Kviteseid (; ) is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional districts of Vest-Telemark and Upper Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kviteseid. Other villages in Kviteseid include Åsgrend, Brunkeberg, Eidstod, Fjågesund, Kilen, Morgedal, and Vrådal.

The municipality is the 163rd largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Kviteseid Municipality is the 258th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of . The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 0.6% over the previous 10-year period.

Kviteseid Seminar was the first public teacher training school in Norway which started in 1819 and was in operation until 1889. Kviteseid Library () was founded in 1895. The library was first based on a book collection from Kviteseid Seminar. The main industries of the municipality include forestry, agriculture, tourism, and hydroelectric power. The Telemark Canal goes through the municipality.

There are also several ski resorts in Kviteseid as well. The little village of Morgedal is located in northern Kviteseid. It is known as the "Cradle of Modern Skiing" () and the home of Sondre Norheim. Here, the Olympic Flame was lit for the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, and 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.

General information

Administrative history The formannskapsdistrikt law of 1837 created a system of local government in Norway by establishing each town (ladested or kjøpstad) and each Church of Norway prestegjeld as a civil municipality. On 1 January 1838, Hvideseid prestegjeld was established as Hvideseid Municipality (later spelled "Kviteseid"). On 11 October 1873, an unpopulated area of Kviteseid Munincipality was transferred to Seljord Municipality. The borders of the municipality have not changed since that time (which is pretty rare among municipalities in Norway).

In 2020, there were many municipal and county mergers across Norway due to the work of the Solberg cabinet. Historically, this municipality was part of Telemark county. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became a part of the newly-formed Vestfold og Telemark county (after Telemark and Vestfold counties were merged). The merger was shortlived, and on 1 January 2024, the merger was undone and this municipality became part of Telemark county once again.

Name The municipality is named after the old Kviteseid prestegjeld. The prestegjeld was named after the old Kviteseid farm () since the Old Kviteseid Church was built there. The first element comes from the old name for the lake Kviteseidvatnet. That name is the plural genitive case of the word which means "white" or "the white one". The last element is which means "isthmus" or "path between two lakes". Prior to 1889, the name was spelled "Hviteseid". The spelling was changed to reflect the local dialect and spelling using Nynorsk rather than the more Danish-Bokmål spelling with the h.

Coat of arms The coat of arms was granted on 27 November 1987. The official blazon is "Or, a lock plate sable" (). This means the arms have a field (background) 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 charge is a black lock plate. The lock design is based on one from the Tveitloftet medieval storehouse on the local Tveit farm dating back to the year 1350. The design symbolises the long traditions of lock-making and building construction in the area. The arms were designed by Daniel Rike. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches The Church of Norway has one parish () within Kviteseid Municipality. It is part of the Øvre Telemark prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.

Churches in Kviteseid MunicipalityParish ()Church nameLocation of the churchYear builtKviteseidBrunkeberg ChurchBrunkeberg1790Fjågesund ChurchFjågesund1916Kilen ChapelKilen1958Kviteseid ChurchKviteseidbyen1918Old Kviteseid Churchbetween Kviteseidbyen and Eidstodc. 1260Vrådal ChurchVrådal1886

Geography Seljord Municipality is located to the north and east, Nome Municipality is located to the east, Drangedal Municipality is located to the southeast, Nissedal Municipality is located to the south, Fyresdal Municipality is located to the southwest, and Tokke Municipality is located to the west.

There are several large lakes that are located in or partially in Kviteseid including Kviteseidvatnet, Flåvatn, and Bandak (all three of which are part of the Telemark Canal, plus Nisser and Vråvatn. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Sveinsheii, located on the border with Fyresdal Municipality.

Government Kviteseid 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 Øvre Telemark District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.

Municipal council The municipal council of Kviteseid Municipality is made up of 17 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 Kviteseid Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:

1838–1841: Ole Blom 1842–1843: Ole Bjørnsen Haukom 1844–1861: Tormod Knudsen Borgejorde 1862–1879: Knut Taraldsen 1880–1883: Bjørn Brekke 1884–1890: Knut Taraldsen 1890–1900: Ludvig Kristoffersen 1901–1913: Sigurd Torleivson Kolltveit (V) 1914–1919: Halvor Straand 1920–1922: Sigurd Kolltveit 1923–1924: Knut Skarprud 1925–1928: Halvor Straand 1929–1932: Olaf Hegland (V) 1932–1933: Torleiv Kolltveit 1934–1941: Sigurd Rinden (Ap) 1941–1945: Håkon Eikland (NS) 1945–1946: Sigurd Rinden (Ap) 1946–1947: Knut Nørstrud (Ap) 1948–1951: Trygve Bergland 1952–1967: Svein Landsverk (Ap) 1968–1970: Sigurd Rinden (Ap) 1970–1975: Øystein Strondi (Ap) 1976–1979: Arne Bjørnson (Sp) 1980–1983: Nils Sandvik (Sp) 1984–1991: Johannes Skarprud (Ap) 1992–1998: Inge Fjalestad (Sp) 1998–1999: Anne Lise Råmunddal (Sp) 1999–2003: Karin Maria Larsen (Ap) 2003–2015: Torstein Tveito (Sp) 2015–2019: Tarjei Gjelstad (Ap) 2019–2023: Bjørn Nordskog (Sp) 2023–present: Tarjei Draugedal (KrF)

Notable people

Peter Paulson Paus (1590 - 1653 in Kviteseid), a high-ranking cleric and provost of Upper Telemark from 1633-1653 Knut Mevasstaul (1785 in Kviteseid – 1862), a painter specializing in rosemåling Sondre Norheim (1825 in Morgedal – 1897), a pioneer skier and father of Telemark skiing brothers Torjus Hemmestveit (1860–1930) and Mikkjel Hemmestveit (1863–1957) born in Morgedal, two Norwegian-American Nordic skiers who shared the Holmenkollen medal in 1928 Olav Bjaaland (1873 in Morgedal – 1961), a skiing champion and polar explorer who was one of the five men to reach the South Pole as part of Amundsen's South Pole expedition in 1911 Einar Landvik (1898 in Kviteseid – 1993), a Nordic skier who competed in 1924 Winter Olympics Dyre Vaa (1903 in Kviteseid – 1980), a sculptor and painter Solveig Muren Sanden (1918 in Vrådal – 2013), an illustrator and comics artist

References

External links Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway Fjaagesund.no