Elverum, Innlandet County, Eastern Norway Region, Norway

🇳🇴 Elverum is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Elverum. Other settlements in the municipality include Heradsbygd, Sørskogbygda, and Neverlia. Elverum lies at an important crossroads, with the town of Hamar to the west, the town of Kongsvinger to the south, and village of Innbygda and the Swedish border to the northeast. It is bordered on the north by Åmot municipality, in the north-east by Trysil municipality, in the south-east by Våler municipality, and in the west by Løten municipality.

The 1,229-square-kilometre (475 sq mi) municipality is the 87th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Elverum is the 57th most populous municipality in Norway. The municipality's population density is 17.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (46/sq mi) and its population has increased by 6% over the previous 10-year period.

General information The parish of Elverum was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. The borders have not changed since that time.

Name The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Elverum farm (Old Norse: Alfarheimr) since the first Elverum Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of elfr which means "river" (referring to the Glomma river). The last element is heimr which means "home" or "farm".

Coat of arms The coat of arms was granted on 9 December 1988. The official blazon is "Gules, an owl displayed Or" (Norwegian: I rødt ei gull ugle med utslåtte vinger). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is an owl. The owl has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. This design is a symbol for wisdom and teaching, since Elverum has a number of schools in it. Most owls are forest birds, and the owl can also represent wild animals and birds, and thus symbolize the forest and wilderness areas in and around Elverum. Finally, the owl has lifted wings and claws out which symbolize a determined defense and the fighting spirit of Norwegians. In 1940, when Norway was under attack from the German forces, the government fled to Elverum where King Haakon VII received the power from the Storting to govern the country in exile without the Parliament during the war (Elverum Authorization). The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches The Church of Norway has five parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Elverum. It is part of the Sør-Østerdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

Geography Sagtjernet is a lake in the northern parts of Elverum where lots of residents visit in the summer. It is a lake formed by the last ice age. Rokosjøen is another lake in the municipality. The rivers Julussa, Glomma, and Flisa flow through the municipality.

Government Elverum 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 Østre Innlandet District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Elverum is made up of 35 representatives that are elected to four year terms.

History During the Nordic Seven Years' War (1563–1570), Swedish troops invaded Norway in a number of locations, including a number of incursions into Østerdalen. In 1563, Norwegian troops stopped the Swedish advance at Elverum, which provided a strategic point since it lay on both north–south and east–west trade and travel routes.

The parishes of Idre and Särna originally belonged to the prestegjeld of Elverum, but they were occupied by Swedish troops in 1644, and since then they were lost to Sweden.

Construction of fortifications in Elverum started in 1673 during the Gyldenløve War as Hammersberg Skanse. It was renamed Christiansfjeld Fortress in 1685 by King Christian V of Denmark during his visit to Hammersberg Skanse on June 14. Although the fortress was manned through the Great Northern War, the village was spared major battles. In 1742, Christiansfjeld Fortress was closed.

A Norwegian infantry regiment, the Oppland Regiment, was formed in 1657 and Elverum became a garrison. The area of population east of the river called Leiret (literally the camp) adjacent to Christiansfjeld Fortress was built up by soldiers as well as the merchants and craftsmen who settled nearby. The central areas of the town of Elverum on the east side of the river is referred to as Leiret.

In 1878, Terningmoen at Elverum became the home base for the Oppland Regiment and an infantry school was founded here in 1896. The Oppland Regiment had a history which included courageous involvement in combat from the Swedish wars of the 17th century through the German invasion of Norway in 1940. As part of the general restructuring, the unit was disbanded in 2002.

Today, Terningmoen hosts several sub units within the Norwegian army and the Home guard.

Regional town In the Danish-Norwegian period, Elverum was the location for a bailiff (fogd), a judge (sorenskriver), a church provost (prost), and numerous military officers.

It became important as a market town as well. In 1570 Hamar Cathedral in Hamar was burned and Hamarhus castle was destroyed by the Swedish armies during the Seven Years' War with Sweden. Hamar lost its city status, leaving no kjøpstad, or official market city, between Christiania and Trondheim. Eastern Norway needed an organized market for trading goods. The Grundset market (Grundsetmart'n) in Elverum municipality grew to meet the need. It is recorded as existing in the 17th century, and in 1765 the owner of Gaarder obtained special market privileges from the king, to take place six miles north of the population centre of Elverum on his estate. By 1767, it was described as Norway's largest and most famous market. In the first week of March, for almost 300 years, the folks of the district met to trade and to celebrate. People from Gudbrandsdal, Oslo, Trøndelag, and Sweden also regularly came to Grundsetmart'n. The Grundset market was finally abandoned in 1901, when pressures of the railroad and other markets made it superfluous.

The railway connecting Oslo and Trondheim passed through Elverum in 1877.

History: World War II Elverum municipality served as a temporary capital of Norway during the World War II German invasion. On 9 April 1940 Norwegian troops prevented German parachute troops from capturing Norway's King Haakon, Crown Prince, and Parliament while the Parliament was meeting to issue the Elverum Authorization, authorizing the exiled government until the Parliament could again convene. On April 11, shortly after the government's refusal to submit to German terms, the central part of the town of Elverum was reduced to ashes.

Culture: Museums Norwegian Forest Museum The Norwegian Forest Museum is a national museum recognizing the importance of forestry, hunting, and fishing to the Norwegian history and economy.

Glomdal Museum From the eastern side of the Glomma river (the Museum of Norwegian Forestry – Skogmuseet), a pedestrian bridge across the Klokkerfoss waterfall to Prestøya, and then a bridge across the Prestfossen falls leads to the Glomdal Museum, one of the largest Norwegian outdoor museums, with numerous houses from the mountain parishes of Østerdalen and the lowland districts of Solør on the Glomma river valley. The exhibition includes a library with numerous books, including handwritten medieval manuscripts.