Country Norway District Gudbrandsdal Area rank 124 in Norway Area 905 km² Local time Sunday 9:54 PM | County Oppland Administrative centre Otta Demonym(s) Selvær Population 6,088 (2004) Official language form Norwegian Language | |
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Weather 6°C, Wind NW at 8 km/h, 67% Humidity Points of interest Rondane National Park, Sjoa Rafting AS, Rondvatnet, Vinjeronden, Storronden |
Sel is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of the Gudbrand Valley. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta.
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Map of Sel, Norway
The new municipality of Sel was created on 1 January 1908 when it was separated from Vågå municipality. The former municipality of Heidal was merged into Sel municipality on 1 January 1965.
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Sel farm (Old Norse: Sil), since the first church was built there. The name is identical with the word sil which means "slowly running and quiet part of a river" (here meaning the Gudbrandsdalslågen).
Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 18 May 1985. The arms show a gold-colored girl playing a trumpet on a blue background. The image is based on the local Prillar-Guri legend. In 1612, a Scottish army marched through the area on its way to Sweden. They were stopped by the local farmers at the Battle of Kringen. The legend tells that the farmers were warned for the Scots by a local girl with a trumpet.
Geography
Sel is bordered on the north by Dovre and Vågå municipalities, and on the south by Nord-Fron municipality. To the northeast it is bordered by Folldal municipality in Hedmark county. Large parts of the very first national park in Norway, Rondane National Park is situated in the municipality of Sel and has its main entrances from the mountain villages of Høvringen and Mysuseter.
Although it has a small population, Sel is one of the more scenic and historically significant areas of the Gudbrand Valley. A large concentration of Norway’s heritage-listed farms is located in Heidal in Sel municipality (Heidal became part of Sel municipality in 1965).
Otta, named after the Otta River, is the population center. Otta lies at the point where the Otta River joins the Gudbrandsdalslågen from the west. The Otta River leads up to the historically important Vågå and Lom regions and the passes to the west over Jotunheimen.