Summary
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).
Modum Municipality
Modum kommune | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Flag | |
 Buskerud within Norway | |
 Modum within Buskerud | |
| Coordinates: 59°57′27″N 9°58′58″E / 59.95750°N 9.98278°E | |
| Country | Norway |
| County | Buskerud |
| District | Ringerike |
| Administrative centre | Vikersund |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2019) | Sunni Grøndahl Aamodt (Sp) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 515 km2 (199 sq mi) |
| • Land | 463 km2 (179 sq mi) |
| • Rank | #204 in Norway |
| Population (2004) | |
| • Total | 12,594 |
| • Rank | #87 in Norway |
| • Density | 27/km2 (70/sq mi) |
| • Change (10 years) |  +3.2% |
| Demonym | Moing/Moding[1] |
| Official language | |
| • Norwegian form | Bokmål |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| ISO 3166 code | NO-3316[3] |
| Website | Official website |
Data from Statistics Norway | |
The area has a long tradition of skiing with several famous skiers. Modum is home to one of the largest ski jumping hills in the world, Vikersundbakken which is situated in Heggen, outside Geithus. The hill record, established in 2017 is a jump of 253.5 metres (832 ft).
General information edit
Name edit
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Modum farm (Old Norse: Móðheimr), since the first church was built here. The first element is móða which means "river" (here the Drammenselva river) and the last element is heimr which means "home", "homestead", or "farm". The name of the farm was later changed to Buskerud.
Coat-of-arms edit
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 15 March 1985. The arms show three wavy silver lines “party per bend sinister” on a blue background. They represent the three main rivers in the municipality: Drammenselva, Snarumselva, and Simoa and the colour blue represents Blaafarveværket.[4]
| Ancestry | Number |
|---|---|
 Poland |
316 |
 Kosovo |
98 |
 Lithuania |
87 |
 Iraq |
78 |
 Somalia |
76 |
 Eritrea |
71 |
 Germany |
71 |
 Denmark |
70 |
 Syria |
52 |
 Sweden |
48 |
Geography edit
The municipality is bordered in the north by Krødsherad and Ringerike, in the east by Hole and Lier, in the south by Øvre Eiker, and in the west by Sigdal.
Communities edit
The municipality has three main villages: Åmot, Geithus, and Vikersund.
Åmot is the starting point of Kunstnerdalen, which was frequently visited by of several Norwegian 19th and 19th century painters: Christian Krohg, Adolph Tidemand and Hans Gude. It also was home to Theodor Kittelsen and Christian Skredsvig. Edvard Munch also painted in Modum. This is also the site of Blaafarveværket whichnow includes a museum and art gallery.[6]
Geithus is the location of two hydroelectric powerplants; Geithusfoss kraftverk and Gravfoss kraftverk.[7]
Vikersund is the municipality administrative center of Modum and the site of the Modum City Hall. It is also the site of Vikersundbakken.
Notable residents edit
Public service & business edit
- Hans Gulbranson (1787 in Modum – 1868) pioneer developer of the textile industry
- Gudbrand Gregersen de Saág (1824 in Modum – 1910) Norwegian-Hungarian bridge engineer
- Anders Sveaas (1840 in Modum – 1917) founded the Kistefos Wood Pulp Mill
- Albert Collett (1842 at Buskerud Manor – 1896) timber merchant, sawmill owner, founded Firma Albert Collett
- Nils P. Haugen (1849 in Modum – 1931), member of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin
- Charles E. Hanson (1855 in Modum – 1932), member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
- Christopher Hornsrud (1859 in Skotselv, Øvre Eiker – 1960), Norwegian Prime Minister in 1928
- Christian Hansen Tandberg (1872 at Nykirke – 1951) farmer, deputy mayor of Modum 1920's
- Hjalmar Steenstrup (1890 in Modum – 1945) insurance agent and Milorg pioneer
- Erling Diesen (born 1932 in Geithus) a Norwegian engineer and civil servant
The Arts edit
- Maurits Hansen (1774 in Modum – 1843), author, contributor to the Romantic Movement
- Thorvald Lammers (1841 in Modum – 1922) baritone singer, choral conductor & composer
- Andreas Edvard Disen (1845 in Modum – 1923) a mountain landscape painter
- Hans Andersen Foss (1851 in Modum – 1929) Norwegian-American author, newspaper editor
- Christian Skredsvig (1854 in Modum – 1924) painter and writer, style reflected naturalism
- Arild Formoe (1912 in Modum – 2006), accordion player and orchestra conductor
- Thure Erik Lund (born 1959 in Vikersund) author and cabinet maker
Sport edit
- Art Jorgens (1905 in Modum – 1980) catcher in Major League Baseball for New York Yankees
- Knut Østby (1922 in Modum – 2010) sprint canoeist, silver medallist, 1948 Summer Olympics
- Ole Gunnar Fidjestøl (born 1960), ski jumper team bronze medallist at the 1988 Winter Olympics, works in Vikersund
- Tom Gulbrandsen (born 1964) retired footballer with almost 300 club caps and 17 for Norway
- Ole Einar Bjørndalen (born 1974 in Simostranda), ski biathlete with 13 Winter Olympic Games medals
Sister cities edit
Gallery edit
![Gulsrud Church[9]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Gulsrud_Kirke.jpg/240px-Gulsrud_Kirke.jpg)
![Heggen Church[10]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Heggen_kirke_TRS_070429_022.jpg/270px-Heggen_kirke_TRS_070429_022.jpg)
![Nykirke Church [11]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Nykirke_Modum_TRS_1.jpg/270px-Nykirke_Modum_TRS_1.jpg)
![Rud Church[12]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Rud_kirke_Modum.jpg/204px-Rud_kirke_Modum.jpg)
![Snarum Church[13]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Snarum_kirke_TRS_1.jpg/270px-Snarum_kirke_TRS_1.jpg)
![Vestre Spone Chapel[14]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Vestre_Spone_kapell_TRS_2.jpg/270px-Vestre_Spone_kapell_TRS_2.jpg)
References edit
- ^ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
- ^ "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
- ^ Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (2023-01-26). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
- ^ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2009-01-10.
- ^ "Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents". ssb.no. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- ^ "Kunstnerdalen". gonorway.com. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
- ^ Geir Thorsnæs. "Geithus". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
- ^ "Nordiske vennskapskommuner" (in Norwegian). Modum kommune. Archived from the original on 2012-02-20. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
- ^ "Om Gulsrud Kirke". Modum Fellesraad. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
- ^ "Om Heggen kirke". Modum Fellesraad. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
- ^ "Om Nykirke kirke". Modum Fellesraad. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
- ^ "Om Rud Kirke". Modum Fellesraad. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
- ^ "Om Snarum kirke". Modum Fellesraad. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
- ^ "Om Vestre Spone kirke". Modum Fellesraad. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
External links edit
- Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
Buskerud travel guide from Wikivoyage- Blaafarveværket Cobalt mines
- Culture in Modum on the map from Kulturnett.no
