Lillehammer () is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

which is the

administrative centre An administrative center 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 administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

Lillehammer Municipality Lillehammer Municipality is the local government for Lillehammer, Norway. The administration is located in the town of Lillehammer. The municipality is governed by a 47-member municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The town is located along the river

Gudbrandsdalslågen The Gudbrandsdalslågen (or simply ''Lågen'') is a river which flows through the Gudbrandsdal valley in Innlandet county, Norway. The long river runs through a large valley in Eastern Norway before emptying into Mjøsa, the largest lake in Nor ...

at the northern end of the lake Mjøsa in the southern

Gudbrandsdal Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending toward ...

valley. Prior to the county merger on 1 January 2020, Lillehammer was the

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The co ...

county. The town has a population (2021) of 21,111 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of . The European route E6 highway and the

Dovrebanen The Dovre Line ( no, Dovrebanen) is a Norwegian railway line with three slightly different lines which all lead to the historic city of Trondheim. Definition *Dovre Line is the current name of the 548 km main line of the Norwegian railway s ...

railway line both pass through the town, and the railway stops at the

Lillehammer Station Lillehammer is a railway station located in downtown Lillehammer, Norway, on the Dovre Line. The station was opened in 1894 with the construction of the railway between Hamar Station and Tretten Station. The station got a major overhaul before the ...

. The city centre is a late nineteenth-century concentration of wooden houses, which enjoys a picturesque location overlooking the northern part of lake Mjøsa and the river Lågen, surrounded by mountains. Lillehammer hosted the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

and 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.

History

The village of Lillehammer is located at the northern end of Norway's largest lake, Mjøsa. There has likely been settlements here since the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

and the market here was mentioned in Håkon Håkonson's saga in 1390. Tradition states that it was here in Lillehammer where the birkebeiners Torstein Skjevla and Skjervald Skrukka joined up with the King's son (and future King), Haakon, in 1205 before they traveled to

Østerdalen Østerdalen () is a valley and traditional district in Innlandet county, in Eastern Norway. This area typically is described as the large Glåma river valley as well as all its tributary valleys. It includes the municipalities Rendalen, Alvdal, F ...

(an event which is commemorated in March every year to this day). Since medieval times, the

Lillehammer Church Lillehammer Church ( no, Lillehammer kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Lillehammer Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the town of Lillehammer. It is the church for the Lillehammer parish which is the sea ...

has been located here. The village was granted market town rights on 7 August 1827. At that time, 50 people lived within the boundaries of the newly established town. This site was chosen because there were no other towns in all of Christians amt (county) and this site was located along the

river and the whole

valley was a major transportation route from the capital to northern Norway. Within two years of the establishment of the town, the population had risen to 360 people. The merchant Ludvig Wiese has been counted as the founder of the town (a statue of him was erected in the town in connection with the town's 100th anniversary in 1927). The laying of the main railway line from the capital in Christiania to

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information E ...

was completed in 1852. This railway line was connected with steamships along the lake Mjøsa which travelled to Lillehammer and from there a newly laid road made connections further up into the

Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending towar ...

valley. This transport system made the transit of timber and agricultural goods from all over the county to the capital possible, and it contributed to the growth of the town of Lillehammer. The

were held in Lillehammer. In preparation for this, new sports facilities were built and existing cultural buildings and roads were upgraded throughout the town and surrounding areas.

Self-Government

After the passage of the

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

law on 1 January 1838, the town was granted local self-government rights (along with all local municipalities in Norway). Prior to this time, there was no local government structure in Norway. Under this new law, the town could elect a town council. On 1 January 1906, a small adjacent area of the neighboring municipality of

Fåberg Fåberg is a former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 1964. Now, it is part of Lillehammer Municipality in Innlandet county. The administrative centre was the village of Fåberg. History ...

(population: 140) was annexed by the town to make room for more expansion as the town grew. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee ( no, Schei-komitéen) was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II. It convened in 1946, and its formal name was (The 1946 Committee on Municip ...

. On 1 January 1964, the town of Lillehammer (population: 5,905) was merged with Fåberg Municipality (population: 13,381) to form a new, larger

Name

The town was named after the old ''Hamar'' farm ( non, Hamarr), since the first

was built there. The name is identical with the word ''hamarr'' which means "rocky hill". To distinguish it from the nearby 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. ...

and Diocese of Hamar, it began to be called "little Hamar": ''Lilþlæ Hamar'' and ''Litlihamarr'', and finally Lillehammer. It is also mentioned in the Old Norse

saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...

s as ''Litlikaupangr'' ("Little Trading Place").

References

{{use dmy dates, date=July 2022 Lillehammer Cities and towns in Norway Populated places in Innlandet 1827 establishments in Norway Populated places established in 1827 Populated places on the Gudbrandsdalslågen

History

Self-Government

Name

See also

References