Modum

Not to be confused with MODAM or Modem.

Modum is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. 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 2011 is an amazing jump of 246.5 metres (809 ft).

General information

Name

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

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.

Geography

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 people

• 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
• Charles E. Hanson (1855–1932), member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• 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

The following cities are twinned with Modum:

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

External links

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