Country Norway District Hadeland Area rank 143 in Norway Population 13,695 (2016) Official language form Bokmål | County Oppland Administrative centre Jaren Area 756 km² Local time Saturday 5:52 AM | |
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Demonym(s) Gransokning
Granasokning Weather -5°C, Wind NW at 8 km/h, 89% Humidity Points of interest Steinhuset på Granavollen, Museum of Comic Art ‑ Norway, Hadeland Folkemuseum | ||
Gran is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hadeland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Jaren. There is also a village of Gran located within the municipality.
Contents
Map of Gran, Norway
The municipality of Gran was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Brandbu was separated from Gran on 1 January 1897, but it was merged back into the municipality of Gran on 1 January 1962.
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Gran farm (Old Norse: Grǫn), since the first church was built there. The name is identical with the word grǫn which means "spruce".
Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 11 December 1987. The coat-of-arms is red with two gold triangles stretching upwards with a bottony cross on the tip of each triangle. It is meant to represent the spires of the medieval Sister Churches which are located in the municipality. The arms were designed by Kari Ruud Flem from Jevnaker.
Economy
The economy of the municipality was in 2002 of 24,098 kr in free income per inhabitant, and net debt per inhabitant was NOK 41,835 (also municipal economy, not private). Health care spendings represents about one third of the total budget, which is 7.5 per cent higher than the average for Norway.
Geography
Gran is part of the Hadeland region. It is bordered to the north by the municipalities of Søndre Land and Vestre Toten, to the east by Hurdal and Nannestad, to the south by Lunner and Jevnaker, and to the west by Ringerike. Areas of concentrated population include Moen, Brandbu, Gran, and Jaren.
History
Granavollen is the site of the Sister Churches (Norwegian: Søsterkirkene). These two stone churches are from the Middle Ages and were constructed side by side. The smaller and older is the Mariakirke, a single nave church built in the Romanesque style, built sometime before 1150. The neighbouring Nikolaikirke is a three-aisled basilica, probably inspired by the construction of the St. Halvardskirke in Oslo. It was built sometime between 1150 and 1200. According to local folklore, the churches were built by two sisters. These two detested each other so much they could not share the same church. A more likely explanation however, is that the Mariakirke was built for the local congregation, while the Nikolaikirke was the main church for Hadeland parish. The Granavollen stone is located behind the Nikolaikirken.
Tingelstad old church (Tingelstad St.Petri Kirke) is another medieval stone church. It is a Romanesque stone church, dated to the 12th century and dedicated to St.Peter. This church has survived even though it has not been in regular use for some 140 years.
This is also the location of Hadeland Folkemuseum with a collection of buildings from the area, farm implements as well as a grave mound from the Viking Era and a replica of the 11th century Dynna Runestone (Dynnasteinen). It also holds an archive of photographs and documents.
Sister cities
The following cities are twinned with Gran: