Årjäng is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

and the seat of

Årjäng Municipality Årjäng Municipality (''Årjängs kommun'') is a municipality in Värmland County in west central Sweden, bordering Norway. Its seat is located in the town of Årjäng. A separate local government entity named Årjäng was created in 1941 when i ...

Värmland County Värmland County (''Värmlands län'') is a county or ''län'' in west central Sweden. It borders the Swedish counties of Dalarna, Örebro and Västra Götaland, as well as the Norwegian counties of Viken and Innlandet to the west. Prince Car ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

with 3,228 inhabitants in 2010. It is located around from the

Norway-Sweden border Sweden and Norway or Sweden–Norway ( sv, Svensk-norska unionen; no, Den svensk-norske union(en)), officially the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and known as the United Kingdoms, was a personal union of the separate kingdoms of Swede ...

and on the road between

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 65,856 inhabitants in 2020 with 95,167 inhabita ...

and

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) 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 ...

. In 1540 Årjäng was spelled ''Argenge''. This word has an

Old Swedish Old Swedish (Modern Swedish: ) is the name for two distinct stages of the Swedish language that were spoken in the Middle Ages: Early Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1225 until about 1375, and Late Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1375 unti ...

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...

of ''å'', meaning river, which refers to the Silbodal river. The

morpheme A morpheme is the smallest meaningful Constituent (linguistics), constituent of a linguistic expression. The field of linguistics, linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology (linguistics), morphology. In English, morphemes are ...

''genge'' refers to a crossing over the river.

History

Antiquity

Ancient findings show that Årjäng Municipality has been inhabited for a very long time. Ceramics, burnt animal bones and flint objects have been found nearby, dating all the way back to 3500-3000 B.C.
Årjängs Kommun (2017). ''Liten historiebok.'' ccessed 07 Nov. 2017

Medieval

In the 11th century the domains regarding what is now part of Årjäng Municipality was called Nordmarken. The belief of natural beings like giants, trolls, scrubbers and elves was rooted in the inhabitants of this time period. Around the 12th century Christianity slowly took hold among the people, and churches were soon built.

Climate

The border region surrounding Årjäng has a borderline oceanic/ continental climate in recent decades, although in previous decades such as the 1961-1990 it was even cold enough to be classified as mild

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Genera ...

. The nearest weather station is in Blomskog, located within the woods at a similar altitude somewhat farther south.

Tourist attractions

Årjängstrollet located downtown was created by artist Erik Hermansson, the creation of the troll was inspired by Thore Skogman's fairytale about trolls in Årjäng.
Årjängs Kommun (2016). ''Årjängstrollet.'' ccessed 07 Nov. 2017 A "sculpture walk" can be experienced from Årjäng central to Kyrkerud art school; a walk for experience and recreation.
Årjängs Kommun (2017). ''Offentlig utsmyckning.'' ccessed 07 Nov. 2017 Horse trot racing is an established sport in Årjäng, it is the highlight every year to hold the race "V75" at ''Årjängstravet''.
Årjängs Turistbyrå (2017). ''Årjängs Travbana.'' ccessed 22 Nov. 2017 Båstnäs Car Cemetery has become a cultural meeting point for artists and photographers; a monument to an earlier era of automotive history.
Årjängs Kommun (2016). ''Båstnäs bilkyrkogård.'' ccessed 22 Nov. 2017

Famous people from Årjäng

*Anders Lindbäck, priest and serial killer, active in Årjäng (Silbodal). *

Victor Sjöström Victor David Sjöström (; 20 September 1879 – 3 January 1960), also known in the United States as Victor Seastrom, was a pioneering Swedish film director, screenwriter, and actor. He began his career in Sweden, before moving to Hollywood in ...

, famous director and actor. * Per-Gunnar Anderson, professional rally driver.

Churches

Årjäng is part of Silbodal parish. The Silbodal church is found in the southern parts of the village.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arjang Populated places in Värmland County Populated places in Årjäng Municipality Municipal seats of Värmland County Swedish municipal seats