Holmestrand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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County | Vestfold | |
District | ||
Municipality | NO-0702 | |
Administrative centre | Holmestrand | |
Mayor (2003) | Gerd M. Monsen (Ap) | |
Official language form | Bokmål | |
Area - Total - Land - Percentage |
Ranked 394 86 km² 84 km² 0.03 % |
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Population - Total (2004) - Percentage - Change (10 years) - Density |
Ranked 104 9,515 0.21 % 3.1 % 113/km² |
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Coordinates | ||
www.holmestrand.kommune.no |
Holmestrand is a city and municipality in the county of Vestfold, Norway. It lies by the Oslofjord and is built beside the water.
Holmestrand was granted city status in 1752, but had been a harbour for exporting of wood since around 1550. The muncipality was founded in 1837, and expanded in 1964 with the inclusion of the rural muncipality Botne. The city has grown uphill in recent years, after the inclusion of Botne and Hillestad.
[edit] The name
The Norse form of the name must have been Holmastrand. The first element is the genitive case of holmi m '(rocky) hill', the last element is strand f 'shore, beach, strand'.
[edit] Famous residents
- Harriet Backer (1845-1932), painter
- Agathe Backer Grøndahl (1847-1907), composer
- Nils Kjær (1870-1924), author
Municipalities of Vestfold | |
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Andebu | Hof | Holmestrand | Horten | Lardal | Larvik | Nøtterøy | Re | Sande | Sandefjord | Stokke | Svelvik | Tjøme | Tønsberg |