Kviteseid

Infobox_Kommune
name=Kviteseid
idnumber=0829
county=Telemark
landscape=Vest-Telemark
capital=Kviteseid
governor=Torstein Tveito (Sp)
governor_as_of=2003
arearank=157
area=708
arealand=624
areapercent=0.22
population_as_of=2004
populationrank=296
population=2,622
populationpercent=0.06
populationdensity=4
populationincrease=-6.9
language=Nynorsk
demonym=Kvitseiding
lat_deg=59| lat_min=20| lat_sec=55| lon_deg=8| lon_min=29| lon_sec=34
utm_zone=32V| utm_northing=6579009 |utm_easting=0471159| geo_cat=adm2nd

munwebpage=www.kviteseid.kommune.no

Kviteseid is a municipality in the county of Telemark, Norway.

The parish of "Hvideseid" was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The borders of the municipality are in the northwest to Seljord, east to Nome, south to Drangedal, Nissedal and Fyresdal and west to Tokke. The highest point is Sveinsheia, 1,141 meters above sea level.

The industries are forestry, agriculture, tourism and hydroelectric power.

Within the municipality of Kviteseid one finds the little village of Morgedal, also known as "The Cradle of Modern Skiing" ("Skisportens vugge"), home of Sondre Norheim. Here, the olympic fire was lit for the Olympic Games in 1952 (Oslo), 1960 (Squaw Valley) and 1994 (Lillehammer).

Kviteseid is also known for being a stop in the Telemark Canal.

There are several ski resorts in Kviteseid. Vrådal is one of them.

The name

The Norse form of the name was "Hvítiseið". The first element is the genitive case of "*Hvítir" 'the white one' (probably an older name of Kviteseidvatn), the last element is "eið" n 'path between two lakes'.

Until 1889 the name was written "Hviteseid".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1987). It shows an old lock. (To symbolize safety.)

External links

* [http://www.kviteseidbyen.no Kviteseidbyen]
* [http://www.vraadal.com Vrådal.com]
* [http://www.morgedal.no Morgedal.no]
* [http://www.ssb.no/kommuner/region.cgi?nr=08 Kommunefakta Telemark (Statistisk Sentralbyrå)]