve, an American blues musician who is achieving fame in the United Kingdom, currently resides in Notodden
 * Margit Bakken, a blues musician and songwriter
 * Tor-Arne Moen, a painter and author
 * Olav Andresen (1877 in Heddal–1950), a politician who was Mayor of Notodden in the 1920s and 1930s
 * Ambros Sollid (1880 in Heddal–1973), an agronomist and politician who was Mayor of Skien from 1935–1937
 * Carl Bugge (1881 in Heddal–1968), a geologist and academic
 * Helga Stene (1904 in Notodden–1983), an educator, feminist, and resistance member
 * Aage Eriksen (1917 in Notodden–1998 in Notodden), a wrestler and silver medallist at the 1948 Summer Olympics
 * Egil Bergsland (1924 in Notodden–2007), a politician who was Mayor of Notodden from 1971 to 1975
 * Sissel Sellæg (1928 in Notodden–2014), an actress
 * Hilde Mæhlum (born 1945 in Notodden), a sculptor
 * Magne Orre (born 1950 in Notodden), a cyclist, competed at the 1972 & 1976 Summer Olympics
 * Helga Flatland (born 1984 in Notodden), a novelist and children's writer

One of the most influential Norwegian black metal bands, Emperor, came from Notodden, as does Mortiis, Peccatum, Star of Ash, Leprous, and Zyklon. Emperor's singer, Ihsahn, still resides in Notodden.