Nes, Buskerud

Nes is a municipality in the county of Buskerud, Norway. It lies in the valley and traditional district of Hallingdal. It is bordered on the north by Gol, on the east by Sør-Aurdal, on the southeast by Flå, on the southwest by Nore og Uvdal, and to the west by Ål.

The majority of the residents live in the villages of Nesbyen, Espeset, Eiddal, Sjong, Børtnes, Bromma, Svenkerud and at Liahaugen. The administrative center is located in Nesbyen.

1 The name
2 History
3 What to see
4 Famous residents
5 References and notes
6 External links

[edit] The name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Nes (Norse Nes - now Nesbyen), since the first church was built here. The name is identical with the word nes n 'headland'.

Until 1889 the name was written "Næs".

[edit] History

View over Nesbyen from ..., with Nesbyen across the valley and Østbyen on this side of the river and to the right. The river is flowing to the left on the image, south-east in the landscape. The valley in the background leads to Tunhovd.

Ancient routes went to Vestlandet through Valdres and Hallingdal and down Røldal to Odda. Reflecting this route, Hallingdal and its neighboring valley of Valdres were originally populated by migrants from Vestlandet and spoke a western dialect. In recognition of this, Cardinal Nicholas Breakespear, who was in Scandinavia as papal legate in 1153, included these two valleys in the Diocese of Stavanger.^[1]

[edit] What to see

Trøymstugua from 1645

Hallingdal Museum, is located in Nesbyen. It has a large and unique collection of buildings and artifacts from farms in Hallingdal. Special mentions is houses like Staveloftet from about 1340 from the farm Stave and Trøymstua from about 1645, coming from Hemsedal.

There is an old meteor crater just north of Nesbyen, about 6 kilometres north and then 4 kilometres into the wood. About 650 million years ago a 200–300 metre meteorite struck this area. This resulted in a 5 kilometre crater and an enormous amount of outpouring of energy by the impact.

[edit] Famous residents

Hans Gude (1825-1903), painter, Norwegian romantic nationalism, famous painting from the area includes Nes stave church, — Nes stavkirke (1845)
Eilif Petersen (1852-1928), painter
Fernanda Ytteborg (1869-1954), art collector

[edit] References and notes

^ Stagg, Frank Noel (1956). East Norway and its Frontier. George Allen & Unwin, Ltd.. ISBN none.

[edit] External links

Nesbyen tourist office

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Municipalities of Buskerud
Drammen \| Flesberg \| Flå \| Gol \| Hemsedal \| Hol \| Hole \| Hurum \| Kongsberg \| Krødsherad \| Lier \| Modum \| Nedre Eiker \| Nes \| Nore og Uvdal \| Ringerike \| Rollag \| Røyken \| Sigdal \| Øvre Eiker \| Ål