Ål is a
municipality|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...
in
Buskerudis a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration is located in Drammen.
- Geography :...
county||-|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 municipalities...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
. It is part of the
traditional regionNorway is divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords, plains, or coastlines,...
of
HallingdalHallingdal is a valley and traditional district in Buskerud county in Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Flå, Nes, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål and Hol. The inhabitants are often called Hallings ....
. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ål.
The
parishA parish is a territorial unit that was usually historically served by a local church. This administrative unit is typically found in Roman Catholic, Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of Sweden, United Methodist, and Presbyterian churches...
of
Aal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see
formannskapsdistriktFormannskapsdistrikt was the name for a Norwegian local self-government districts put into force in 1838. This system of municipality was created in a bill approved by the Storting and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January 1837...
). The area of
HolHol is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hallingdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Geilo.The area of Hol was separated from the municipality of Ål in 1877...
was separated from the municipality of Aal in 1877 to become a separate municipality.
The
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
form of the name was
Áll. The name is identical with the word
áll which means "
ditchA ditch is usually defined as a small to moderate depression created to channel water.In Anglo-Saxon, the word dic already existed and was pronounced with a hard c in northern England and as ditch in the south. The origins of the word lie in digging a trench and forming the upcast soil into a bank...
" or "
gullyA gully is a landform created by running water eroding sharply into soil, typically on a hillside. Gullies resemble large ditches or small valleys, but are metres to tens of metres in depth and width...
".
Ål is a
municipality|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...
in
Buskerudis a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration is located in Drammen.
- Geography :...
county||-|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 municipalities...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
. It is part of the
traditional regionNorway is divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords, plains, or coastlines,...
of
HallingdalHallingdal is a valley and traditional district in Buskerud county in Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Flå, Nes, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål and Hol. The inhabitants are often called Hallings ....
. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ål.
The
parishA parish is a territorial unit that was usually historically served by a local church. This administrative unit is typically found in Roman Catholic, Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of Sweden, United Methodist, and Presbyterian churches...
of
Aal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see
formannskapsdistriktFormannskapsdistrikt was the name for a Norwegian local self-government districts put into force in 1838. This system of municipality was created in a bill approved by the Storting and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January 1837...
). The area of
HolHol is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hallingdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Geilo.The area of Hol was separated from the municipality of Ål in 1877...
was separated from the municipality of Aal in 1877 to become a separate municipality.
Name
The
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
form of the name was
Áll. The name is identical with the word
áll which means "
ditchA ditch is usually defined as a small to moderate depression created to channel water.In Anglo-Saxon, the word dic already existed and was pronounced with a hard c in northern England and as ditch in the south. The origins of the word lie in digging a trench and forming the upcast soil into a bank...
" or "
gullyA gully is a landform created by running water eroding sharply into soil, typically on a hillside. Gullies resemble large ditches or small valleys, but are metres to tens of metres in depth and width...
". In 1921, the spelling of the name was changed from
"Aal" to
"Ål".
Coat-of-arms
The
coat-of-armsA coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, in European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person and used by them in a wide variety of ways. Historically, they were used by knights to identify them apart from enemy...
is from modern times. They were granted on 30 November 1984. The arms show three silver diamond shapes in a vertical line on a red background. The designs are taken from an old and common pattern used in hand-woven tapestries in the area. They also symbolize the three churches in the municipality: Ål, Torpo, and Leveld.
Attractions
- The Torpo stave church
Torpo stave church is a stave church located at Torpo in Ål municipality, Hallingdal, Norway. Built 1192 and is the oldest building in Hallingdal.This is one of two stave churches “signed” by the their craftsmen...
(built around 1190 - 1200) is located in Torpo-History:Torpo stave church...
- Ål Bygdamuseum
Ål Bygdamuseum, a small museum on the farm Leksvol in Ål municipality. The museum is a subsidiary of Hallingdal Museum. It includes 30 old buildings, including the house from Leksvol farm which dates from about 1600, a mountain farm with a stone building, and a cotter's farm place.-External...
is built around the old Leksvol farm, and is very typical for the area. The buildings go back to the 17th century. In later years the museum have made additional installments, Øvre tunet, Stølen, and Husmannsplassen were a stone cottage is reconstructed, similar to those used in the mountain sæterTranshumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock over relatively short distances, typically to higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with the people necessary to tend them...
.
Sister cities
The following cities are
twinnedSister cities, also known as town twinning, is an agreement between towns, cities and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties...
with Ål: -
SololáSololá is a city in Guatemala. It is the capital of the department of Sololá and the administrative seat of Sololá municipality.The name is a hispanicized form of its pre-Columbian name, one spelling variant of which is T'zol'joly'a...
, Sololá Department,
GuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its size is just under 110,000 km² with an estimated population...
External links
- Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
Statistics Norway is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876.Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway releases more than 800 Norwegian statistical publications every year on its web site...