Biri is a village in

Gjøvik Municipality Gjøvik () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Bybrua, and Hunndalen. The municipality is the 169th largest by a ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (Jevnaker Municipality and Lunner Municipality were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken ( ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The village is located along the western shore of the lake

Mjøsa Mjøsa is the largest lake in Norway and the fourth deepest in Norway and Europe. It is located in the southern part of Norway, about north of the city of Oslo. Its main tributary is the river Gudbrandsdalslågen flowing in from the north; the ...

, about north of the town of Gjøvik. The Norwegian National Road 4 highway runs through the village which is near the

Mjøsa Bridge The Mjøsa Bridge () is a box girder bridge that crosses Lake Mjøsa in Innlandet county, Norway. The east side of the bridge begins in the town of Moelv in Ringsaker Municipality and the village of Biri, Norway, Biri in Gjøvik Municipality. The ...

about halfway between the towns of

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

and

Gjøvik Gjøvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Gjøvik (town), town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Norway, Biri, Bybrua, ...

. The village has a population (2021) of 1,495 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of .

History

The village of Biri was the

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the old Biri Municipality which existed from 1838 until 1964 when it was merged into

. The village of Biri has been the commercial centre of the surrounding countryside for a long time. The area has traditionally been centred around agriculture and forestry. Biri Church is a cruciform church in Biria dating back to 1777. Built of timber, it has 450 seats. The church was erected after the original church burned down. In 1890, there was another major fire, this time at the Biri parsonage. The fire also destroyed church records for 1789-1814 and 1854–1877. In April 2007, major damage in the church led to an extensive rehabilitation. Biri Glassworks produced glass, windows, and bottles. Production started in 1764 after it was created by Royal Norwegian charter. The operation went bankrupt in 1843, but was rebuilt in 1855. In the 1880s, it was closed. Madshus is a Norwegian ski and ski-equipment manufacturer which is located at Biri. The first Madshus skis were produced by Martin Madshus in 1906 in a barn in

Vardal Vardal is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now divided between Gjøvik Municipality and Vestre Toten M ...

. The company was moved to

in 1936, and then to Biri in 1972.

Name

The village is named "Biri" after the old Biri farm () since the first Biri Church was located there. The name is presumably very old, and the meaning is unknown. One possibility is that the Old Norse name came from which means "bear den".

Notable residents

* Torbjørn Løkken, a

nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first 1924 Winter Olympics, Winter Olympics in ...

skier * Gunnar Kalrasten, a parliamentary representative for the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party (; , A or Ap; ), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party (, DNA), is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Norway, political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectru ...

References

External links

* {{use dmy dates, date=November 2022 Gjøvik Villages in Innlandet