Notodden

Notodden is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Aust-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Notodden. Other population centres include the villages of Bolkesjø, Gransherad, Heddal, Hjuksebø, Hjuksevelta, Rudsgrendi, Tinnoset, and Yli.
The municipality is the 118th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Notodden is the 94th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 13,025. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 4.2% over the previous 10-year period.
Norway's largest stave church, Heddal Stave Church, is located in Heddal, a few kilometres west the municipal centre. Notodden Airport, is located west of the town of Notodden, along the European route E134 highway. Norsk Hydro was founded in this town. Notodden is well known for the annual Notodden Blues Festival, which is considered one of the best blues festivals in Europe. It also has a well-known metal festival called Motstøy Festivalen. The football club Notodden FK is headquartered here.

General information

On 1 January 1913, the newly-designated kjøpstad of Notodden was separated from Heddal Municipality to form a separate self-governing town as an enclave within Heddal Municipality. This left Heddal with 2,890 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Heddal Municipality was dissolved and the following areas were merged to form a new, larger Notodden Municipality:

most of Gransherad Municipality – except for the upper Jondalen valley which became part of Kongsberg Municipality
all of Heddal Municipality
the Rudsgrendi area of Hovin Municipality
the town of Notodden
Name

The municipality is named after a small cotter's farmstead located on the old Tinne farm since this was the original site of the town. The first element is derived from the word which means "to fish using a seine". The last element is the definite singular form of which means "headland". Thus it is a "headland for net fishing".

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 11 August 1939. The official blazon is "Azure, a pale wavy and four lightning bolts in saltire argent". This means the arms have a blue field and the charge is a wavy vertical bar and four lightning bolts emanating from the centre and making an X-shape. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The design symbolizes that Notodden was created by the exploitation of hydroelectric power on the river Tinnelva when Norsk Hydro started its operations with saltpeter production and power development in 1905. The vertical bar represents the Tinnfoss waterfall along the river and the lightning bolts represent electricity. The arms were designed by Jens Høibø. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway has four parishes within the municipality of Notodden. It is part of the Øvre Telemark prosti in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.

Parish	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Gransherad	Gransherad Church	Gransherad	1849
Heddal	Heddal Stave Church	Heddal	1200s
Lisleherad	Lisleherad Church	Landsverk	1873
Notodden	Notodden Church	Notodden	1938

Government

Notodden Municipality is responsible for primary education, outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Telemark District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Notodden is made up of 41 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayors of Notodden:

1913–1913: Johannes Strandli
1914–1914: Mathias Kleppen
1915–1915: Gunnulf Tinne
1916–1916: Mathias Kleppen
1917–1919: Nerid Asland
1920–1922: A.C. Aasnes
1923–1924: Olav Andresen
1925–1925: Frimann Nergaard
1926–1927: Hans Helgesen
1928–1931: Olav Andresen
1932–1932: Johan Bugge
1933–1934: Jens Røkke
1935–1940: Olav Andresen
1941–1945: Arne Bergsvik
1945–1945: Kai Birger Knudsen
1945–1945: Nerid Asland
1946–1946: Kai Birger Knudsen
1947–1949: Johannes P. Løkke
1950–1955: Ole Styrvold
1956–1959: Johannes P. Løkke
1960–1971: Henry Finrud
1972–1975: Egil Bergsland
1976–1983: Hans T. Kasin
1984–1991: Per Nagelsaker
1992–1993: Sveinung O. Flaaten
1993–1995: Anund Sisjord
1995–1999: Nils Buverud
1999–2007: Bjarne Bakken
2007–2011: Lise Wiik
2011–2015: Jørn Christensen
2015–present: Gry Fuglestveit
Geography

The municipality is located in Aust-Telemark, along the border with Buskerud. Notodden Municipality includes the lands between the lakes Tinnsjå and Heddalsvatnet lake. The rivers Tinnelva and Heddøla both run through the municipality. The Blefjell mountains are located in the northern part of the municipality.

Climate

Notodden has a humid continental climate, with cold winters and mild summers. Situated inland at low altitude in the Telemark region, it is one of the warmer towns in Norway during summer. The weather station at Notodden Airport has been recording since March 1970. Precipitation data is from a different station in Notodden. The all-time high temperature was recorded on 27 July 2018.

Twin towns

In 2008, the Notodden council decided to end the twin city agreements with Ilisalmi, Nyköping, and Stelle. At the same time Suwałki was approved as a new twin city.
The following cities are twinned with Notodden:

Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States
Suwałki, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland

Former twin cities of Notodden:

Iisalmi, Eastern Finland, Finland
Nyköping, Södermanland County, Sweden
Stelle, Lower Saxony, Germany
Notable people
Kåre Nordstoga, an organist
Hans Herbjørnsrud, an internationally known author who was born in Heddal
Olav Gunnarsson Helland, a Hardanger fiddlemaker who many consider the finest of the twentieth century
Klaus Egge, a composer
Ådne Søndrål, an Olympic gold medalist
Seasick Steve, an American blues musician who is achieving fame in the United Kingdom, currently resides in Notodden
Margit Bakken, a blues musician and songwriter
Tor-Arne Moen, a painter and author
Olav Andresen, a politician who was Mayor of Notodden in the 1920s and 1930s
Ambros Sollid, an agronomist and politician who was Mayor of Skien from 1935–1937
Carl Bugge, a geologist and academic
Helga Stene, an educator, feminist, and resistance member
Aage Eriksen, a wrestler and silver medallist at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Egil Bergsland, a politician who was Mayor of Notodden from 1971 to 1975
Sissel Sellæg, an actress
Hilde Mæhlum, a sculptor
Magne Orre, a cyclist, competed at the 1972 & 1976 Summer Olympics
Helga Flatland, a novelist and children's writer

One of the most influential Norwegian black metal bands, Emperor, came from Notodden, as does Mortiis, Peccatum, Star of Ash, Leprous, and Zyklon. Emperor's singer, Ihsahn, still resides in Notodden.