Valdres () is a traditional district in central, southern

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 ...

, situated between the districts of

Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; ) is a valley and Districts of Norway, traditional district in the Norway, Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer (town), Lillehammer and the lake ...

and

Hallingdal Hallingdal () is a valley as well as a traditional district located in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud county in Norway. It consists of six municipalities: Flå, Nes, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål and Hol. Hallingdal is one of the ma ...

. The region of Valdres consists of the six municipalities of

Nord-Aurdal Nord-Aurdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town Fagernes ...

Sør-Aurdal Sør-Aurdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ba ...

Øystre Slidre Øystre Slidre is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of ...

Vestre Slidre Vestre Slidre is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Slidre. Other villages in Vestre Slidre include Lomen and Røn. ...

, Vang and

Etnedal Etnedal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bruflat. The municipality is the 216th largest by area out of the 356 ...

. Valdres has about 18,000 inhabitants and is known for its excellent trout fishing and the local

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

. Its main road is E16 and Fylkesveg 51. Valdres is located approximately midway between

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 ...

and

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

. The valley is protected to the west and north by the

Jotunheimen Jotunheimen (; "the home of the Jötunn") is a mountainous area of roughly in southern Norway and is part of the long range known as the Scandinavian Mountains. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are all located in the Jotunheimen mountains, in ...

mountains and the

Valdresflye Valdresflye, also spelled Valdresflya and Valdresflyi, is a mountain plateau in the easternmost part of the Jotunheimen mountains in Norway. The plateau lies in Innlandet county, mostly in Øystre Slidre Municipality, but a small area extends i ...

plateau and to the south by the Gol mountain ridge (''Golsfjellet''). The main rivers are Begna and Etna. Historically, Valdres has had an agricultural economy, but

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

has grown in prominence in later years.

Beitostølen Beitostølen is a village in Øystre Slidre Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located at an elevation of about above mean sea level on the southern edge of the Valdresflye mountain plateau. The villages of Skammestein an ...

, a highly developed tourist area for winter tourists and who have hosted

FIS Cross-Country World Cup The FIS Cross-Country World Cup is an annual cross-country skiing competition, arranged by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1981. The competition was arranged unofficially between 1973 and 1981, although it received provisional recogn ...

multiple times is located in Valdres.

Etymology

The name of the district comes from 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 ...

stem words ''völlr'' (a mountainous

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

) and ''dres'' (a cleaved road to be ridden on by a

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

). Another explanation to the etymology is that Valdres stems from ''"Valdles"'', which is from the stem words ''vald'' (forest) and ''les'' (pasture), i.e. "the valley of pastures in the forest".

Administration

Valdres is located 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. It consists of the municipalities

, Vang and

. The main town in the region is

Fagernes is a town in Nord-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the largest urban/commercial centre for the Valdres region. It is located just northwest of the village of ...

, where there also is an airport.

European route E16 European route E16 is the designation of a main west–east road through Northern Ireland, Scotland, Norway and Sweden, from Derry to Gävle, via Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, previously by ferry to Bergen, Voss, through the Gudvanga Tunnel and ...

is the main highway. Valdresbanen, the railroad connection from

, was shut down in 1988 and the tracks are now removed.

Valdres March

Valdres March () is the title of a Norwegian

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

composed by Johannes Hanssen in the years 1901-1904 and published by Boosey & Hawkes. The main theme is based on the signature fanfare for the Valdres Battalion, which is based on an old cow call. The following second variation includes a halling from Helgelandsmoen, a small village in

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 ...

, Ringerike. The melody of the trio section was Hanssen's self composed

Hardanger fiddle A hardanger fiddle () is a traditional stringed instrument considered the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than four as on a standard v ...

"slått", which is a

pentatonic A pentatonic scale is a Scale (music), musical scale with five Musical note, notes per octave, in contrast to heptatonic scales, which have seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed inde ...

folk tune, above a drone bass line. When the piece was first performed in 1904, the composer played the

baritone horn The baritone horn, sometimes called baritone, is 3 or 4 valved tenor-voiced brass instrument in the saxhorn family.Robert Donington, "The Instruments of Music", (pp. 113ff ''The Family of Bugles'') 2nd ed., Methuen, London, 1962 It is a pist ...

part together with the band of the 2nd Regiment of Norway.

References

External links

Valdres Natur og Kulturpark Regional pagesValdres Destinasjon Tourism pages ''The Valdres March Music'' Valdres Pictures (1904)Valdres Radio

Fishing in Valdres
{{Coord, 60, 55, N, 9, 10, E, display=title, region:NO_type:adm2nd_source:dewiki Districts of Innlandet Valleys of Innlandet

Etymology

Administration

Valdres March

See also

References

External links