Gjøvik () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

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 town is 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 ...

. It is located on the western shore of the large 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 south of the town of Lillehammer and about west (across the lake) from the town of

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

. The town has a population (2021) of 20,339 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 . This makes it the third largest town in

county (after

and

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 ...

). The town is located along the river Hunnselva where the river flows into the lake

. The town is traditionally an industrial town with several large companies based there including O. Mustad & Son. In 1902, the Gjøvikbanen railway line was built, connecting the town to the national capital,

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, which is about to the south. Gjøvik Church is located in the town. The Gjøvik Olympic Cavern Hall is the world's largest sporting facility that is built into the side of a mountain. It was first built to be used as part of the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...

in nearby Lillehammer.

History

Historically, the village of Gjøvik was part of the parish and municipality of

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 ...

. On 1 January 1861, the village was granted

kjøpstad A (historically ''kjøbstad'', ''kjöbstad'', or ''kaupstad'', from ) is an old Scandinavian term for a "market town" in Denmark–Norway for several hundred years. Kjøpstads were places of trade and exporting materials (e.g. timber, flour, iron ...

(town) status. At that time, the village was separated from Vardal to form a separate municipality given its new status as a town. Initially, the new town of Gjøvik had 626 residents. On 1 July 1921, a part of

municipality located just outside the town of Gjøvik (population: 723) was

annexed Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to ...

into the town. Again, on 1 January 1955, another part of

(population: 1,372) was transferred to the town. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1964, the neighboring rural municipalities of Biri,

Snertingdal Snertingdal is a former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1910 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Gjøvik Municipality in the traditional district of Vestoppland. The administrati ...

, and Vardal were all merged with the town to form the new, larger

Etymology

The town is named after the old ''Gjøvik'' farm (). The first element is ''djúpr'' which means "deep" and the second element is ''vík'' which means "

inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...

References

{{use dmy dates, date=November 2022 Gjøvik Cities and towns in Norway Populated places in Innlandet 1861 establishments in Norway

History

Etymology

See also

References