Modum kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Buskerud within Norway
Modum within Buskerud
Coordinates: 59°57′27″N 9°58′58″E / 59.9575°N 9.98278°E / 59.9575; 9.98278Coordinates: 59°57′27″N 9°58′58″E / 59.9575°N 9.98278°E / 59.9575; 9.98278
Country	Norway
County	Buskerud
Administrative centre	Vikersund
Government
• Mayor (2007)	Terje Bråthen (Ap)
Area
• Total	515 km2 (199 sq mi)
• Land	463 km2 (179 sq mi)
Area rank	204 in Norway
Population (2004)
• Total	12,594
• Rank	87 in Norway
• Density	27/km2 (70/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	3.2 %
Demonym	Moding[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0623
Official language form	Bokmål
Website	www.modum.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Modum is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hallingdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Vikersund. The municipality of Modum was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

The area has a long tradition of skiing with several famous skiers. Modum is home to one of the largest ski jumping hills in the world, Vikersundbakken. The hill record, established in 2004 is an amazing jump of 219 metres (719 ft).

General information [link]

Name [link]

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Modum farm (Old Norse: Móðheimr), since the first church was built here. The first element is móða which means "river" (here the Drammenselva river) and the last element is heimr which means "home", "homestead", or "farm". The name of the farm was later changed to Buskerud.

Coat-of-arms [link]

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 15 March 1985. The arms show three wavy silver lines “party per bend sinister” on a blue background. They represent the three main rivers in the municipality: Drammenselva, Snarumselva, and Simoa and the colour blue represents Blaafarveværket.^[2]

Geography [link]

The municipality is bordered in the north by Krødsherad and Ringerike, in the east by Hole and Lier, in the south by Øvre Eiker, and in the west by Sigdal.

The municipality has three main villages: Åmot, Geithus, and the municipality administrative center of Vikersund. Åmot is the starting point for the Kunstnerdal. Here is where the Blaafarveværket is located. That includes a cobalt museum, art institutions, and a children’s barn yard.

Notable residents [link]

• Ole Einar Bjørndalen, ski biathlete
• Ole Gunnar Fidjestøl, ski jumper
• Hans Andersen Foss (1851-1929) Norwegian-American author and newspaper editor
• Maurits Hansen (1774-1843), author
• Nils P. Haugen, member of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin
• Christopher Hornsrud (1859-1960), Norwegian Prime Minister from January to February 1928
• Thure Erik Lund, author

Sister cities [link]

The following cities are twinned with Modum:^[3]

• Laukaa, Western Finland, Finland
• Stevns, Region Sjælland, Denmark
• Östra Göinge, Skåne County, Sweden

References [link]

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Modum

Look up Modum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
• Buskerud travel guide from Wikitravel
• Blaafarveværket Cobalt mines
• Culture in Modum on the map from Kulturnett.no

v t e Municipalities of Buskerud Ål Drammen Flå Flesberg Gol Hemsedal Hol Hole Hurum Kongsberg Krødsherad Lier Modum Nedre Eiker Nes Nore og Uvdal Øvre Eiker Ringerike Rollag Røyken Sigdal