Dovre is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dovre. Other villages in Dovre include Dombås and Hjerkinn.

The municipality is the 69th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Dovre Municipality is the 252nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,516. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 7.4% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

thumb|left|View of the Dovrebanen railroad passing the [[Dovre Station]]

The municipality of Dovre was established in 1861 when it was separated from the large Lesja Municipality. Initially, the new municipality had 2,537 residents. On 1 January 1970, the three western farms at Bergsengseter (population: 11) were transferred from Dovre Municipality to the neighboring Folldal Municipality.

Historically, the municipality was part of the old Oppland county. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became a part of the newly-formed Innlandet county (after Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged).

Name

thumb|left|[[Dovrefjell mountains]]

thumb|left|[[Eystein Church (Eysteinskirka) in Dovre]]

thumb|left|[[Dovre Church]]

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Dovre farm () since the first Dovre Church was built there. The name belongs to a group of Scandinavian toponyms that the Swedish linguist Elof Hellquist has derived from a Proto-Norse , and linguists have further derived them from the old Proto-Indo-European root / (cf. PIE , "deep"), a root that is also attested in German Topel ("forested valley") and Old Slavic dublŭ ("hole"). There are several place names in Denmark, Norway and Sweden that are identified as related to Dovre:

;Denmark

  • Døvregaarde in the narrow valley Døvredal, in Bodilsker parish on Bornholm. In Närke, the Dovra lakes were attributed to the giantess Dovra who wept for her husband.

Coat of arms

thumb|left|Muskox living in Dovre

The coat of arms was granted on 11 July 1986. The official blazon is "Argent, a muskox sable" (). This means the arms have a field (background) 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 charge is a muskox that is black with yellow horn. It is displayed statant to dexter. The muskox is an animal typical for the northern parts of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. It is not native to Norway, but in 1932, ten muskoxen were released near Dovre. The number has increased to around 300 (in 2013), and the animal is thus a typical symbol for the municipality. The arms were designed by Einar Skjervold. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes () within Dovre Municipality. It is part of the Nord-Gudbrandsdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ style="font-size:medium"|Churches in Dovre Municipality

!Parish ()!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built

|-

|rowspan="2"|Dombås||Dombås Church||Dombås||1939

|-

|Eystein Church||Hjerkinn||1969

|-

|rowspan="1"|Dovre||Dovre Church||Dovre||1736

|}

Dovre Church (Dovre kirke) was built in 1736. The bell tower was added early in the 19th century. It was built based upon designed by Jesper Mikkelson Rusten. It was constructed of wood and has protected status.

Eystein Church (Eysteinskirka) in Dovre was built in 1969 as a church for pilgrims and travelers on the Pilgrim's Route. The church lies near the juncture of the boundaries of Innlandet and Trøndelag counties. Eystein Church is built of concrete using stone and sand brought from the Hjerkinn. The plans for the church were designed by architect Magnus Poulsson (1881-1958).

History

{| style="float: right;" class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Dovre by country of origin in 2017

|-

! Ancestry!!Number

|-

| ||60

|-

| ||30

|-

| ||21

|-

| ||20

|-

| ||14

|}

People have lived in what is now Dovre Municipality for about 6,000 years. In the Stone Age, they were primarily hunters and fishermen. Approximately 2,000 years ago, the first farms were developed at this location.

Dovre is mentioned in Heimskringla (The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway) by Snorri Sturluson. In 1021, King Olaf laid hold of all the best men, both at Lesja and Dovre, and forced them either to receive Christianity or suffer death, if they were not so lucky as to escape.

The Pilgrim's Route (Old King's Road) between Oslo and Trondheim in the 16th century passed through the Gudbrandsdal valley. After leaving the Lågen river valley (downriver from present day Dombås) the road passed over the Dovrefjell mountains into the present-day municipality of Dovre. The heavy stream of annual pilgrims who visited the shrine of St. Olaf in Trondheim prior to the Protestant Reformation resulted in the construction of mountain stations along the route where the pilgrims could find food and shelter. In speaking of this route, Gjerset quotes Peder Claussøn Friis as writing:

The Battle of Kringen (Slaget ved Kringen) took place in August 1612, just downstream of Dovre, where the Scottish force stayed on 24 August 1612.

Government

Dovre Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), 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 Gudbrandsdal District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Dovre Municipality is made up of 17 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 mayor () of Dovre Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:

  • 1861–1865: Thor P. Tofte
  • 1866–1867: Lars Hansen Lindsøe
  • 1872–1874: Tollef Solberg
  • 1875–1876: Johan Jerkind
  • 1877–1881: Ole Ekre
  • 1882–1883: Thor T. Tofte
  • 1884–1887: Ole A. Hatrem
  • 1888–1891: Thor T. Tofte
  • 1892–1895: Thor Lie
  • 1896–1901: Edvard Olsen Landheim (V)
  • 1901–1904: Bjørner Ekre
  • 1905–1907: Edvard Olsen Landheim (V)
  • 1908–1910: Ole Ekre
  • 1911–1913: John Ruste (Ap)
  • 1914–1922: Bjørner Vigerust
  • 1922–1924: M.E. Killi (Bp)
  • 1924–1937: Albert Guddal (Ap)
  • 1937–1941: T. Schanke (Ap)
  • 1941–1945: Jakob B. Vigerust (NS)
  • 1945–1945: T. Schanke (Ap)
  • 1946–1947: Albert Guddal (Ap)
  • 1948–1955: Paul P. Enersgård (Ap)
  • 1956–1962: Karl P. Schanke (Ap)
  • 1962–1967: Erland Rykhus (Ap)
  • 1968–1975: Martin Leren (Ap)
  • 1976–1983: Gunder Bentdal (Ap)
  • 1984–1991: Arne Kåre Os (Ap)
  • 1992–1992: Harald Hammerstad (Ap)
  • 1992–1995: Melvin Rykhus (Ap)
  • 1995–2007: Erland Løkken (Sp)
  • 2007–2018: Bengt Fasteraune (Sp)
  • 2018–2019: Oddny Garmo (Sp)
  • 2019–2023: Astrid Skomakerstuen Ruste (LL)
  • 2023–present: Magne Vorkinn (Sp)

Geography

The municipality is a very mountainous area. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Snøhetta.

International relations

Dovre has sister city agreements with the following places:

  • : Gronau, Lower Saxony, Germany
  • : Leppävirta, Itä-Suomi, Finland
  • : Storfors, Värmland County, Sweden

Notable people

140px|thumb|Bengt Fasteraune, 2017

  • Georg Sauerwein (1831–1904), a German publisher, polyglot, poet, and linguist who lived in Dovre
  • Peter P. Lee (1861 in Dovre – 1937), an American politician and Mayor of Minot, North Dakota in 1896
  • Sigurd Einbu (1866–1946), a self-taught astronomer who ran the magnetic monitoring station at Dombås from 1916
  • Ole Hjellemo (1873 in Dovre – 1938), a musician and composer
  • Ragnar Solberg (1898 in Dovre – 1967), a poet
  • Vegard Vigerust (1925 in Dovre – 2020), a novelist and poet
  • Børt-Erik Thoresen (1932 in Dombås – 2011), a TV host and folk singer
  • Eli Hagen (born 1947 in Dombås), a TV presenter and personality
  • Bengt Fasteraune (born 1964), a Norwegian politician and Mayor of Dovre from 2007-2018
  • Ivar Michal Ulekleiv (born 1966 in Dombås), a former biathlete who competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics
  • Anita Killi (born 1968), an animator and film director who runs an animation studio in Dovre

References

  • Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
  • The Battle of Kringen