Fåvang is a village in
Ringebu Municipality in
Innlandet
Innlandet is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (Jevnaker Municipality and Lunner Municipality were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken ( ...
county,
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 ...
. The village is located in the
Gudbrandsdal valley, along the
Gudbrandsdalslågen river, about north of the town of
Lillehammer
Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...
. The
European route E6
European route E6 (, , or simply E6) is the main north–south thoroughfare through Norway as well as the west coast of Sweden. It is long and runs from the southern tip of Sweden at Trelleborg, into Norway and through almost all of the countr ...
highway runs through the village, right along the river. The village has a population (2021) of 720 and a
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
of .
History
Fåvang Stave Church
Fåvang Stave Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ringebu Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located just south of the village of Fåvang. It is the main church for the Fåvang parish which is part of the Sør-Gudb ...
(''Fåvang kirke'') was built after the
Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
, for the most part of using materials from earlier stave churches in the valley which had been demolished. The church was probably built between 1627 and 1630. The oldest parts can be dated back to around 1150–1250.
Particularly heavy fighting took place in Fåvang, as well as neighboring
Tretten,
Vinstra,
Kvam
Kvam is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality is located along the Hardangerfjorden in the traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Norheimsund. Other larger settl ...
,
Sjoa and
Otta during the
Norwegian Campaign which led up to the
occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...
. The Norwegian movie ''
Jonny Vang'' was principally filmed in the town of Fåvang during 2003.
Fåvang is located about away from
Kvitfjell
Kvitfjell () is a ski resort in Norway, located in the municipality of Ringebu.
Developed for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, it is one of the most modern resorts in the world, with snowmaking on 80% of the alpine pistes. Based near ...
, the downhill
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...
arena used in the
Lillehammer Winter Olympics held in 1994.
Name
The village (and church parish) is named after the old ''Fåvang'' farm () since the first
Fåvang Church was built there. The first element is the river name ''Få'' (see also
Fådalen and the old name of
Lysakerelva) and the last element is ''vangr'' which means 'meadow'.
Notable residents
*
Finn Kalvik, artist
References
Ringebu
Villages in Innlandet
Populated places on the Gudbrandsdalslågen
{{Innlandet-geo-stub