Holla was a parish, district and former municipality now located in the municipality of Nome in

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

, Norway.

History

Holla is situated in the

traditional region Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which at some point in time had a cultural, ethnic, linguistic or political basis, regardless of latterday borders. They are used as delimitations for studying and analysing social ...

of Midt-Telemark. Holla parish included the churches at Holla and Helgen both in Telemark county. The parish of Holden (Holla) was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The municipality centre was

Ulefoss Ulefoss is the administrative centre of Nome municipality in Telemark, Norway, located near the border of Grenland. Its population is 2,699. It occupies both sides of Ulefoss falls on the river Eidselva. Ulefoss is one of Norway's oldest industr ...

. On 1 January 1964 the district of Valebø with 259 inhabitants was moved to

Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the ...

. The rest of Holla, then with 4,093 inhabitants, was merged with Lunde to form the new municipality of Nome.

The name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Holla farm (''Holla gård'') – the biggest farm in Telemark. (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

''Höllin'', from ''*Hallvin''), since the first church was built there. The first element is ''hallr'' 'sloping', the last element is ''vin'' f 'meadow'. Until 1889 the name was written ''Holden''. During the period 1889–1917, the name was written as ''Hollen''. Dating from 1918, the spelling of the name has been ''Holla''.

Holla Church ruins

Old Holla or Holden Church was a medieval stone church, situated near the Holla gård. The church had a view over lake

Norsjø Norsjø is a lake in the municipalities of Skien, Nome and Sauherad in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is 55 km² in area and 15 meters above sea level. Norsjø is part of the Telemark Canal. Most rivers in Telemark meet Norsjø on ...

. Today only the ruins (''Holla kyrkjeruin'') are left.

Holla Church

Holla Church (''Holla Kirke'') is a Gothic Revival-style church which dates from 1867. The church was donated to the community by Severin Diderik Cappelen (1820-1881) who was the owner of

Ulefos Jernværk Ulefos Jernværk is an iron foundry located at Ulefoss in the municipality Nome, Norway. It was established in 1657 by Ove Gjedde and Preben von Ahnen. The company produced pig iron until 1877. Wood-burning stove A wood-burning stove (or wood ...

and served as mayor in Holla. The structure is of brick and has 600 seats. The architect was

Peter Høier Holtermann Peter Høier Holtermann (16 November 1820 – 24 August 1865) was a Norwegian architect. Biography He was born in Austrått, in Ørland municipality, Sør-Trøndelag County, Norway. He was a son of assessor Ove Bjelke Holtermann (1782–1857 ...

(1820-1865). The church was restored during 1916.''Diderik Cappelen'' (A short history of the Cappelen family)
/ref>

References

Other sources

*Halvorsen, Tormod (1986) ''Tidsskrift for Holla historielag'' (Holla historielag) *Hauge, Yngvar (1957) ''Ulefos jernværk 1657-1957'' (Oslo: Aschehoug)

External links

Former municipalities of Norway Nome, Norway {{Telemark-geo-stub