Ørje is the administrative centre of Marker municipality,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, not far from the Swedish border. Its population (2013) is 3872 Ørje was founded in the 1880s around a timber-processing mill.

Engebret Soot Engebret Olsen Soot (26 May 1786 – 3 March 1859) was a Norwegian engineer. He was one of Norway's first canal builders and joined the timber channels at Otteid and Mangen-Grasmo. He is known as the father of the Fredrikshald Canal (now known a ...

had built the first Norwegian canal locks at Ørje in the years 1857-1860 ( :no:Ørje sluser). The total lift of the locks are 10 meters (30 feet) divided on 3 steps. The locks are situated between the lakes "Rødenessjøen" and "Øymarksjøen" as a part of the Halden Canal Waterway System. In the decades following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Ørje developed substantial industry and commerce. Today, the service sector, including tourism have partly replaced manufacture and agriculture/forestry as the most important economic sectors. Ørje is known for its canal museum (''Haldenvassdragets Kanalmuseum'') and steamboat club, military fortifications from 1905 and locks. Ørje has also become well-known due to a pedestrian crossing sign installed at Storgata 59 by the Swedish artists' collective Kreativiteket. The sign is based on a character from

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

's "

Ministry of Silly Walks "The Ministry of Silly Walks" is a sketch from the Monty Python comedy troupe's television show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', series 2, episode 1, which is entitled "Face the Press". The episode first aired on 15 September 1970. A shortened ...

" sketch, and instructs pedestrians to cross the street in a silly manner.

References

Villages in Østfold Marker, Norway {{Østfold-geo-stub

See also

References