Flå is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Viken Viken may refer to: *Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region *Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020 *Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden *Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the part of the Göta cana ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 ...

. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Flå. The municipality of Flå was established when it was separated from the municipality of

Nes The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

on 1 January 1905. The municipality lies at the most southeasterly point in the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

and

traditional region Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which at some point in time had a cultural, ethnic, linguistic or political basis, regardless of latterday borders. They are used as delimitations for studying and analysing social ...

Hallingdal Hallingdal ( en, Halling Valley) is a valley as well as a traditional district located in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county in Norway. It consists of six municipalities: Flå, Nes, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål and Hol. ...

General information

Name

The

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

form of the name was ''Flóða sokn'' (''sokn'' means

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

). This is the

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

genitive case of ''flœð'' meaning "

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

" (probably because flooding has been a problem for many farms in the river valley). Prior to 1921, the name was written ''"Flaa"''.

Coat-of-arms

The

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its w ...

is from modern times. They were granted on 1 March 1985. The arms show a black bear on a gray/silver background. This was chosen because there used to be many bears in the

Vassfaret Vassfaret is a forested mountain valley in southern Norway. The valley is located on the border of the municipalities of Flå, Nesbyen, and Ringerike in Viken county and Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county. The valley lies between the ...

area. Prior to 1985, the municipality used a logo with a bear walking through the area.

History

Ancient routes went to

Vestlandet Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrati ...

through

Valdres Valdres () is a traditional district in central, southern Norway, situated between the districts of Gudbrandsdalen and Hallingdal. The region of Valdres consists of the six municipalities of Nord-Aurdal, Sør-Aurdal, Øystre Slidre, Vestre Sl ...

and Hallingdal and down

Røldal Røldal is a village in the municipality of Ullensvang in Vestland county, Norway. The village lies in the Røldal valley along the Storelva river on the north end of the lake Røldalsvatnet. Røldal is located about southeast of the town of ...

to Odda. Reflecting this route, Hallingdal and its neighboring valley of Valdres in

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 c ...

to the north were originally populated by migrants from Vestlandet and spoke a western

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

. In recognition of this, Cardinal Nicholas Breakespear, who was in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

as papal legate in 1153, included Hallingdal in the

diocese of Stavanger The Diocese of Stavanger ( no, Stavanger bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers all of Rogaland county in western Norway. The cathedral city is Stavanger, where the Stavanger Cathedral is located. The bishop is Anne Li ...

Geography

Flå is the southernmost municipality within Hallingdal and forms the gateway to Hallingdal from the south. Flå is bordered in the north by

Sør-Aurdal Sør-Aurdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bagn. Other villages in the municipality include Begna, Hedalen, a ...

, in the east by Ringerike, in the south by

Krødsherad Krødsherad (''Krødsherad kommune'') is a municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Noresund. The municipality of Krødsherad was established when it was separated from the municipali ...

and

Sigdal Sigdal is a municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Prestfoss. The municipality of Sigdal was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The area of Krødsherad was se ...

, in the west by

Nore og Uvdal Nore og Uvdal is a municipality in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Numedal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Rødberg. The area of ''Nore'' was separated from the municipality of R ...

, and in the northwest by

. Travelers from the south pass through the 65 m long tunnel Hallingporten on

Norwegian National Road 7 Norwegian National Road 7 ( no, Riksvei 7, ) is a national road in Norway which runs from the town of Hønefoss in Viken county to the village of Granvin in Vestland county. The route is long and runs east–west through Viken and Vestland c ...

(''Riksvei 7'') just located north of Gulsvik.

is a forested mountain valley bordering Flå. The

Norefjell Norefjell is a mountain range in the Scandes Mountains system in Norway. It stretches between the valleys of Eggedal (west) and Hallingdal (east). It covers parts of the municipalities Flå, Sigdal, and Krødsherad, all in the county Busker ...

mountain range also includes parts of Flå as well as

, Ringerike and

municipalities. Lake Krøderen (''Krøderfjord'') stretches about 41 km north from the village of Krøderen and reaches to

Gulsvik Gulsvik is a village in the municipality of Flå in Buskerud, Norway. It is located in Hallingdal at the north end of Lake Krøderen. The center of the village lies at Gulsvik Rail Station. Bergensbanen railway terminated at Gulsvik Station fr ...

. The

Hallingdalselva Hallingdalselva ( en, Hallingdal River) is a river which flows through the valley and traditional district of Hallingdal in Buskerud County, Norway. Within the valley, the river is often referred to as the Great River (''Storåne''). Hallingdal ...

river flows into the lake from the north. The area includes the Vassfaret and Vidalen Conservation area which includes Festningen Nature Reserve and Bukollen Nature Reserve as well as the Inner Vassfaret Conservation area which includes Bringen Nature Reserve. .

Notable people

Kolbjørn Buøen Kolbjørn Buøen (20 January 1895 – 5 October 1975) was a Norwegian actor. He was born in Flå. He made his stage debut at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen in 1920. He played "the hangman" in the first stage adaptation of Pär Lagerkvist's ''B� ...

(1895–1975) a Norwegian actor * Fredrik Gulsvik (born 1989) a Norwegian former footballer with over 100 club caps

Attractions

Bjørneparken is located on Vikberget in Flå. The park is a sanctuary featuring various animals including bears, elk, deer, wolf, and lynx.

Protected areas

* Bringen Nature Reserve, established 28 June 1985 * Bukollen Nature Reserve, established 28 June 1985 * Festningen Nature Reserve, established 28 June 1985 * Flenten Nature Reserve, established 24 September 1993 * Stavnselva Nature Reserve, established 13 December 2002

Gallery

File:Vidalen.JPG , Vidalen File:Bukollen.JPG, Bukollen File:Flaa Stavn.JPG, Stavnselva File:Krøderen1.jpg, Lake Krøderen File:Flå kirke 2012.jpg, Flå Church File:Hallingporten.jpg, Hallingporten road tunnel File:2012-07 Bjørneparken 03.jpg, Bjørneparken

References

External links

* *
Municipal fact sheet
from Statistics Norway *
Culture in Flå on the map
from Kulturnett.no {{DEFAULTSORT:Fla Hallingdal Municipalities of Buskerud Municipalities of Viken (county)