Kviteseid


Kviteseid is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Upper Telemark and Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kviteseid. The parish of Hvideseid was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. Kviteseid Seminar was the first public school which started in 1819 and was in operation until 1889. Kviteseid Library was founded in 1895. The library was first based on a book collection from Kviteseid Seminar.
The main industries of the municipality are forestry, agriculture, tourism, and hydroelectric power. The Telemark Canal goes through Kviteseid. There are also several ski resorts in Kviteseid. Vrådal is one of them.
Within the municipality of Kviteseid, one finds the little village of Morgedal, also known as the "Cradle of Modern Skiing" and home of Sondre Norheim. Here, the Olympic Flame was lit for the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, and 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Hvítiseið. The first element is the genitive case of Hvítir which means "the white one" and the last element is eið which means "path between two lakes". Prior to 1889, the name was written "Hviteseid".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted in 1987. The arms show an old black-colored lock on a gold/yellow background. It was chosen to symbolize safety.

Geography

The municipality borders Seljord to the northwest; Nome to the east; Drangedal, Nissedal, and Fyresdal to the south; and Tokke to the west. The highest point is Sveinsheia at above sea level. The small parish of Åsgrend is within the boundaries of Kviteseid.