Oppegård is an area in Nordre Follo, Viken, Norway. Oppegård was 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 ...

in the former

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 ...

Akershus. It is part of the

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 ...

of Follo. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of

Kolbotn Kolbotn is an urban area in Norway's Nordre Follo county. Kolbotn is in the centre of the traditional district, Oppegård. The population is about 6,000. Kolbotn has several elementary schools, four middle schools and a high school. Town is locat ...

. The municipality of Oppegård was separated from the municipality of

Nesodden Nesodden is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Follo. The administrative centre of the municipality is Nesoddtangen. The parish of ''Næsodden'' was established as a municipality on 1 ...

on 1 July 1915. Oppegård municipality had an area of , hence it was the smallest municipality in Akershus by area. On 1 January 2020, Oppegård municipality was merged with

Ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...

into the new Nordre Follo municipality. Within Oppegård, there is an epynomous village.

Name

The municipality (originally the

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 ...

) is named after the old ''Oppegård'' farm (

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 ...

: ''Uppigarðr''), since the first church was built here. The first element is ''uppi'' which means "upper" and the last element is ''garðr'' which means "

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used ...

". (The farm is probably a part of an older and bigger farm.)

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 ...

were granted on 6 August 1976. The arms show 17 gold triangles on a black background. The 17

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...

s symbolize 17

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s, which again symbolize the 17 old farms in the municipality. Most of the farms lie in an area called Svartskog ('black

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

'), so the arms are

canting arms Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus. French heralds used the term (), as they would sound out the name of the armiger. Many armorial all ...

History

Oppegård has been populated since the end of the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

. Archeological remains of

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

societies dating back to 5000–6000

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

have been found, as well as the remains of agricultural settlements from 1000–2000 BCE. The main southern roads connecting

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) 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 ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

have passed through Oppegård since the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. 19 farms from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, have been counted. The former municipality was created from the eastern part of the municipality of

in 1915. At the time, the population of Oppegård was only 600. The 1960s and 1970s saw a population boom, as larger housing projects established the Oppegård villages as suburbs of Oslo. The commercial centres along the main

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

axis is examples of the functionalist

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

characteristic of that period of

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

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

. Arctic explorer

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen bega ...

lived in Svartskog and his house is now a museum, administered by the municipality. Svartskog is also home to a medieval stone church, and is likely the oldest settlement in Oppegård.

Politics

Since 1968, coinciding with the population boom, the

Conservative Party of Norway The Conservative Party or The Right ( nb, Høyre, nn, Høgre, , H; se, Olgešbellodat) is a liberal-conservative political party in Norway. It is the major party of the Norwegian centre-right, and was the leading party in government as part of ...

''(Høyre)'' has held either a

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Websterplurality of representatives in the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

. Several leading politicians for Høyre began their political careers as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

s of Oppegård, including

Rolf Presthus Rolf Presthus (29 July 1936 – 1 January 1988) was a Norwegian politician and lawyer, who was chairman of the Norwegian Conservative Party from 1986 to 1988. Presthus served as Minister of Finance 1981–1986, and Minister of Defence in 1986. He ...

(mayor from 1968–1970, Conservative Party Leader and

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

) and

Jan Petersen Jan Petersen (born 11 June 1946, in Oslo) is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party. Petersen was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Akershus in 1981, and was re-elected on six occasions. He had previously served as a deputy re ...

(mayor from 1975–1981, Conservative Party Leader and

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

). Oppegård is demographically an urban middle class area, demographically similar to

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

and

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greate ...

and a traditional stronghold for Høyre. Former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

and leader of the

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

Kjell Magne Bondevik Kjell Magne Bondevik (; born 3 September 1947) is a Norway, Norwegian Lutheranism, Lutheran Religious minister, minister and Politics of Norway, politician. As leader of the Christian Democratic Party (Norway), Christian Democratic Party, he serv ...

lives in Oppegård. Party representation in the Council 2007-2011 ''Conservatives'': 15 ''Labour'': 7 ''Progress Party'': 4 ''Liberal Party'': 2 ''Socialist Left'': 2 ''Christian People's Party'': 1

Geography

Oppegård is located at the eastern coast of

Bunnefjorden Bunnefjorden, sometimes referred to as Bunne Fjord, is a part of the Oslofjord in south eastern Norway, located east of the Nesodden peninsula.https://snl.no/Bunnefjorden "en indre arm av Oslofjorden i Viken fylke. Fjorden .. skilt fra hovedfjorde ...

(originally called "Foli", like the Årungen lake to the south), which is an arm of

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; en, Oslo Fjord) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the and lighthouses and down to in the south to Oslo in the north. It is part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the Nor ...

. It includes the villages

Oppegård Oppegård is an area in Nordre Follo, Viken, Norway. Oppegård was a municipality in the former county Akershus. It is part of the traditional region of Follo. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Kolbotn. The m ...

, Svartskog, and Kolbotn. The landscape is dominated by a vast part of the north–south oriented lake Gjersjøen, which roughly divides the district into western and eastern sections. The lake Kolbotnvannet is located here as well. The undeveloped areas are largely covered by forest. Oppegård is a largely residential

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

of Oslo, but also a business hub. It hosts the Norwegian headquarters of several larger corporations (including

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

and IBM) within its borders.

Tax revenue Tax revenue is the income that is collected by governments through taxation. Taxation is the primary source of government revenue. Revenue may be extracted from sources such as individuals, public enterprises, trade, royalties on natural resou ...

s from large corporations made Oppegård one of Norway's richest municipalities in the 1980s and 1990s. These revenues, and the wealth they brought, were lost in the 2000s when

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

s were made to pay taxes directly to the national government, rather than the local government. Commuter trains connect Oppegård to Oslo, and makes the neighbourhoods close to the train stations (Rosenholm, Kolbotn, Solbråtan, Myrvoll, Greverud, and Oppegård) popular residential areas.

Notable people

Haddy N'jie (Eurovision Song Contest 2010) 2

Jørgen Stubberud Jørgen Stubberud (17 April 1883 – 12 February 1980) was a Norwegian polar explorer who participated in the Amundsen Antarctica Expedition between 1910 and 1912. Stubberud was born at Bekkensten, Svartskog in Oppegård, in Akershus count ...

(1883 in Svartskog – 1980) polar explorer on the

Amundsen's South Pole expedition The first ever expedition to reach the South Pole, geographic Southern Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon ...

, 1910 and 1912 *

Liv Nergaard Liv Nergaard (April 17, 1924 – July 25, 2016)''Universitets- og skoleannaler. Ny række''. 1944, vol. 59, p. 116. was a Norwegian painter, textile artist, and sculptor. She also created portraits and produced puppet performances for educational u ...

(1924 in Oppegård – 2016) a painter, textile artist, and sculptor *

Eva Bergh Eva Bergh (25 February 1926 – 19 February 2013) was a Norwegian actress. Eva Bergh was born Eva Johansen at Kolbotn in Oppegård, Norway. She was married to the composer Sverre Arvid Bergh (1915–1980) and was the sister-in-law of his brot ...

(1926 in Kolbotn – 2013) a Norwegian actress *

Tore Linné Eriksen Tore Linné Eriksen (born 2 May 1945) is a Norwegian historian. His fields of study include global history, development studies and African history, especially focusing on Southern Africa. Early life and career Linné Eriksen hails from Kolbotn, ...

(born 1945 in Kolbotn) an historian, focusing on Southern Africa *

(born 1946) politician, Mayor of Oppegård, 1975 to 1981 * Sylvi Graham (born 1951) a Norwegian politician, Mayor of Oppegård 1995 to 2004 *

Lisa Aisato Lisa Aisato N'jie Solberg, pen name Lisa Aisato (born 23 July 1981) is a Norwegian visual artist, illustrator and author of picture books. Personal life Aisato was born in Kolbotn, Norway, to a Norwegian mother and Gambian father. Among her sib ...

(born 1981 in Kolbotn) a visual artist, illustrator and author of picture books * Iman Meskini (born 1997 in Langhus) a Norwegian actress

Musicians

Radka Toneff Ellen Radka Toneff (25 June 1952 – 21 October 1982) was a Norwegian jazz singer, daughter of the Bulgarian folk singer, pilot and radio technician Toni Toneff, she was born in Oslo and grew up in Lambertseter and Kolbotn. She is still conside ...

(d. 1982), jazz singer, grew up in Kolbotn *

Eivind Aarset Eivind Aarset (born 23 March 1961) is a Norwegian guitarist who has worked with Ray Charles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ute Lemper, Ketil Bjørnstad, Andy Sheppard, Mike Mainieri, Arild Andersen, Abraham Laboriel, Dhafer Youssef, Django Bates, and N ...

(born 1961 in Kolbotn) a Norwegian jazz guitarist * Øyvind Sauvik (born 1976) stage name ''

Vinni Øyvind Sauvik (born 3 February 1976), better known by his stage name Vinni, is a Norwegian musician and hip hop artist. Biography Born in Arendal, Norway, Sauvik moved with his parents to Tanzania when he was three years old, as they worked w ...

'', a musician and hip hop artist, works in Kolbotn *

Haddy N'jie Haddy Jatou Njie (formerly N'jie; born 25 June 1979 in Oslo) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, writer and journalist. Her father is Gambian and her mother is Norwegian. She grew up in Kolbotn near Oslo and is the eldest of five siblings. Her yo ...

(born 1979 in Kolbotn) a singer, songwriter, writer and journalist * Siri Wålberg (born 1980 in Oppegård) a Norwegian pop singer / songwriter *

Eivind Lønning Eivind Nordset Lønning (born 20 January 1983 in Kolbotn, Norway) is a Norwegian Jazz musician (trumpet) known from playing with Christian Wallumrød, Joshua Redman, Dave Holland and Chick Corea, and performed commissioned works by Eirik He ...

(born 1983 in Kolbotn) a jazz trumpeter * Joakim With Steen (born 1989 in Kolbotn) stage name ''

Jowst Joakim With Steen (born 26 June 1989), better known as Jowst (usually stylised JOWST), is a Norwegian music producer and songwriter. He represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Grab the Moment", along with vocalist Ale ...

'', a music producer and songwriter *Gylve Fenris Nagell, known as

Fenriz Gylve Fenris Nagell (born Leif Nagell; 28 November 1971), known professionally as Fenriz, is a Norwegian musician, part-time music journalist and online radio host (with the show "Radio Fenriz")

(Born 1971 in Kolbotn), drummer for

Darkthrone Darkthrone is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leadin ...

*Ted Skjellum, known as

Nocturno Culto Ted Skjellum (born 4 March 1972), also known by the stage name Nocturno Culto, is a Norwegian musician best known as the vocalist, lead guitarist, and partial bassist (shared with Fenriz) of the influential black metal band Darkthrone. He has bee ...

(Born 1972 in Kolbotn), vocalist for

Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Oppegård: * -

Hvidovre Hvidovre is the main town in Hvidovre Municipality, Denmark. The town, a suburb of Copenhagen, is about 10 km southwest of the capital's center. It is the 2nd biggest suburb of Copenhagen, only beaten by Frederiksberg. History Hvidovre has ...

Region Hovedstaden The Capital Region of Denmark ( da, Region Hovedstaden, ) is the easternmost administrative region of Denmark. The Capital Region has 29 municipalities and a regional council consisting of 41 elected members. As of 1 August 2021 the chairperso ...

* -

Širvintos Širvintos () is a city in Vilnius County in the eastern part of Lithuania. It is the administrative center of the Širvintos district municipality. The word ''Širvintos'' is the plural form of the name of the Širvinta River, which flows thro ...

Vilnius County Vilnius County ( lt, Vilniaus apskritis) is the largest of the 10 counties of Lithuania, located in the east of the country around the city Vilnius. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Vilnius County re ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

* - Sollentuna,

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm ...

* -

Tuusula Tuusula (; sv, Tusby ) is a municipality of Finland. It belongs to the Helsinki sub-region of the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of () and is by far the third largest municipality in Finland after Nurmijärvi and Kirkkonummi t ...

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, He ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, 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 yea ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oppegard Villages in Akershus