Lier is a

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

Buskerud Buskerud () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardanger ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lierbyen. The municipality of Lier was established on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

). The area

Åssiden Åssiden is the largest borough of Drammen in Buskerud Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Åssiden was a part of Lier, Norway, Lier municipality until 1951, when it became part of Drammen municipality. Åssiden is located on the western side of ...

was transferred from Lier to the neighboring municipality of

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

on 1 July 1951. Norway's longest indoor shopping center, Liertoppen, is located in Lierskogen. The newspaper '' Lierposten'' is published in Lier.

General information

Name

The

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

form of the name was ''Líðir''. The name is the

plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

form of ''líð'' which means "hillside".

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

and was designed by Hallvard Trætteberg and granted on 14 August 1970. The arms show five silver-colored apple

blossom In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees (genus ''Prunus'') and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring. Colloquially, flowers of orange are referred to as such as w ...

s on a red background. The area is well known for the production of various types of fruit,

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...

, vegetables, and flowers, so this was chosen as a symbol of the area's lush scenery and agriculture.

Geography

Lier borders to the municipalities of

Asker Asker (), also called Asker proper (''Askerbygda'' or ''gamle Asker'' in Norwegian), is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway, located approximately 20km southwest of Oslo. From 2020 it is part of the ...

Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...

Modum Modum is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Vikersund. The municipality of Modum was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The area has a long tradition of ...

and

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid Body (physics), body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in m ...

. It includes the villages of Lierbyen,

Sylling Sylling is a village in Lier municipality, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. Sylling is located 27 kilometres west of Oslo. The settlement has 707 inhabitants as of 1 January 2016. Location Sylling is located on Holsfjorden, the southeastern ...

Sjåstad Sjåstad is a village in Lier, Norway, Lier municipality, Buskerud county, Norway. Sjåstad and the neighboring village of Oddevall are regarded as one community. The two villages have a combined population of 556 (2014). Sjåstad is the site of ...

, Nøste, Gullaug, Lierskogen, and Tranby. Lier is thought of as a "green lung" for Norway's capital,

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, with its vast number of fields and apple trees. It is also famous for its agricultural products as

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated f ...

and vegetables. The Gilhusodden Nature Preserve is home of many different bird species. The area is also used for recreation, especially swimming and sunbathing, with its long, shallow beach.

Notable residents

* Hallvard Vebjørnsson ( in Lier – 1043) or ''St. Hallvard'',

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

* Hans Christian Heg (1829 at Haugestad – 1863) Norwegian American

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

* Cæsar Peter Møller Boeck (1845 in Lier – 1917) a Norwegian

dermatologist Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medi ...

* Harald Saue (1876 at Saue – 1958) Mayor of Lier in the 1920s and politician for

Nasjonal Samling The Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norway, Norwegian far-right politics, far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling a ...

* Sæbjørn Buttedahl (1876 in Lier – 1960) a Norwegian stage and film actor and sculptor * Alf Wollebæk (1879 in Lier – 1960) a Norwegian zoologist and curator *

Viggo Brun Viggo Brun (13 October 1885 – 15 August 1978) was a Norwegian professor, mathematician and number theorist. Contributions In 1915, he introduced a new method, based on Legendre's version of the sieve of Eratosthenes, now known as the '' ...

(1885 in Lier – 1978) a professor, mathematician and number theorist * Thorleif Haug (1894 in Vivelstad – 1934) skier/

ski jump Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fin ...

er, he won three Nordic skiing events at the

1924 Winter Olympics The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Chamonix 1924 (), were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Originally held in association with the 1924 Summer ...

* Kirsten Brunvoll (1895 in Lier – 1976) playwright and resistance member in WWII * Knut Tvedt (1906 in Lier – 1989) jurist and acting CEO of the

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

1946 to 1948 * Ole Ivar Lovaas (1927 in Lier – 2010) a Norwegian-American clinical psychologist and pioneering behaviorist * Gert Nygårdshaug (born 1946) author of poems, children's books and novels; lives in Lier *

Martin Kolberg Martin Kolberg (born 24 February 1949) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He served as the party secretary from 2002 until 2009 and an MP from Buskerud from 2009 until 2021. He was elected to the Parliament of Norway in 2009 and le ...

(born 1949)

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party (; , A or Ap; ), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party (, DNA), is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Norway, political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectru ...

secretary 2002/2009; lives in Lier * Karin Fossum (born 1954) crime fiction author, ''"Norwegian queen of crime"'', lives in

* Frode Kjekstad (born 1974 in Lier) a Norwegian jazz guitarist * Mads Hansen (born 1984 in Lier) singer and former footballer with over 230 club caps

Twin towns – sister cities

Lier is twinned with: * Falköping, Sweden *

Kokemäki Kokemäki (; ) is a town and municipality in the Satakunta Region of Finland. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Finland is constitutionally bi-lingual with a Swedish speakin ...

, Finland * Mariagerfjord, Denmark

Gallery

File:Liertoppen Shopping Center Front 20110921.jpg, Liertoppen Shopping Center File:Lier rockeverksted.jpg, Gamle Hegg skole File:Jacobsen elektro main office.jpg, Jacobsen Elektro main office File:Hvalsdammen i Lier - panoramio (2).jpg, Hvalsdammen

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All rele ...

*
Lier BygdetunSylling churchyard
{{authority control Municipalities of Buskerud Villages in Buskerud