A millennium site ( no, tusenårssted) is a site selected by a Norwegian

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 ...

or county municipality to mark the transition to the

2000s File:2000s decade montage3.png, From top left, clockwise: The World Trade Center on fire and the Statue of Liberty during the 9/11 attacks in 2001; the euro enters into European currency in 2002; a statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled during ...

. In Norway it was decided that the counties and municipalities would choose one millennium site for each county and municipality.

County millennium sites

The point of departure for the Ministry of Culture, which was behind the concept of the millennium sites, was that there should be a millennium site in each county, and that these should be designated by 2005. The millennium sites were also seen as connected with the centennial of the 1905

dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden The dissolution of the union ( nb, unionsoppløsningen; nn, unionsoppløysinga; Landsmål: ''unionsuppløysingi''; sv, unionsupplösningen) between the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden under the House of Bernadotte, was set in motion by a reso ...

. The goal of the county millennium sites is to contribute to taking care of edifices, institutions, cultural environments, natural areas, and so on of great historical, cultural, and environmental value and marking them in a special way. The millennium sites were to have a national cultural and environmental significance that goes beyond the individual county. This goal was to say something about what makes a place a millennium site in the county, and why it was desired to give this place that status. The guidelines for selecting the county millennium sites were determined by the Ministry of Culture, and government support was provided for the millennium sites. It was a condition for the county millennium sites that they should have some significance for the entire nation. For example, the royal seat of Avaldsnes in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 479,892. The admin ...

at the Nordvegen History Center marks

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair no, Harald hårfagreModern Icelandic: ( – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first King of N ...

's gathering of the smaller chiefdoms and petty kingdoms into one kingdom. The Eidsvoll 1814 Political Center in

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 ...

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main county ...

marks democratic governance in the country. Sites such as Avaldsnes, Eidsvoll, and the Petter Dass Museum in Alstahaug are county millennium sites because they have significance beyond the local community and the county where they are located. People from all parts of the country recall details from historical times that create associations of something in common transcending the individual county when such places are mentioned. The state emphasized two main measures in its goal for the millennium sites: conservation and marking. Conservation involves setting up buildings and cultural landscapes, making improvements, and making the site easily accessible to the public. The millennium sites should also be physically marked, such as with a plaque, sculpture, or building. Other marking methods could include activities and events.

List of county millennium sites

Municipal millennium sites

At the municipal level, the millennium sites were to be a physical manifestation the turn of the millennium and were to be chosen through a local selection process. The place could be a busy square used for trade, a promenade along a river, a well-known bridge or ferry quay, a monumental space, or a quiet place off the beaten track. In an information circular from the Ministry of Culture from May 1999, Minister Anne Enger wrote that "the millennium sites will be a meeting place for various user groups linked to a new or existing building, facility, square, cultural environment, nature area, and so on. The funds should preferably be used to establish a new 'location', possibly upgrading an existing one beyond its usual maintenance. For those municipalities that for various reasons do not find it appropriate to establish a special millennium site, the subsidy may be used to improve public spaces in the municipality." Financial support amounting to NOK 119,500 was given to the municipalities by the organizing company Tusenårsskiftet-Norge 2000 AS. The organizing company was a fully state-owned company whose purpose was to prepare and carry out marking the new millennium and the centenary of the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905.Sjøtveit, Liv Margrete. 2013. ''Snøhettas ikon på Helgelandskysten. En prosessuell og arkitekturhistorisk analyse av Petter Dass-museet''. Oslo: Institutt for filosofi, ide- og kunsthistorie og klassiske språk, pp. 25–26.

List of municipal millennium sites

References

{{reflist

External links

County millennium sites at Tusenarssted.no

Holmquist, Tone. 2000. Fylkenes tusenårssteder (County Millennium Sites). ''Kommunal-Rapport'' (April 6).
Norwegian culture