Vestfold og Telemark (; ) was a

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 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 ...

, which existed from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023. The county was the southernmost one of

Eastern Norway Eastern Norway (, ) is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Oslo, Akershus, Vestfold, Østfold, Buskerud, Telemark, and Innlandet. Eastern Norway is by far the most populous region of Norw ...

and consisted of two distinct and separate traditional regions: the former counties of

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

and (most of)

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

. The capital was located in the town of

Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...

, which was also the county's largest city. While Skien was the seat of the county municipality, the seat of the County Governor was

Tønsberg Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...

. It bordered the counties of Viken,

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

and

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

until its dissolution. Telemark voted against the merger, on the basis that the regions have nothing in common and do not constitute a natural geographical, cultural, social or political entity. Regardless, the

Storting The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The Unicameralism, unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list propo ...

voted on 7 January 2018 to merge the counties by force, and the merger took effect on 1 January 2020. Unlike Telemark or Vestfold, it does not form a traditional or cultural region, but is instead administrative. On 15 February 2022, the county council decided to vote for the future of Vestfold og Telemark county as it was reported that politicians did not co-operate well across the former county borders. With 42 votes against 19, the county council voted for a separation of the county into its former counties of Telemark and Vestfold. Representatives to the respective county councils were elected in the 2023 local elections and the old counties was to be re-established on 1 January 2024. On 31 December 2023, the county ceased to exist. The new counties of

and

were re-established on 1 January 2024.

Coat of arms

Coat of arms shows a gold-colored Viking ship and acanthus on a red background. It combines Vestfold's three Viking ship finds - here represented by the Klåstad ship - with Telemark's rich traditions of rose painting and wood carving. The coat of arms was adopted by the county councils on 6 December 2018 and was put into use from 1 January 2020. When Vestfold and Telemark counties were dissolved from 1 January 2024, the county coat of arms went out of use.

History

The region of Vestfold and Telemark consists of the two former counties of Telemark and Vestfold, whose administrative histories are separate. Telemark County was established in 1919 as a continuation of the former ''Bratsberg amt'', which had been a ''len'' and ''amt'' since the union with Denmark. ''Bratsberg amt'' and the later Telemark county consist of several partly overlapping historic districts. The name Telemark itself did not originally cover the coasts, and the minority at the Storting therefore proposed the name ''Grenland-Telemark'' when the modern county was established. Vestfold County was established in 1919 as a continuation of the former Jarlsberg and Larviks amt. The latter was established in 1821 when the counties of Laurvig and Jarlsberg were dissolved and merged into a common county.

The merging process

A possible merger of the counties has been discussed for several years with different constellations. Telemark County Council voted in April 2017 against a merge with Vestfold. Vestfold County Council voted for a merge with both Telemark and

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 ...

. The Storting decided a merger of Telemark and Vestfold on 8 June 2017 with effect from 1 January 2020. The

Language Council of Norway The Language Council of Norway (, ) is the administrative body of the Norwegian state on language issues. It regulates the two written forms of the Norwegian language: Bokmål and Nynorsk. It was established in 2005 and replaced the Norwegian Lan ...

recommended the name ''Telemark og Vestfold'' as the name for the new county. However, Telemark County Council decided that the name Telemark under any circumstances had to be included in the new name, while Vestfold County Council suggested the name of ''Vest-Viken'', which was criticized because the name was originally created by the Nazi

Quisling regime The Quisling regime, or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaboration government led by Vidkun Quisling in German occupation of Norway, German-occupied Norway during th ...

during World War 2. The name ''Vest-Viken'' was in use when the administration merged the separate counties of Vestfold and

into a single administrative unit. It was also unfavoured because Telemark is mostly located outside the historical Viken area; at best the small coastal area of the county may be included in the periphery of Viken. Media in Norway, such as the state broadcaster

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 ...

, mocked the proposal ''Vest-Viken'' as a "Nazi name". On 10 November 2017, Vestfold withdrew the proposal of ''Vest-Viken'' and it became apparent that both counties supported the Language Council's proposal on ''Telemark and Vestfold''. Eventually the local politicians agreed on ''Vestfold og Telemark'' as a compromise, although Telemark politicians stated that Telemark should be the first part of the name, both for alphabetical reasons and because of the Telemark name's iconic status in Norway and internationally, a status that the Vestfold name lacks.Gir opp nazinavn

As of 2018, ''Telemark og Vestfold'' is already the name of the relevant branches of several government agencies, and both name forms are widely used. As Vestfold was forcibly merged with Telemark,

Svelvik Municipality is a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1845 until its dissolution in 2020. The area is now part of Drammen Municipality in Buskerud county. The administrative centre was the town of Svelvik. The ot ...

decided to vote for a merger with Drammen Municipality, which would lead Svelvik to leave Vestfold county and join the new county of Viken on 1 January 2020. The vote turned in favor for merging with Drammen municipality, along with the former municipality of

Nedre Eiker Nedre Eiker was a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Eiker. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Mjøndalen. The old municipality of Eiker was divided into ''Nedre Eiker' ...

Municipalities

Vestfold og Telemark

Vestfold og Telemark County has a total of 23 municipalities: List of Norwegian municipality numbers

Urban areas

The largest urban areas of Vestfold og Telemark, sorted after population (municipalities in parentheses): * Porsgrunn/Skien - 92 753 (

Bamble Bamble is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Langesund ...

Porsgrunn is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Porsgrunn (town), city ...

) This also includes the towns of Brevik,

Langesund is the administrative centre of Bamble Municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The town is located on a peninsula along the Langesundsfjorden near the Skaggerak coast. The town of Stathelle lies about to the northwest. The town was establi ...

, Porsgrunn, Skien and Stathelle. *

- 56 293 (Færder, Tønsberg) *

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...

- 43 595 (Sandefjord) *

Larvik Larvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Larvik (town) ...

- 24 208 (Larvik) *

Horten Horten () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Horten (town) ...

- 20 371 (Horten) *

Notodden is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Aust-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Notodden. Other population centres include the villages of Bolkesjø, G ...

- 9 077 (Notodden) *

Holmestrand is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Holmestrand Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality. It is located along the shore of the Ytre Oslofjord, about northwest of the Horten ...

- 7 262 (Holmestrand) * Stavern - 5 628 (Larvik) * Kragerø - 5 445 (Kragerø) * Vear - 3 642 (Sandefjord, Tønsberg) * Stokke - 3 631 (Sandefjord) * Bø - 3 285 (Midt-Telemark) *

Rjukan Rjukan () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Tinn Municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The town is also the administrative centre of Tinn Municipality. The town is located in the Vestfjorddalen valley, between the lakes Møsvatn ...

- 3 247 (Tinn) * Åsgårdstrand - 3 091 (Horten, Tønsberg) *

Tjøme Tjøme () is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The island municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2018. The area is now part of Færder Municipality. The administrative ce ...

- 2 945 (Færder) * Selvik - 2 685 (Sande) * Sem - 2 481 (Sandefjord, Tønsberg) * Revetal/ Bergsåsen - 2 403 (Tønsberg) * Ulefoss - 2 275 (Nome) * Sande - 2 254 (Sande) * Andebu - 2 207 (Sandefjord) * Melsomvik - 2 113 (Sandefjord) * Gullhaug - 2 038 (Holmestrand) Brevik, Holmestrand, Horten, Kragerø, Langesund, Larvik, Notodden, Porsgrunn, Rjukan, Sandefjord, Skien, Stathelle, Stavern, Tønsberg and Åsgårdstrand all have town status.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2019 2020 establishments in Norway 2024 disestablishments in Norway Former counties of Norway History of Telemark History of Vestfold States and territories established in 2020 States and territories disestablished in 2024