Tinn

Tinn is a municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional districts of Aust-Telemark and Upper Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Rjukan. Some of the villages in Tinn include Atrå, Austbygde, Hovin, and Miland.
The municipality is the 34th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Tinn is the 173rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 5,512. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 7.9% over the previous 10-year period.
The Krossobanen is the oldest aerial tramway in Northern Europe. It was built in 1928 as a gift from Norsk Hydro. The Hardangervidda National Park center is located at the lake Møsvatn, just east of Tinn.
General information
The parish of Tind (later spelled "Tinn") was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1860, the southeastern area of the municipality around the village of Hovin (population: 815) was separated from Tinn to become part of the newly created Gransherad Municipality. On 24 March 1903, an unpopulated area of Tinn Municipality was transferred to Hovin Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the neighboring municipality of Hovin was dissolved. All of Hovin located east of the lake Tinnsjå (population: 461) was merged into Tinn Municipality (the rest of the old Hovin municipality became part of Notodden Municipality).
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) comes from an old name for the area or an old name for the local Tinnsjå. The name is possibly derived from the word which means "small lake" or "pond". Historically, the name was spelled Tind.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 25 November 1994. The official blazon is "Argent, five gouttes de larmes, three and two". 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 set of five gouttes (droplets) of water. This design was chosen to represent the five rivers in the municipality and the hydropower plants near Rjukan. The arms were designed by Halvor Holtskog. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.
Churches
The Church of Norway has two parishes within the municipality of Tinn. It is part of the Øvre Telemark prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.
History
The Rjukan Falls, located on the Måna river, allowed construction of Vemork, the largest power station in the world in 1911. The station has become a museum where one can explore the history of the energy and see exhibits about the industrial development in Norway and in the town of Rjukan.
The museum at Vemork is most famous for its presentation of Rjukan's war history. During World War II, Vemork was the site of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage, when Norwegian saboteurs prevented the Germans from producing nuclear weapons from the heavy water which was produced here. The exhibit Atomkappløpet ("The nuclear race") presents the four heavy water sabotages and the allied efforts to develop a nuclear bomb.
Government
All municipalities in Norway are 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 Telemark District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.
Municipal council
The municipal council of Tinn 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 mayors of Tinn:
1838-1839: Ole Nilsen Besager
1840-1841: Halvor Torgersen Rollag
1842-1843: Gjermund S. Graver
1844-1845: Søren Schive
1846-1849: Tore Hemsen
1850-1853: Gjermund S. Graver
1854-1861: Ole Knudsen
1862-1863: Ole Gjermundsen Bakke
1864-1881: Ole Knudsen
1882-1883: Ole Gjermundsen Bakke
1884-1885: Hølje H. Klonteig
1886-1895: Ole Knudsen
1896-1899: Ola O. Haugan
1899-1900: Kristen O. Bøen
1901-1916: Knut H. Klonteig
1917-1919: Ole O. Bakke
1920-1937: Johan O. Bryn (V)
1938-1940: Kristen Vaalund (Bp)
1945-1945: L.P. Petersen
1946-1946: Kristen Vaalund (Bp)
1946-1959: Isak Bergan (Ap)
1960-1967: Sigurd Kolltveit (Ap)
1968-1973: Reidar Engell Olsen (Ap)
1974-1987: Einar Haatvedt (Ap)
1987-1993: Øystein Dahle (LL)
1993-1999: Olav Ulleren (Sp)
1999-2003: Berit Stormoen (H)
2004-2010: Erik Haatvedt (Ap)
2010-2011: Turid Opedal (Ap)
2011-2015: Steinar Bergsland (H)
2015-2019: Bjørn Sverre Birkeland (Sp)
2019-present: Steinar Bergsland (H)
Geography
Tinn borders the municipality of Nore og Uvdal (in Buskerud county) to the north; Rollag and Flesberg (also in Buskerud) to the east; Notodden, Hjartdal, and Seljord to the south, and Vinje to the west.
Most of Tinn is quite rural. The town of Rjukan is the largest settlement. It is located in the Vestfjorddalen valley, through which the Måna river flows.
Tinn stretches deeply into the Hardangervidda landscape. One landmark in Tinn is the tall mountain Gaustatoppen, which is climbed by 30,000 people each year. On clear days it is possible to see one sixth of Norway from its summit. Other areas include the Blefjell mountains, with Bletoppen being the highest mountain in that area and also the Vegglifjell mountains, with Skirveggen being the highest mountain in that area.
There are several large lakes in Tinn, including Tinnsjå and Kalhovdfjorden.
Notable people
WWII heavy water saboteurs
Arne Kjelstrup MM (1913 in Rjukan – 1995), a Norwegian resistance member during WWII, role in the Norwegian heavy water sabotage 1942–1943
Knut Lier-Hansen (1916 in Rjukan – 2008), a Norwegian resistance member during WWII, Army sergeant, role in sinking of SF Hydro as a part of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage
Jens-Anton Poulsson (1918 in Tinn – 2010), a military officer, a Norwegian resistance member, role in the Norwegian heavy water sabotage 1942–1943
Claus Helberg (1919 in Rjukan – 2003), a Norwegian resistance member, mountain guide, role in the Norwegian heavy water sabotage
Other public Service
Sam Eyde (1866–1940), a Norwegian engineer and industrialist, developed Rjukan Falls to produce hydro electrical power
Albert Sund (1884–?), a trade union leader and Labour politician, Chairman of the Øst-Telemark faglige Samorg for three years.
Knut Haugland DSO, MM, (1917 in Rjukan – 2009), a WWII resistance fighter, explorer, who accompanied Thor Heyerdahl on his famous 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition
Einar-Fredrik Ofstad (1916 in Rjukan – 1998), a Norwegian diplomat
Gunnar Sønsteby DSO (1918 in Rjukan – 2012), a member of the Norwegian resistance movement and Norway's most highly decorated citizen
Petter Graver (1920 in Tinn – 1995), a jurist, diplomat from 1947 to 1988 and a lawyer
Gunnar Odd Hagen (1921–1997), a Norwegian politician and a dentist in Tinn
Reidun Røed (1921 in Rjukan – 2009), a female Norwegian resistance member
Bjørn Bruland (1926 in Rjukan – 2014), a Norwegian admiral and politician
Reidar Engell Olsen (born 1933), a Norwegian politician and Mayor of Tinn
Jostein Børtnes (born 1937 in Hovin, Telemark), a literary historian and Slavist
Signe Howell (born 1942 in Tinn), a Norwegian social anthropologist and academic
Bernt Ivar Eidsvig (born 1953 in Rjukan), a prelate of the Catholic Church and Bishop of Oslo
Øystein Mæland (born 1960 in Rjukan), a psychiatrist, civil servant, and former politician
The Arts
Knut Luraas (1782 in Tinn – 1843), a Norwegian Hardingfele fiddler and artist
Thomas Luraas (1799 in Tinn – 1886), a Norwegian rose painter and clarinetist
Else Poulsson (1909 in Rjukan – 2002), a Norwegian painter and textile artist
Jørn Lande (born 1968 in Rjukan), a hard rock and heavy metal singer and songwriter
Linnea Dale (born 1991 in Tinn), a Norwegian singer.
Sport
Snowshoe Thompson (born 1827 in Austbygdi, Telemark as Jon Torsteinsson Rue – 1876), a Norwegian-American, considered the father of California skiing
Jon Terje Øverland (born 1944 in Rjukan), an alpine skier, competed at the 1964 Winter Olympics and 1968 Winter Olympics
Gallery
References
External links
Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
Museum
Postcard from Tinn
Postmarks/cancels from Tinn
Municipalities of Vestfold og Telemark
1838 establishments in Norway