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