Melhus

Melhus Municipality

*Melhus kommune*
Melhus Municipality Melhus kommune
Municipality
	View of Melhus sentrum
	Flag Coat of arms
	Trøndelag within Norway
	Melhus within Trøndelag
	Coordinates: 63°10′35″N 10°18′13″E
Country	Norway
County	Trøndelag
District	Gauldalen
Established	1 Jan 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Administrative centre	Melhus
Government
• Mayor (2023)	Einar Gimse-Syrstad (Ap)
Area
• Total	694.41 km2 (268.11 sq mi)
• Land	653.33 km2 (252.25 sq mi)
• Water	41.08 km2 (15.86 sq mi) 5.9%
• Rank	#166 in Norway
Population (2023)
• Total	17,340
• Rank	#74 in Norway
• Density	26.5/km2 (69/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	+10.6%
Demonym	Melhusbygg
Official language
• Norwegian form	Neutral
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-5028
Website	Official website
	Data from Statistics Norway

Melhus is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Melhus. Other villages include Gåsbakken, Hovin, Korsvegen, Kvål, Ler, Lundamo, Storsand, and Øysand.

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Agriculture is important in Melhus, and the extensive lowland areas in the almost flat valley surrounding the Gaula River are dominated by grain fields. Many inhabitants work in the city of Trondheim, a 20-minute drive north from Melhus.

The 694-square-kilometre (268 sq mi) municipality is the 166th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Melhus is the 74th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 17,340. The municipality's population density is 26.5 inhabitants per square kilometre (69/sq mi) and its population has increased by 10.6% over the previous 10-year period.^[4]^[5]

General information

Melhus was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1865, the western district of Høilandet (population: 1,818) was separated from Melhus to form a separate municipality. Then on 1880, the eastern district of Flaa (population: 614) was separated to form its own municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Melhus (population: 3,978) was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Hølonda (population: 1,428), Flå (population: 843), Horg (population: 2,560), and the small Langørgen farm area in the neighboring municipality of Buvik (population: 11) to form a new, larger municipality of Melhus.^[6] On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Sør-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Melhus farm (Old Norse: Meðalhúsar) since the first Melhus Church was built there. The first element is meðal which means "middle". The last element is the plural form of hús which means "house". The farm is one part of a greater and older farm, which had the name Óðinssalr which means "the salr (mead hall) of Odin".^[7]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 8 November 1979. The official blazon is "Gules, a bowman genuant Or" (Norwegian: På rød bunn en gull knestående bueskytter). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a kneeling archer. The archer has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The arms were chosen to symbolize a local hero, Einar Tambarskjelve, who was a famous chief and archer from Melhus in the 11th century. He is mentioned as an archer for King Olav Tryggvason in the Battle of Svolder. The arms were designed by Hallvard Trætteberg. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.^[8]^[9]

Churches

The Church of Norway has four parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Melhus. It is part of the Gauldal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nidaros.

More information Parish (sokn), Church name ...

**Churches in Melhus**
Parish (sokn)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Flå	Flå Church	Ler	1794
Horg	Horg Church	Lundamo	1892
Hølonda	Hølonda Church	Gåsbakken	1848
Melhus	Melhus Church	Storsand	1892

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History

Melhus was the site of many important events during the Viking Age. It was the site of the farm Rimul in Melhus at which Jarl Haakon was killed by his slave, Tormod Kark. Jarlshola is the location in Melhus thought to have been the hiding place of Jarl Haakon and Tormod Kark on their last night before the infamous murder at Rimul.

Geography

The 695-square-kilometre (268 sq mi) municipality of Melhus includes the valley of the river Gaula as it flows northwards towards its mouth at the Gaulosen, an arm of the Trondheimsfjord. The lake Svorksjøen lies on the western border with Orkdal and Meldal. The lakes Benna and Ånøya lie in the central part of the municipality, and the lake Samsjøen lies on the southeastern border with Midtre Gauldal municipality. The mountains of Rensfjellet and Vassfjellet lie on the eastern border with Selbu and Klæbu municipalities, respectively.

Government

Melhus Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[10] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Trøndelag District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Melhus is made up of 37 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.