Dovre

Dovre is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dovre.

The municipality is bordered on the north by Oppdal municipality, on the east by Folldal, on the south by Sel and Vågå, and on the northwest by Lesja. The highest peak is Snøhetta at a height of 2,286 metres (7,500 ft).

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Dovre farm (Old Norse: Dofrar), since the first church was built here. The name is the plural of an (unknown) word *dofr – but this could be related to Lithuanian daubà 'cleft, gorge'. In the hillside above the Dovre farm are two small rivers running in two deep gorges.

Other places in Norway, that have names beginning with Dovre-, are also in the vicinity of clefts and gorges, and in southern Sweden, Dovra or Dovrasjödalen is the name of a wide gorge near Hallsberg.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is from modern times. It was granted on 11 July 1986. The arms show a black muskox with a yellow horn on a gray background. The muskox is an animal typical for the northern parts of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. It is not native to Norway, but in 1932, ten muskoxen were released near Dovre. The number has increased to around 300 today (2013), and the animal is thus a typical symbol for the municipality.

Dovre (disambiguation)

The word Dovre can refer to:

Places in Norway:

Also: