Lesja

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

The parish of Lesje was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The area of Dovre was separated from Lesja to become a municipality of its own in 1861.

Lesja is bordered in the north by the municipalities of Nesset, Sunndal, and Oppdal; in the east by Dovre; in the south by Vågå and Lom; in the southwest by Skjåk; and to the west by Rauma.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Lesjar (plural form). There are two different interpretations of the meaning of the name. It might derive from læs meaning "pasture", or it is a shortened version of "Leirsjøar" meaning "muddy lakes", referring to two relatively large and shallow lakes which occupied the valley bottom until the late 19th century, when both lakes were drained in order to gain more farmland.

Coat-of-arms