Sel is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta. The municipality also includes several notable villages including Bjølstadmo, Dale, Høvringen, Nord-Sel, Sandbumoen, Sjoa, and Skogbygda.

The municipality is the 130th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Sel Municipality is the 171st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 5,623. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 3.6% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The new municipality of Sel was established on 1 January 1908 when the large Vaage Municipality was divided into three separate municipalities:

  • the northeastern part became the new Sel Municipality (population: 2,287)
  • the southeastern part became the new Heidal Municipality (population: 1,241)
  • the western part continued as Vaage Municipality (population: 2,953)

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the following areas were merged to form a new, larger Sel Municipality:

Name

thumb|left|View of the Sel valley

thumb|left|View of [[Sel Church]]

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Sel farm () since the first Sel Church was built there. This farm is located in the present-day village of Nord-Sel. The name is identical with the word which means "slowly running and quiet part of a river" (here meaning the Gudbrandsdalslågen river).

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was approved on 18 May 1985, but it was never approved by a royal decree because it did not meet the strict rules for coats of arms at that time. The blazon is "Azure, a girl playing a trumpet Or". This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a girl playing a trumpet. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The design is based on the local Prillar-Guri legend. In 1612, a Scottish army marched through the area on its way to Sweden. They were stopped by the local farmers at the Battle of Kringen. The legend tells that the farmers were warned for the Scots by a local girl with a trumpet. The arms were designed by Jarle Skuseth. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes () within Sel 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 Sel Municipality

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

|-

|rowspan="1"|Heidal||Heidal Church||Bjølstadmo||1941

|-

|rowspan="1"|Nord-Sel||Nord-Sel Church||Nord-Sel||1932

|-

|rowspan="2"|Sel||Sel Church||Selsverket (just north of Otta)||1742

|-

|Sjoa Chapel||Sjoa||1978

|}

Government

Sel 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 Sel Municipality is made up of 25 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 Sel 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:

  • 1908–1910: Johan Nygaard
  • 1911–1913: Syver Veggum
  • 1914–1919: E. Uldalen
  • 1920–1922: Anton Bredevangen (AD)
  • 1923–1925: Ola S. Bu (Bp)
  • 1926–1934: Arthur Janson (Ap)
  • 1935–1938: Ole Næprud (Ap)
  • 1939–1940: Kristian Lien (Ap)
  • 1945–1948: Kristian Lien (Ap)
  • 1948–1956: Leif Slåen (Ap)
  • 1957–1975: Ola Dahl (Ap)
  • 1976–1979: Jarle Fosshagen (Ap)
  • 1980–1995: Ivar Grindstuen (Ap)
  • 1995–2003: Ola Svaet (Ap)
  • 2003–2019: Dag Erik Pryhn (Ap)
  • 2019–present: Eldri Siem (Sp)

Geography

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

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

|-

!Ancestry!!Number

|-

| ||57

|-

| ||43

|-

| ||38

|-

| ||35

|-

| ||25

|-

| ||19

|-

| ||16

|}

thumb|left|250px|Kvitskriuprestene - White Priests - soil pyramids near Sinclairstøtten in Sel.

Sel Municipality is bordered on the north by Dovre Municipality and Vågå Municipality, and on the south by Nord-Fron Municipality. To the northeast it is bordered by Folldal Municipality. Large parts of the very first national park in Norway, Rondane National Park is situated in Sel Municipality and has its main entrances from the mountain villages of Høvringen and Mysuseter. The Jutulhogget canyon is located in the park. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Storronden.

Attractions

  • Jørundgard Medieval Center - This reconstructed 14th century medieval farm, the location of Sigrid Undset's novel "Kristin Lavransdatter", was the site of a 1994 filming of Kransen. The buildings were furnished in medieval style for the film. It is open to the public and traditional crafts are demonstrated by staff, providing a uniquely medieval look at Norwegian history.
  • Selsverket - Sel Municipality has a long tradition in mining and quarrying for minerals, soapstone, and slate. Selsverket was the copper works from the 18th century which was located approximately 2 kilometers north of Otta. There were also copper works in neighboring Folldal Municipality.

In literature and legend

  • Sel Municipality is where Kristin Lavransdatter, a fictitious Norwegian woman living in the 14th century, grows up. Kristin Lavransdatter is a trilogy of historical novels written by the 1928 Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset.
  • Prillar-Guri or Prillarguri is a semi-legendary figure who, according to oral tradition, was a woman from Sel, Norway who played a key role in the Battle of Kringen in August 1612

Notable people

  • Paul Thorsen Harildstad (1764 in Heidal – 1843), a farmer and representative at the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly at Eidsvoll
  • Olav Kringen (1867 in Sel – 1951), a newspaper editor and politician from 1887 to 1897 in USA
  • Erling Steineide (1938 in Heidal – 2019), a cross-country skier, participated at the 1964 Winter Olympics
  • Hans Ola Sørlie (1953 in Otta – 1988), an actor
  • Even Aleksander Hagen (born 1988 in Otta), a Norwegian politician and County Mayor of Oppland

<gallery mode="packed" heights="170px">

File:OttariverII.jpg|Otta River

File:Gudbrandsdalen Valley, Oppland, Norway (6052233487).jpg|Gudbrandsdalen Valley

File:Rondane - panoramio (2).jpg|Rondane

File:A carved troll woman in the Gudbrandsdalen Valley.jpg|A carved troll woman in the Gudbrandsdalen Valley

</gallery>

References

  • Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway