Skjolden is a village in the municipality of
Luster in
Vestland
Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...
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 the ...
. It is located at the end of the
Lustrafjorden
The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the sma ...
, a branch of the
Sognefjorden
The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the smal ...
. Skjolden is located at the innermost point of the
Sognefjorden
The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the smal ...
, Norway's longest fjord, and the length of the Sognefjorden is measured from Skjolden to the island of
Ytre Sula where the fjord meets the ocean—over 200 km. The valleys of Mørkridsdal and Fortunsdal meet at Skjolden, just west of the
Hurrungane
Hurrungane (also written ''Hurrungene'', ''Hurrungadn'', ''Horungane'') is a mountain range in the municipalities Luster and Årdal in Vestland county, Norway. The area is southwest in the larger mountain range Jotunheimen and is also part of Jo ...
mountains. Skjolden is home to about 200 people.
The village is located along the
Sognefjellsvegen
The Sognefjellsvegen or Sognefjellsveien is the highest mountain pass road in Northern Europe. Part of County Road 55, it is located in Innlandet and Vestland counties in Norway. It is a national tourist road and starts in the village of Lom in ...
road, about west of the lake
Prestesteinsvatnet and the mountain
Fannaråki. Skjolden is about northeast of the municipal center of
Gaupne and about northeast of
Hafslo. North of the village is
Breheimen National Park
Breheimen National Park ( no, Breheimen nasjonalpark) (Lit: Home of The Glaciers) is a national park that was established in 2009. The park is located in the municipalities of Skjåk and Lom in Innlandet county and in Luster in Vestland count ...
, home of the glaciers
Harbardsbreen
Harbardsbreen is the 10th largest glacier in mainland Norway. It is located on the south side of the Tverrådalskyrkja mountain in the Breheimen mountain range in the municipality of Luster in Vestland county, Norway.
The glacier is inside Breh ...
and
Spørteggbreen and the mountain
Tverrådalskyrkja.
Notable people
The village was home to philosopher
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is con ...
who lived here after 1913 during some periods of his life; the longest one was 13 months. Important parts of his works were written here. He had designed a small wooden house that was erected on a remote rock over the Eidsvatnet Lake in 1913 and called "Østerrike" (Austria) by locals. It was broken up in 1958 to be rebuilt in the village. A local foundation collected donations and bought the house in 2014; it was dismantled again and re-erected at its original location; the inauguration took place on 20 June 2019 under international attendance.
Media gallery
File:P1000394Vassbakken.JPG, View of the Vassbakken waterfall
File:P1000393copySkjolden.jpg, Skjolden village
File:Skjolden, Luster.JPG, View of the village with waterfall behind
File:Skjolden.jpg, Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is con ...
's cabin used to be to the left in this pictureJulian Baggini
Julian Baggini (; born 1968) is a philosopher, journalist and the author of over 20 books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is co-founder of ''The Philosophers' Magazine'' and has written for numerous international newspapers ...
''Secular pilgrimage''
Aeon magazine (2019)
References
Villages in Vestland
Luster, Norway
{{Vestland-geo-stub