The 1,109-square-kilometre (428 sq mi) municipality is the 101st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sør-Aurdal is the 233rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,866. The municipality's population density is 2.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (7.0/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 8.9% over the previous 10-year period.[5][6]
General information
View over Bagn from Øystre Bagn, with Vestre Bagn to the left and Reinli in the background. Down by the river is the administrative center Bagn.
The parish of Søndre 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 the neighboring Nordre Aurdal municipality and the Søndre Etnedal area (population: 1,331) from the neighboring municipality of Søndre Aurdal. Then on 1 January 1984, the unpopulated northern side of the Makalaus mountain was transferred from Sør-Aurdal to Nord-Aurdal.[7][4]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Aurdalen valley (Old Norse: Aurardalr) since it was a central geographic feature of the area. The first word in the name is sør which is essentially a prefix that means "south". 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 aurr which means "gravel". The last element of the second word is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Søndre Aurdal. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Sør-Aurdal.[8] Both søndre and sør mean "south" (more specifically, "søndre" means "southern"), so the name Sør-Aurdal means "(the) southern (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.)[9]
The coat of arms was granted by royal decree on 9 February 1990. The official blazon is "Azure, a box reliquaryOr" (Norwegian: I blått et gull relikvieskrin). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a reliquary. The charge 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 arms show the silhouette of a gilt-copper medievalreliquary (chasse). It was designed to look like the one found in the Hedal Stave Church, except that this one has five blue arches which are inspired by the arches on a similar medieval chasse from the nearby medieval St. Thomas Church at Filefjell (now in the Bergen Museum) and representing the five Church of Norway parishes of the municipality (Bagn, Reinli, Hedalen, Bruflat, and Begnadalen). It also has two dragon heads in the design since Sør-Aurdal is one of only two municipalities in Norway that have two stave churches that are still in use. The color blue was chosen to represent the two river systems in the municipality that were historically important for the logging industry and sawmills in Sør-Aurdal. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[10][11][12][13]
Sør-Aurdal municipality is bordered on the north by the municipalities of Nord-Aurdal and Etnedal, on the northeast by Nordre Land, on the east by Søndre Land (all of which are in Innlandet county). It is also bordered on the south by Ringerike and Flå municipalities, and on the west by Nesbyen and Gol municipalities (all of which are in Buskerud).
Reinli Stave Church (built 1190-1250) is the third church on the same location in Reinli. A new tower was added in 1685 and the building was reconditioned by the Society for Preservation of Ancient Buildings in 1885.[15]
Olaf Haraldsson traveled through Valdres in 1023, and also visited Reinli. It is assumed, then, that there was a pagan temple at the same location before the first church, some time before the year 1000.[15]
Hedal Stave Church was built after 1160 and in 1699 it was rebuilt and changed. An old legend says the valley was abandoned during the Black Death and the church later discovered by a bear hunter. A hide is hanging in the church, although now there is only a small part left as visitors have cut away pieces over the years.[15]
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) of Sør-Aurdal is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.
Bagn Bygdesamling is a museum that is associated with Valdres Folkemuseum. It is located 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of Bagn. It consists of twelve log houses and a building for permanent displays. A part of the museum is at Sandviken and the farm is Bagnsbergatn.
Bautahaugen Samlinger is another museum that is also associated with Valdres Folkemuseum. It is located in the middle of Hedalen. It consists of a collection of houses and items from Hedalen. The Hedal Stave Church is located just nearby.
Notable residents
Rolf Otto Andvord, 1909
Ola Hermundsen Berge (1768 in Sør-Aurdal - 1825), a Norwegian folk artist and rose painter
