Holtålen is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is located in the Ålen area of the village of Renbygda. Other villages in the municipality include Hessdalen, Aunegrenda, and Haltdalen.

The municipality is the 89th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Holtålen Municipality is the 280th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,035. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 0.5% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

thumb|left|Farm in the Hessdalen valley (c. 1950s)

thumb|left|The old, stone Eidet bridge that was built in 1853. It crosses the river Gaula near Hyttfossen.

thumb|left|[[Ålen Church]]

Starting in the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. As a result of this, the municipality of Holtålen was established on 1 January 1972 when the old Haltdalen Municipality (population: 778) was merged with the neighboring Ålen Municipality (population: 1,944) and together they formed the new Holtålen Municipality (bringing back the name Holtålen, the former name for the old Haltdalen Municipality). On 21 April 1989, a small unpopulated part of the neighboring Røros Municipality was transferred to Holtålen Municipality.

On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Sør-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the local valley ( and later ). The first element is is the old name for the local river Holda. The last element is which means "valley" or "dale". Later, around the year 1400, the suffix changed to which means "ditch" or "gully" ( is the modern definite form of this word).

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 4 March 1988. The official blazon is "Gules, a grouse argent" (). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) (a type of grouse). The ptarmigan has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. This common local bird was chosen to reflect the importance of hunting in the municipality. The arms were designed by Kari Vårhus Sagen.

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes () within Holtålen Municipality. It is part of the Gauldal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nidaros.

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

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

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

|-

|rowspan="3"|Haltdalen||Haltdalen Church||1881||Haltdalen

|-

|Haltdalen Stave Church||1170||Sverresborg**

|-

|Aunegrenda Chapel||1952||Aunegrenda

|-

|Hessdalen||Hessdalen Church||1940||Hessdalen

|-

|Ålen||Ålen Church||1881||Renbygda

|-

|colspan="4"|<small>**This church was moved to a museum in Trondheim Municipality, but was originally in Haltdalen.</small>

|}

Geography

thumb|right|View of the Eafossen waterfall

The Gauldalen valley with the river Gaula originates from the mountainous area near the mining town of Røros, about south of Renbygda, which is listed as a World Heritage Site. At the village of Renbygda the deep Gauldalen valley disappears into the mountains, not far from the lake Riasten.

The western part of Holtålen is where the Forollhogna National Park is located. The lake Øyungen lies just outside the park. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Forollhogna The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Trøndelag District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council () of Holtålen Municipality is made up of 11 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 Holtålen 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:

  • 1972–1975: Arne Wolden (Ap)
  • 1976–1979: Olav Myran (Ap)
  • 1980–1991: Håvard Moen (Ap)
  • 1991–2011: Ivar Volden (Ap)
  • 2011–2015: Heidi Greni (Sp)
  • 2015–2019: Jan Håvard Refsethås (Sp)
  • 2019–2023: Arve Hitterdal (LL)
  • 2023–present: Jan Arild Sivertsgård (Ap)

Notable people

  • Mons Lie (1757 in Ålen – 1827), a police chief, writer, and songwriter
  • Hans Bull Brodtkorb Mohr (1886 in Haltdalen – 1973), an educator and international cooperation activist
  • Anders Bjørgaard (1891 in Holtålen – 1967), an illustrator of the comic series Jens von Bustenskjold
  • Kåre Prytz (1926 in Ålen – 1994), a journalist and novelist

References

  • Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway