Vågå
Vågå () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The municipality comprises 1,330 km. The administrative centre is the village of Vågåmo. The parish of "Vaage" was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The areas of Sel and Heidal were separated from the municipality of Vågå to become separate municipalities of their own on 1 January 1908. General information. Name. Two origins have been suggested for the name Vågå: Prior to 1918, the name was written ""Vaage"". In 1918, it was changed to ""Vaagaa"" and in 1921  the spelling was again changed to ""Vågå"". The letter å is a long vowel similar to "oh" or "aw", like in the American pronunciation of "cold" or "oar." Coat-of-arms. The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 23 August 1985. The arms show a gold reindeer on a red background. They are based on a character in Henrik Ibsen's book Peer Gynt, who rides on a reindeer bull over the Besseggen mountains. Ibsen got the idea for this book from a local story. Geography. Vågå is bordered on the north by the municipality  of Lesja, in the east by Dovre and Sel, in the southeast by Nord-Fron, in the south by Vang and Øystre Slidre, and in the West by Lom. The Vågå municipality lies in a mountainous region just to the north of Norway's Jotunheimen National Park, west of Rondane National Park, and south of the Dovrefjell mountains. The highest peak is the Surtningsuen with a height of . Vågå includes a mountain road to the top of the tall "Jetta" mountain which provides an unobstructed view of both the Gudbrandsdal Valley and the surrounding national parks. The river Otta begins  in Skjåk municipality and flows into Vågåvatn Lake. Exiting Vågåvatn at Vågåmo, the river continues its journey through the Ottadalen valley leaving Vågå municipality to meet the Gudbrandsdalslågen at Otta in the municipality of Sel. Lakes in the region include Flatningen. The urban areas in Vågå are the villages of Vågåmo and Lalm. Climate. Vågå lies in the rain shadow from the Jotunheimen mountains which separate Eastern and Western Norway. The climate is hence characterized by a continental climate. Warm summers and cold winters dominate, and the precipitation is very low. In fact some years it is less than of  precipitation. This dry continental climate makes Vågå the obvious place for the national hang glider and para glider centre of Norway. Physical geography. Although being affected by the ice-sheet history spanning the Quaternary period of the last 2.5 million years, much of the landscape are moderately imprinted by ice-sheet erosion except from in the main valleys. Even these valleys including Sjodalen and Ottadalen are of pre-Quaternary origin, and were originally sculptured by fluvial rather than glacial erosion. The numerous lakes does remind us of the glacial history, although being much more limited than in the more dramatic  [fiord]s of western Norway. This limited glacial erosion also means that Vågå had limited glacier erosion during the last glacial period. Many findings of Mammoth pre-dating the last glacial maximum (LGM) have been found, being evidence of the conservative nature of the LGM in the region. History. Vågå is mentioned in the Heimskringla () by Snorri Sturluson. The old Norse saga (Conversion of Dale-Gudbrand) relates that after King Olaf stayed several nights in Lesja, he proceeded south across the uplands to the Ottadal, and the beautiful hamlet lying there on both sides of the Otta river. King Olaf remained  there five days, summoning the residents of Vågå, Lom, and Heidal to a meeting (ting). They were advised they must either receive Christianity and give their sons as hostages, or see their habitations burnt. Many submitted to his demands. Vågå stave church is the second oldest stave church in the country, which was constructed around 1150 and originally dedicated to St. Peter. It was converted to a cruciform church in 1625; the carved portal and wall planks are original. The baptismal font dates from the original church and a Gothic crucifix from the 13th century can be seen there as  well. In 1130, Ivar Gjesling was the earliest-known owner of Sandbu (just north of Vågåmo) in Vågå. He was also King Magnus IV's lendmann for the Opplands. Sigrid Undset's fictional Lady Ragnfrid, wife of Lavrans, was created a Gjesling from Sandbu. Ivar Gjesling, allied himself with the Birchlegs (Birkebeinerne) — who chose Sverre as their king at Øreting in 1177. Sverre granted him the valley of Heidal as a reward. Farmers from Vågå participated in the successful attack on Scottish mercenary troops journeying to join Swedish forces in 1612. The legends of the Battle of Kringen lives on  to this day, including the story of how the peasant girl "Prillar-Guri" lured the Scots into an ambush by playing of the traditional ram's horn. Ole Paulssøn Haagenstad (1775–1866) was in 1814 summoned by Christian-Frederick to plan the defense of Gudbrandsdalen in the event of a Swedish attack. Over 150 houses in the municipality are designated as historic landmarks. Politics. The mayor is elected by the municipal council. Since 1946, all mayors with two exceptions have represented the Norwegian Labour Party. The only non-Labour mayors were Ola O. Kleiven and Kari Hølmo Holen (Norwegian Centre Party ). Øygard case. The last election took place in September 2011, when Rune Øygard was reelected as mayor, after having served since 1995. His reelection by the municipal council was controversial as he was already under police investigation for alleged child sexual abuse, the so-called "Øygard case", sometimes also referred to as the "Vågå case". Øygard was granted temporary leave following his indictment in the case, and was succeeded as acting mayor by Iselin Jonassen (Labour) on 8 May 2012. After being found guilty and sentenced to four years imprisonment, Rune Øygard resigned as mayor. His resignation was granted by  the municipal council on 18 December 2012, effective immediately. Sister cities. The following cities are twinned with Vågå: