Holtålen is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 ...

. It is part of the

Gauldalen Gauldal or Gauldalen () is a valley and Districts of Norway, traditional district in Trøndelag county, Norway. The river Gaula (Trøndelag), Gaula runs through the long valley from the mountains in Røros Municipality near the lake Aursunden t ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. 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 municipality is located in the Ålen area of the village of

Renbygda Renbygda or Ålen is the administrative centre of Holtålen Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located along the Gaula River and the Rørosbanen railway line, about north of the town of Røros and about southeast of th ...

. Other villages in the municipality include

Hessdalen Hessdalen is a village in Holtålen Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. Hessdalen also refers to the long valley that surrounds the village. Hessdalen is located in the central part of the valley, approximately south of the city of Trond ...

Aunegrenda Aunegrenda is a village in Holtålen Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located along the river Holda, about northeast of the village of Haltdalen. The village is in the Holdadalen valley, a small side-valley off of the ma ...

, and

Haltdalen Haltdalen is a village in Holtålen Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located along the river Gaula, about northwest of the village of Renbygda and about southwest of the village of Aunegrenda. The village of Haltdal ...

. The municipality is the 89th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Holtålen is the 280th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,035. The municipality's

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 ...

is and its population has increased by 0.5% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

Starting in 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 ...

. As a result of this, the municipality of Holtålen was established on 1 January 1972 when the old

Haltdalen Municipality Haltdalen (historically: ''Holtaalen'' or ''Holtålen'') is a former municipality in the old Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 1972 when it was merged with Ålen Municipality to become the present-day Hol ...

(population: 778) was merged with the neighboring

Ålen Municipality Ålen is a former municipality in the old Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. The former municipality existed from 1855 until 1972. It encompassed the southeastern half of what is now Holtålen Municipality in Trøndelag county. The administrative ...

(population: 1,944) and together they formed the new Holtålen Municipality (bringing back the name ''Holtålen'', the former name for the old Haltdalen Municipality). On 21 April 1989, a small unpopulated part of the neighboring

Røros Municipality ( Norwegian) or is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Røros. Some of the villages in Røros include Brekken, Glåmos, Feragen, Galåa, and Hitterdalen. The municip ...

was transferred to Holtålen Municipality. On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old

Sør-Trøndelag Sør-Trøndelag (; ) was a Counties of Norway, county comprising the southern portion of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. It bordered the old Nord-Trøndelag () county as well as the counties of Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, and Hedmark. ...

county to the new

county.

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

) is named after the local valley ( and later ). The first element is is the old name for the local river Holda. The last element is which means "

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

" or " dale". Later, around the year 1400, the suffix changed to which means "

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate trench created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ...

" or "

gully A gully is a landform A landform is a land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. They may be natural or may be anthropogenic (caused or influenced by human activity). Landforms together make up a given ter ...

" ( is the modern definite form of this word).

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted on 4 March 1988. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''"

Gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). Gules is portrayed in heraldic hatch ...

, a grouse

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

"'' (). This means the arms have a red

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is a willow ptarmigan ( Lagopus lagopus) (a type of grouse). The ptarmigan has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. This common local bird was chosen to reflect the importance of

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

in the municipality. The arms were designed by Kari Vårhus Sagen.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

has three parishes () within Holtålen Municipality. It is part of the

Gauldal prosti This list of churches in Nidaros is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Nidaros in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Trøndelag county. The diocese is based at the Nidaros Cathedral in the city of Trondheim (city), T ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

Geography

The

valley with the river Gaula originates from the mountainous area near the mining town of

Røros Røros may refer to: Places * Røros Municipality, a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Røros (town), a town within Røros Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Røros Church, a church in Røros Municipality in Trøndelag county, No ...

, about south of

, which is listed as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. At the village of

the deep Gauldalen valley disappears into the mountains, not far from the lake

Riasten Riasten is a lake in Holtålen Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The lake lies near the municipal border with the neighboring Tydal Municipality and Røros Municipality, about east of the village of Renbygda. The lake lies about west ...

. The western part of Holtålen is where the

Forollhogna National Park Forollhogna National Park () is a national park in the counties of Trøndelag and Innlandet in Norway. The park includes extensive plant life and is an important range for wild reindeer. The park lies in the municipalities of Tynset, Tolga, and ...

is located. The lake

Øyungen Øyungen is a lake in Holtålen Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The lake lies about southwest of the village of Hessdalen. The Forollhogna National Park surrounds the lake on three sides. Name The first part of the name is which ...

lies just outside the park. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain

Forollhogna Forollhogna is a mountain located on the border between three municipalities in Norway: Midtre Gauldal Municipality and Holtålen Municipality (in Trøndelag county) and Os Municipality (in Innlandet county). The tall mountain Forollhogna is the ...

that is located within the national park. The mountain is a

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

border with

Midtre Gauldal Municipality Midtre Gauldal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Støren. ...

and

Os Municipality Os is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Os i Ø ...

. The Kjøli and Killingdal

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

are located in the southeastern part of Holtålen. The last mine in production was Killingdal until it closed down in 1986.

is a mountain valley joining the Gauldal valley close to the village of Renbygda. Around 1983, Hessdalen became famous for

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

observations and the

Hessdalen lights The Hessdalen lights are unidentified lights which have been observed in a stretch of the Hessdalen valley in rural central Norway periodically since at least the 1930s. Background The Hessdalen lights appear both by day and by night, and seem ...

. Because of this the Hessdalen AMS station was founded in the valley. The Rørosbanen railway line runs through the municipality, stopping at the

Ålen Station Ålen Station () is a railway station located in the village of Renbygda in Holtålen Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located on the Røros Line. The station is served three times daily in each direction by Trøndelag Commuter ...

and

Haltdalen Station Haltdalen Station () is a railway station located in the village of Haltdalen in Holtålen Municipality, in Trøndelag County, Norway. It is located on the Røros Line. The station is served three times daily in each direction by the Trøndelag C ...

Government

Holtålen Municipality is responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. The municipality is governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the

Trøndelag District Court Trøndelag District Court () is a district court located in Trøndelag county, Norway. This court is based at four different courthouses which are located in Brekstad, Namsos, Steinkjer, and Trondheim. The court is subordinate to the Frostating C ...

and the

Frostating Court of Appeal The Frostating Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Trondheim. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal. These areas constitute the ...

Municipal council

The

() of Holtålen is made up of 11 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

Mayors

The

() of Holtålen is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position: *1972–1975: Arne Wolden ( Ap) *1976–1979: Olav Myran ( Ap) *1980–1991: Håvard Moen ( Ap) *1991–2011: Ivar Volden ( Ap) *2011–2015: Heidi Greni ( Sp) *2015–2019: Jan Håvard Refsethås ( Sp) *2019–2023: Arve Hitterdal ( LL) *2023-present: Jan Arild Sivertsgård ( Ap)

Notable people

Mons Lie Mons Lie (15 February 1757 – 2 August 1827) was a Norwegian police chief and writer. He was born as Mons Jonasen Storli, in the parish of Ålen in Søndre Trondhjem county, Norway. He was one of seven children born to Jonas Monssen Gjersvo ...

(1757 in Ålen – 1827), a police chief, writer, and songwriter * Hans Bull Brodtkorb Mohr (1886 in Haltdalen – 1973), an educator and international cooperation activist *

Anders Bjørgaard Anders Bjørgaard (18 March 1891 – 20 March 1967) was a Norwegian illustrator. He is particularly known for drawing the comic series '' Jens von Bustenskjold'' (with text by Sigurd Lybeck), which appeared in '' Arbeidermagasinet'' from 19 ...

(1891 in Holtålen – 1967), an illustrator of the comic series '' Jens von Bustenskjold'' *

Kåre Prytz Harald Kåre Prytz (12 September 1926 – 6 July 1994) was a Norwegian journalist and novelist. He was born in Ålen Municipality, belonging to the Prytz family from Røros Municipality. He became editor-in-chief of '' Arbeidets Rett'' at the age ...

(1926 in Ålen – 1994), a journalist and novelist

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All rele ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holtaalen Municipalities of Trøndelag 1972 establishments in Norway Populated places established in 1972