Kongsvinger () 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' ...

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 ...

. It is located in the traditional district of Glåmdal. 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 the town of Kongsvinger. Other settlements in the municipality include Austmarka, Brandval, Lundersæter, and Roverud. The municipality is the 111th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Kongsvinger is the 72nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 17,966. 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 1.9% over the previous 10-year period. Kongsvinger's eastern municipal boundary is the Norway–Sweden border.

General information

In 1854, the King designated the market town of Kongsvinger as a kjøpstad, which gave it special rights. The designation included a small patch of land on both sides of the river Glomma with an area of approximately . Because of this designation, on 7 February 1855, the town was separated from the municipality of Vinger to form a separate municipality. Initially, the town had 472 residents and this left Vinger municipality with 10,947 residents. On 1 January 1876, the town was enlarged when an area of Vinger (population: 209) was transferred into Kongsvinger. 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 town of Kongsvinger (population: 2,345) and the surrounding municipalities of Vinger (population: 6,257) and Brandval (population: 4,384) were merged to form the new Kongsvinger Municipality. The new municipality of Kongsvinger (briefly) lost its status as an urban municipality () after this amalgamation due to merging with rural municipalities. One year later, on 1 January 1965, the government redesignated Kongsvinger as an urban municipality. On 1 January 1974, the unpopulated Lystad area was transferred from Grue Municipality to Kongsvinger Municipality. On 1 January 1986, the northern part of the Åbogen area (population: 14) was transferred from Kongsvinger to the neighboring municipality of Eidskog.

Name

The whole region where Kongsvinger is located was historically called '' Vinger'' (). This name could be related to the river Glomma which flows through the region. One could compare this to the English word swing (for the missing ''s'' see Indo-European s-mobile). The river Glomma passes through the center of the district where the south-flowing river takes a sharp northwestward turn. This can be compared to the similar Lithuanian word ''vìngis'' which means "bend", "bow", or "turn". This old name used to represent this whole area. The first element of the name is the possessive form of (meaning "the King's") was added after the Kongsvinger Fortress was built in 1690. It was first applied only to the fortress (written as in old documents). Then, it was later given to the town that grew up around the fortress.

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 25 June 1926. The design is a stylized representation of Kongsvinger Fortress towering high above the river Glomma. The river is rendered as a wavy bar in the bottom half of the design. The river and fortress have 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 ...

of argent which means they are commonly colored white, but if the arms are made out of metal, then silver is used. The lower part of the arms represent the land and the mountain on which the fortress sits. This area has a background in black to represent the local conifer forest. The curved upper part of the background is colored red to symbolize the sky. The color is taken from the Norwegian flag to mark the national historical importance of the fortress. A mural crown is often shown above the escutcheon to indicate that the town of Kongsvinger is located in the municipality. The arms were designed by J. W. Oftedal.

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes () within the municipality of Kongsvinger. It is part of the Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti (

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 Hamar.

History

The area was historically a part of the

prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

of Vinger. The village that later became Kongsvinger already existed as a trading center by the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, due to the accessibility by natural waterways.

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

chieftains reached

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

by boat from Kongsvinger. Kongsvinger Fortress was founded in 1669, and a star-shaped plan was laid out for the fortress. Work began in 1682 and it was finished in 1690 as part of a general upgrade to Norwegian fortresses. The building of the fortress formed the foundations for what was to become the town of Kongsvinger. The fortress was built as a defensive structure against the Swedes, and on numerous occasions there have been military engagements in the area around the fortress, but Kongsvinger fortress has never been taken in military combat. Below Kongsvinger fortress lies Øvrebyen, which literally translated means "upper town". This is the oldest part of the town of Kongsvinger, and one can still find a number of the original houses built after the establishment of the fortress. Kongsvinger Museum is located here, together with a museum of female emancipation in a building called "Rolighed", the home of Dagny Juel, the famous author once portrayed by Edvard Munch. The rural, eastern parts of Kongsvinger and its neighboring municipalities to the north and south were populated at the end of the 17th century by Finnish emigrants who came across the Swedish border. The area is called

Finnskogen Finnskogen ("Forest of the Finns") is an area of Norway and Sweden situated in the counties of Innlandet and Värmland respectively, so named because of immigration of Finnish people in the 17th century, the so-called ''Forest Finns, Skogfinner/"Fo ...

which means ''"The Finnish forest".'' Kongsvinger played an important part in the Norwegian resistance force against the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

being a gateway to Sweden. Norway's highest decorated citizen, Gunnar Sønsteby frequently passed through Kongsvinger in his work to sabotage the Nazis' installations in Norway. Some of the busiest escape routes for refugees also went through Kongsvinger to Sweden. From 1983 to 1999, and again in 2010, Kongsvinger's

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team KIL Toppfotball held a position in the Norwegian Premier League. It made some notable merits participating in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

and winning a

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

during the 1992 season.

Government

Kongsvinger 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 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 ...

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

Romerike og Glåmdal District Court Romerike og Glåmdal District Court () is a district court (Norway), district court located in Innlandet and Akershus counties in Norway. This court is based at three different courthouses which are located in Eidsvoll (village), Eidsvoll, Kongsv ...

and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The

of Kongsvinger is made up of 33 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 mayors () of Kongsvinger: * 1855-1856: Jacob N. Hygen * 1857-1859: S. Christian Strøm * 1859-1859: Sigvald Rynning * 1860-1860: Christian Kruse * 1861-1877: Hans Hansen * 1877-1880: C.F. Heidenreich * 1881-1884: A. Knagenhjelm Blix * 1885-1888: Lorentzo Rynning * 1889-1898: Carl Henriksen * 1899-1907: O.A. Herud * 1908-1910: Otto Aamodt * 1911-1913: O.A. Herud * 1914-1914: Kristian Walby * 1915-1919: Axel Engebretsen * 1920-1920: Sigvald Olsen * 1921-1922: Eiler Baanerud * 1923-1925: Jacob Forseth * 1926-1928: Thomas Johnsen * 1929-1931: Eiler Baanerud * 1932-1932: Christian Voss * 1933-1933: H. Wallerud * 1934-1934: Christian Voss * 1935-1940: Eiler Baanerud * 1940-1941: R. Talhaug ( NS) * 1942-1943: Erling Huseby ( NS) * 1944-1945: Johan Nitteberg ( NS) * 1945-1945: Eiler Baanerud * 1946-1964: Aasmund Grimstad * 1964-1975: Norvald Strand ( Ap) * 1975-1984: Odd Finsrud ( Ap) * 1984-1993: Terje Pedersen ( Ap) * 1994-1995: Jan K. Kristiansen ( SV) * 1995-1995: Johanne Wetterhus ( H) * 1995-1999: Trond Hansen ( Ap) * 1999-2011: Arve Bones ( Ap) * 2011-2015: Øystein Østgaard ( H) * 2015-2019: Sjur Strand ( Ap) * 2019-2021: Margrethe Haarr ( Sp) * 2021-2023: Eli Wathne ( H) * 2023–present: Elin Såheim Bjørkli ( Ap)

Geography

Kongsvinger is situated on both sides of the river Glomma, where the south-flowing river takes a sharp northwestward turn. The Kongsvinger Fortress is the main landmark, situated on a hill west and north of the river. Kongsvinger is a regional center of the Glåmdal region, which is made up of the southern parts of

county. Kongsvinger municipality is bordered to the west by the municipality of Sør-Odal, to the north by Grue, and to the south by Eidskog. To the east it borders Eda and Torsby municipalities in

. Kongsvinger is about from

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 ...

and from Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. The Holtbergmasta, a tall guyed mast for FM-/TV-broadcasting on Holtberget at 60.167602 N 11.994356 E was built in 1967.

Transportation

Travel to and from Kongsvinger: * Several daily train services to Oslo * Twice daily train services to Stockholm, Sweden * Five daily train services to Karlstad, Sweden * Several daily bus services to Elverum, Hamar, and Charlottenberg, Sweden * Suburban bus services running throughout the town of Kongsvinger * Four lane highway between Kongsvinger and Oslo is under construction.

Distances

The following are road distances to Kongsvinger from various locations:

Economy

There are 1,530 businesses including

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

and

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, and 245 of these are retail outlets. There are of mall situated in the downtown area. As well as downtown shopping streets, there are also glass domed pedestrian shopping streets. The governmental regional Kongsvinger Hospital is also situated in Kongsvinger.

Major businesses

Education

Notable people

Public service & public thinking

* Cathrine Dahl (1855—1906), first female lawyer in Norway * Christen Schmidt (1727 in Kongsvinger – 1804), the Bishop of the

Diocese of Oslo The Diocese of Oslo is the Church of Norway's Diocese, bishopric for the municipalities of Oslo, Asker and Bærum. It is one of Norway's five traditional bishoprics and was founded around the year 1070. History Oslo was established as a diocese ...

in 1773 * Georg Ræder (1814 in Kongsvinger – 1898), a military officer, railway pioneer, and politician * Hans Georg Jacob Stang (1830–1907), a Norwegian attorney and Norway's Prime Minister from 1888–1889; established his legal practice in Kongsvinger in 1859 * Anna Stang (1834–1901), a feminist, liberal politician, president of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights, and wife of Jacob Stang who ran a private school in Kongsvinger for 17 years * Carl Wille Schnitler (1879 in Brandval – 1926), a Norwegian art historian * Rudolf Falck Ræder (1881 in Kongsvinger – 1951), a military officer, engineer, and politician * Åse Wisløff Nilssen (born 1945 in Kongsvinger), a Norwegian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

* Tove Strand (born 1946 in Kongsvinger), a Norwegian politician * Per Hjalmar Nakstad (born 1946 in Kongsvinger), radiologist * Monica Kristensen Solås (born 1950), a glaciologist, polar explorer, and crime novelist; brought up in Kongsvinger * Karin Andersen (born 1952), a Norwegian politician who served as MP for the Socialist Left Party

The Arts

* Maren Elisabeth Bang (1797 in Skansgården – 1884), a writer who wrote the first printed Norwegian cookbook * Erika Nissen (1845 in Kongsvinger – 1903), a Norwegian pianist * Wilhelmine Gulowsen (1848 in Kongsvinger – 1899), a writer * Erik Werenskiold (1855 in Eidskog – 1938), a Norwegian painter and illustrator * Dagny Juel (1867 in Kongsvinger – 1901), a Norwegian writer who was famous for her liaisons with various prominent artists and for the dramatic circumstances of her death * Borghild Langaard (1883 in Kongsvinger – 1939), a Norwegian operatic soprano * Eva Lund Haugen (1907 in Kongsvinger – 1996), an American author, editor, and translator * Pål Refsdal (born 1963 in Kongsvinger), a freelance journalist, photographer, and filmmaker * Roy Lønhøiden (born 1964 in Kongsvinger), a country music composer and singer-songwriter * Levi Henriksen (born 1964 in Kongsvinger), a novelist, short story writer, and singer-songwriter * Håvard Gimse (born 1966 in Kongsvinger), a Norwegian classical pianist * Hildegunn Øiseth (1966 in Kongsvinger), a jazz musician on trumpet, flugelhorn, and bukkehorn * Runar Søgaard (born 1967 in Kongsvinger), a leadership trainer, life-coach, and motivational speaker * Thomas Cappelen Malling (born 1970 in Kongsvinger), a Norwegian author, and director * Andreas Ulvo (born 1983 in Kongsvinger), a jazz pianist, organist, composer, and photographer * Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir (born 1990), an Icelandic singer at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 who is known by the stage name '' Yohanna'', lives in Kongsvinger

Sport

* Sverre Strandli (1925 in Brandval – 1985), a Norwegian

hammer throw The hammer throw (HT for short) is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and Javelin throw, javelin. The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools a ...

er who competed at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

* Bjørge Stensbøl (born 1947 in Kongsvinger), a former chief of top-level athletics Olympiatoppen * Even Pellerud (born 1953 in Kongsvinger), a former football player with 180 club caps and coach * Øivind Tomteberget (born 1953 in Kongsvinger), a retired football midfielder who played 660 games for Kongsvinger IL * Espen Nystuen (born 1981 in Kongsvinger), a former footballer with over 300 club caps * Lars Krogh Gerson (born 1990 in

Luxembourg City Luxembourg (; ; ), also known as Luxembourg City ( or ; ; or ), is the capital city of Luxembourg and the Communes of Luxembourg, country's most populous commune. Standing at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers in southern Luxe ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, grew up in Kongsvinger), a footballer playing for

. * Ole Christian Veiby (born 1996 in Kongsvinger), a rally driver

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Kongsvinger has

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

agreements with the following places: * Arvika, Värmland County,

* Ebel es Saqi, Marjayoun,

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

* Skive, Denmark * Ylöjärvi,

Pirkanmaa Pirkanmaa (; ; ), also known as ''Tampere Region'' in government documents, is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme and Southwest Finland. Most of the wate ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

In popular culture

Kongsvinger is referenced within the title (and indirectly within the lyrics) of the song "A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger" by the American rock band

Of Montreal of Montreal is an American indie pop band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontperson Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance between Barnes and a woman "of Montreal". The band is identified as part of the Elephant 6 collec ...

on the 2007 album '' Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?''.

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 ...

Byen vår
(cultural organisation)
Glåmdalen
local newspaper

Norwegian Tourism - Kongsvinger {{use dmy dates, date=March 2022 Municipalities of Innlandet 1855 establishments in Norway