Vestre Slidre

Vestre Slidre is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Slidre. The old municipality of Slidre was divided into Vestre Slidre and Øystre Slidre in 1849.

1 General information
- 1.1 Name
- 1.2 Coat-of-arms
2 History
- 2.1 Churches
3 Geography
4 Notable residents
5 References
6 External links

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Slidre farm (Old Norse: Slíðrar), since the first church was built here. The name is probably derived from slíðr which means "sheath" (which is probably referring to a long depression near the church). The meaning of the name Vestre Slidre is "(the) western (part of) Slidre" (since the parish and municipality of Slidre was divided in 1849.)^[2]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms was made official in 1987, but it originally was a seal belonging to a medieval nobleman from the district.

History

High above Slidre there is an ancient burial ground called the Garberg site. At this site, there is a runestone which reads I Godguest wrote the runes. This stone is known as the Einang stone.

Vestre Sildre figures prominently in the Norse Sagas:

Harald Fairhair was, according to the Sagas, the first king (872 – 930) of Norway. In 866, he made the first of a series of conquests over a number of petty kingdoms. One of the encounters leading to the overall conquest was with Skallagrim Kveldulvssøn in Vestre Slidre. In 872, after winning the Battle of Hafrsfjord near Stavanger, he found himself king of the whole country.^[3]
In the Heimskringla attributed to Snorri Sturluson, it is recorded that in 1023 Saint Olav came unannounced from Sogn as part of his campaign to Christianize Norway. At Slidre he caught the peasants unawares, and secured all their boats. As a condition for having their boats restored, they accepted Christianity.^[3]

Churches

Slidredomen, a medieval stone-built church, was once the main church for Valdres. The church is built around 1170. Its treasures formerly included a chalice presented by Bishop Salomon of Oslo (1322-1352), the only Bishop in Norway to survive the Black Death. Slidredomen is also known to have had a local bishop.^[3]

Lomen stave church is located in the small village of Lomen. It was built circa 1170. The exterior of the present Lomen church is post-Reformation, and only the wall and roof timbers remain from the original building.^[3]

A church of the same period, the Høre stave church (the Dano-Norwegian spelling of the word Høre was Hurum), was almost entirely rebuilt and extended. Only the south door, with dragons and other carvings, still exists.^[3]

Geography

Vestre Slidre is bordered to the northwest by the municipality of Vang, to the northeast by Øystre Slidre, to the east by Nord-Aurdal, and to the southwest by Hemsedal.

Vestre Slidre is part of the Valdres region in south-central Norway. It is situated between Gudbrandsdal and Hallingdal.

Notable residents

Knut Hauge (1911–1999), author

References

^ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. http://www.sprakrad.no/nb-no/Sprakhjelp/Rettskrivning_Ordboeker/Innbyggjarnamn/.
^ Rygh, Oluf (1900). Norske gaardnavne: Kristians amt (Anden halvdel) (4 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 285. http://books.google.com/books?id=jJMOAAAAYAAJ. (Norwegian)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Stagg, Frank Noel (1956). East Norway and its Frontier. George Allen & Unwin, Ltd..

External links

Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
Oppland travel guide from Wikitravel
Valdres travel guide from Wikitravel

Municipalities of Oppland

Dovre Etnedal Gausdal Gjøvik Gran Jevnaker Lesja Lillehammer Lom Lunner Nord-Aurdal Nord-Fron Nordre Land Østre Toten Øyer Øystre Slidre Ringebu Sel Skjåk Søndre Land Sør-Aurdal Sør-Fron Vågå Vang Vestre Slidre Vestre Toten