Puneet Varma (Editor)

Gausdal

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Country
  
Norway

District
  
Gudbrandsdal

Area rank
  
84 in Norway

Area
  
1,192 km²

Local time
  
Saturday 5:34 AM

County
  
Oppland

Administrative centre
  
Segalstad bru

Demonym(s)
  
Gausdøl

Population
  
6,186 (2004)

Official language form
  
Norwegian Language

Gausdal httpsphotostravelblogorgPhotos115872523857

Weather
  
-12°C, Wind NW at 6 km/h, 90% Humidity

Points of interest
  
Skeikampen, Skeikampen Alpine centre, Randsfjordmuseene, Trail to historic Helgafos, Ormtjernkampen National Park

Come to gausdal


Gausdal is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Segalstad bru. Follebu is a township and sub-parish in eastern Gausdal.

Contents

Map of Gausdal, Norway

Logging, farming, and tourism are important occupations in the municipality.

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Gausdalr. The first element is the river name Gausa and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The river name is derived from the verb gjósa which means "stream forcefully".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 19 September 1986. The arms show the typical shape of one of the main mountains in the municipality, Skeikampen.

History

The Follebu stone church was built in the early Middle Ages (around 1250). It is unusual in that the chancel and nave were built as one continuous piece.

In the 1880s, there was mining for nickel in Espedalen. The search for nickel was taken up again in 2004 by Blackstone Venture, a Canadian company. As of 2006, they are still drilling for mineral samples only.

The municipality of Gausdal was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Gausdal was divided into the separate municipalities of Vestre Gausdal and Østre Gausdal in 1879, but they were reunited into one municipality in 1962.

Geography

Gausdal is bordered on the northwest by Sør-Fron municipality, on the northeast by Ringebu and Øyer, on the southeast by Lillehammer, on the south by Nordre Land, on the southwest by Nord-Aurdal and Øystre Slidre.

The famous Peer Gynt mountain road begins here and leads to Vinstra.

A popular ski area is located on the south slope of Skeikampen mountain.

Western tributaries of the Gudbrandsdalslågen include the Gausa River, which flows through Gausdal valley.

Norway's smallest national park, Ormtjernkampen National Park, lies within the municipality.

Notable residents

  • Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910) was a Norwegian author and Nobel Prize in Literature winner in 1903. Aulestad in Follebu, Gausdal was his primary residence from 1874 until his death in 1910.
  • Reidar Engjom - politician
  • Brynhild Marie Foss - politician
  • Iver Holter (1850–1941) was a composer and was conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra from 1882 until 1886.
  • Jan Erik Kristiansen - politician
  • Inge Krokann (1893–1962) was a Norwegian writer who wrote dialect and idiosyncratic nynorsk works which are largely inaccessible to international readers but reputed to be very powerful, lived his later years and died in Gausdal.
  • Else Kveine - poet
  • Olav Olstad - politician
  • Abraham Pihl - theologian, astronomer and architect
  • Christen Smed - mountaineer
  • Hans Aanrud (1863–1953) was a Norwegian writer who wrote plays, poetry, and stories depicting rural life in Norway.
  • Ole Amundsen Buslett (1855–1924) - Norwegian-American author, newspaperman, and politician.

    • Sister cities

    The following cities are twinned with Gausdal:

  • - Mora, Dalarna County, Sweden

    • References

    Gausdal Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA