Vågå () 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' ...
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 ...
. It is located in the
traditional district of
Gudbrandsdal. The
administrative centre
An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located.
In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...
of the municipality is the village of
Vågåmo. Other village areas in Vågå include
Lalm and
Bessheim.
The municipality is the 73rd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Vågå is the 214th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,532. The municipality's
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 ...
is and its population has decreased by 5% over the previous 10-year period.
General information
The
prestegjeld
A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...
of ''Vaage'' was established as a municipality 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 ...
law). On 1 January 1908, the municipality was divided into three parts. The northeastern part of Vågå (population: 2,287) became
Sel Municipality, the southeastern part (population: 1,241) became
Hedalen Municipality, and the remaining areas in the west (population: 2,953) remained as Vågå municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal changes across Norway due to the work of the
Schei Committee
The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...
. On 1 January 1965, the Tolstadåsen area of Vågå (population: 35) was transferred to the neighboring
Sel Municipality.
Name
The municipality (originally the
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
) is named ''Vågå'', using a very old name for the area ( or ) since the first
Vågå Church
Vågå Church () is a historic stave church. It is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Vågå Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the village of Vågåmo. It is the church for the Vågå parish which is part of the No ...
was built there. Two origins have been suggested for the name Vågå (historic spelling: ''Vaage''):
*The name Vågå may come 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 ...
word meaning "
travel
Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical Location (geography), locations. Travel can be done by Pedestrian, foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without Baggage, luggage, a ...
". The area lies on an ancient east–west route mentioned in the
Heimskringla.
*The Old Norse form of the name may come from (
accusative and
dative cases) from the word (
nominative
In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...
case). It was probably originally the name of the lake
Vågåvatn, but the meaning is unknown. (Maybe derived from which means "
sleigh runner" since the shape of the lake has some similarity of form with a sleigh runner.)
Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Vaage''. On 3 November 1917, a
royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Vaagaa''. On 21 December 1917, a
royal resolution enacted the
1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled ''Vaagaa'' with the
digraph "
aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled ''Vågå'', using the letter
Ã¥ instead. The letter
Ã¥ has a long vowel similar to "oh" or "aw", like in the American pronunciation of "cold" or "oar."
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 ...
was granted on 23 August 1985. The official
blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
is ''"
Gules, a reindeer
springing Or"'' (). This means the arms have a red
field (background) and the
charge is a springing
reindeer. The reindeer has a
tincture of
Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The design symbolizes the importance of reindeer herding and hunting. It is also based on a character in
Henrik Ibsen's book
Peer Gynt
''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five-Act (drama), act play in verse written in 1867 by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It is one of Ibsen's best known and most widely performed plays.
''Peer Gynt'' chronicles the journey of its title character fr ...
, who rides on a reindeer bull over the
Besseggen mountains. Ibsen got the idea for this book from a local story. The arms were designed by Hans H. Holm and redrawn by Ola T. Rybakken. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.
Churches
The
Church of Norway has one parish () within the municipality of Vågå. It is part of the
Nord-Gudbrandsdal prosti (
deanery
A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...
) in the
Diocese of Hamar.
Geography

Vågå is bordered on the north by
Lesja Municipality, in the east by
Dovre Municipality and
Sel Municipality, in the southeast by
Nord-Fron Municipality, in the south by
Vang Municipality and
Øystre Slidre Municipality, and in the west by
Lom Municipality
Lom Municipality () is a frontier Municipalities of Bulgaria, municipality (''obshtina'') in Montana Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, located along the right bank of Danube river in the Danubian Plain (Bulgaria), Danubian Plain. It is named after ...
.
Vågå municipality lies in a mountainous region just to the east of Norway's
Jotunheimen National Park, west of
Rondane National Park
Rondane National Park () is the oldest national park in Norway, established on 21 December 1962. The park is located in Innlandet county, in the municipalities of Dovre Municipality, Dovre, Folldal Municipality, Folldal, Sel Municipality, Sel, No ...
, and south of the
Dovrefjell mountains. The highest peak is the
Surtningssue with a height of . Vågå includes a mountain road to the top of the tall ''Jetta'' mountain which provides an unobstructed view of both the
Gudbrandsdal valley and the surrounding national parks.
The river
Otta begins in
Skjåk Municipality and flows into
Vågåvatn lake. Exiting Vågåvatn at
Vågåmo, the river continues its journey through the
Ottadalen valley leaving Vågå municipality to meet the
Gudbrandsdalslågen river at the town of
Otta in the municipality of Sel. Lakes in the region include
Flatningen.
Climate
Vågå lies in the
rain shadow
A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side.
Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...
from the
Jotunheimen mountains which separate
Eastern and
Western Norway
Western Norway (; ) is the Regions of Norway, region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the Counties of Norway, counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrative fu ...
. The climate is hence characterized by a
continental climate
Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...
. Warm summers and cold winters dominate, and the precipitation is very low. In fact, during some years it receives less than of precipitation.
This dry continental climate makes Vågå the obvious place for the national
hang glider and
para glider centre of Norway.
Physical geography
Although being affected by the ice-sheet history spanning the
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...
period of the last 2.5 million years, much of the landscape are moderately imprinted by ice-sheet
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...
except from in the main valleys. Even these valleys including
Sjodalen and
Ottadalen are of pre-Quaternary origin, and were originally sculptured by fluvial rather than glacial erosion. The numerous lakes does remind us of the glacial history, although being much more limited than in the more dramatic
iord of western Norway.
This limited glacial erosion also means that Vågå had limited
glacier
A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
erosion during the last glacial period. Many findings of
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...
pre-dating the
last glacial maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Last Glacial Coldest Period, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period where ice sheets were at their greatest extent between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago.
Ice sheets covered m ...
(LGM) have been found, being evidence of the conservative nature of the LGM in the region.
History

Vågå is mentioned in the
Heimskringla () by
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
. The old Norse
saga
Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia.
The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...
(Conversion of
Dale-Gudbrand) relates that after
King Olaf stayed several nights in
Lesja, he proceeded south across the uplands to the
Ottadal, and the beautiful hamlet lying there on both sides of the
Otta river. King Olaf remained there five days, summoning the residents of Vågå, Lom, and
Heidal to a meeting (
ting). They were advised they must either receive
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
and give their sons as hostages, or see their habitations burnt. Many submitted to his demands.
Vågå stave church is the second oldest
stave church in the country, which was constructed around 1150 and originally dedicated to
St. Peter. It was converted to a
cruciform church in 1625; the carved portal and wall planks are original. The
baptismal font dates from the original church and a
Gothic crucifix from the 13th century can be seen there as well.
In 1130, Ivar
Gjesling was the earliest-known owner of Sandbu (just north of Vågåmo) in Vågå. He was also King
Magnus IV's
lendmann for the Opplands.
Sigrid Undset's fictional Lady Ragnfrid, wife of Lavrans, was created a Gjesling from Sandbu. Ivar Gjesling, allied himself with the Birchlegs (
Birkebeinerne) — who chose
Sverre as their king at Øreting in 1177. Sverre granted him the valley of
Heidal as a reward.
Farmers from Vågå participated in the successful attack on
Scottish mercenary troops journeying to join Swedish forces in 1612. The legends of the
Battle of Kringen lives on to this day, including the story of how the peasant girl ''
Prillar-Guri'' lured the Scots into an ambush by playing of the traditional ram's horn.
Ole Paulssøn Haagenstad (1775–1866) was in 1814 summoned by
Christian-Frederick to plan the defense of
Gudbrandsdalen in the event of a Swedish attack.
Over 150 houses in the municipality are designated as historic landmarks.
Government
Vågå Municipality is responsible for
primary education
Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...
(through 10th grade), outpatient
health services
Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...
,
senior citizen services,
welfare and other
social services
Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...
,
zoning
In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...
,
economic development
In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...
, and municipal
road
A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved.
Th ...
s and utilities. The municipality is governed by a
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, borough cou ...
of
directly elected representatives. The
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...
is
indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.
The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the
Vestre Innlandet District Court and the
Eidsivating Court of Appeal.
Municipal council
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, borough cou ...
of Vågå is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...
.
Mayors
Since 1946, all mayors with three exceptions have represented the
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 ...
. The non-Labour mayors were Ola O. Kleiven and Kari Hølmo Holen (
Norwegian Centre Party) and Harald Sve Bjørndal who was elected from the local
bygdeliste. The
mayors () of Vågå (incomplete list):
* 1929-1931: Johannes Øverstedal
* 1938-1940: Ola O. Kleiven
* 1945-1946: Ola O. Kleiven
* 1946-1951: Martinus Høgåsen (
Ap)
* 1952-1959: Anders Bjørkheim (
Ap)
* 1960-1961: Ola O. Kleiven
* 1962-1963: Kaspar Øvstedal (
Ap)
* 1964-1983: Sigurd Granrud (
Ap)
* 1984-1987: Sverre Damstuen (
Ap)
* 1988-1991: Kjell Nyhus (
Ap)
* 1992-1995: Kari Hølmo Holen (
Sp)
* 1996-2012:
Rune Øygard (
Ap)
* 2012–2019: Iselin Jonassen (
Ap)
* 2019–present: Harald Sve Bjørndal (
BL)
Politics
Øygard case
In the September 2011 election,
Rune Øygard was reelected as mayor, after having served in that role since 1995. His reelection by the municipal council was controversial as he was already under police investigation for alleged
child sexual abuse, the so-called ''Øygard case'', sometimes also referred to as the ''Vågå case''. Øygard was granted temporary leave following his indictment in the case, and was succeeded as acting mayor by Iselin Jonassen (Labour) on 8 May 2012. After being found guilty and sentenced to four years
imprisonment
Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...
, Rune Øygard resigned as mayor. His resignation was granted by the municipal council on 18 December 2012, effective immediately.
Notable people

*
Edvard Storm (1749 in Vågå - 1794), a Norwegian poet, songwriter, and educator
*
Johan Storm Munch (1778 at Vågå – 1832), a Bishop in the Church of Norway, poet, playwright, and magazine editor
*
Jo Gjende (1794 in Vågå – 1884), an outdoorsman and freethinker who may have been the model for
Henrik Ibsen’s
Peer Gynt
''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five-Act (drama), act play in verse written in 1867 by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It is one of Ibsen's best known and most widely performed plays.
''Peer Gynt'' chronicles the journey of its title character fr ...
*
Ole Herman Johannes Krag (1837 in Vågå – 1916), a Norwegian officer and firearms designer
*
Ivar Kleiven (1854 in Vågå - 1934), a politician, historian, poet, and collector of local folklore
*
Kristian Prestgard (1866 in Heidal -1946), an American journalist, author, and editor of ''
Decorah-Posten''
*
Kristen Holbø (1869 in Vågå – 1953), a painter of landscapes and illustrator
*
Thekla Resvoll (1871 in Vågå – 1948), a Norwegian botanist and educator
*
Benjamin Blessum (1877-1954), a
Norwegian-American painter and illustrator whose parents were from Vågå
*
Ragnvald Skrede (1904 in Vågå - 1983), an author, journalist, literature critic, and poet
*
Ivar P. Enge (1922 in Vågå – 2013), a Norwegian radiologist who specialized in
interventional radiology
Interventional radiology (IR) is a medical specialty that performs various minimally-invasive procedures using medical imaging guidance, such as Fluoroscopy, x-ray fluoroscopy, CT scan, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or ultraso ...
*
Arne Brimi (born 1957), a Norwegian chef and food writer that lives and works in Vågå
Sister cities
Vågå has
sister city
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inte ...
agreements with the following places:
* -
Tierps,
Uppsala County,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
References
External links
Municipal fact sheetfrom
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 ...
*
Map of Vågå municipalityin
Kulturnett.no Vågå Wavecamp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaagaa
Municipalities of Innlandet
1838 establishments in Norway