Lesja

Lesja is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is village of Lesja. Other villages in the municipality include Bjorli, Lesjaskog, Lesjaverk, and Lora. Lesja is located in the northwestern edge of Innlandet county. It is bordered in the north by the municipalities of Molde and Sunndal (in Møre og Romsdal county) and Oppdal (in Trøndelag county). It is bordered to the east by the municipality of Dovre; in the south by Vågå and Lom municipalities; in the southwest by the municipality of Skjåk; and to the west by Rauma municipality. The municipality is the 25th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Lesja is the 279th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,986. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 9.5% over the previous 10-year period. The parish of Lesje was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1863, the eastern part of the municipality (population: 2,537) was separated to become the new municipality of Dovre. This left Lesja with 3,666 residents. The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Lesja farm (Lesjar) since the first Lesja Church was built there. There are two different interpretations of the meaning of the name. It might derive from læs meaning "pasture", or it is a shortened version of Leirsjøar meaning "muddy lakes", referring to two relatively large and shallow lakes which occupied the valley bottom until the late 19th century, when both lakes were drained in order to gain more farmland. Historically, the name was spelled Lesje. The coat of arms was granted on 23 January 1987. The official blazon is "Per fess argent and azure, a pile issuant from the base" (På sølv grunn blå skjoldfot med spiss oppover). This means the arms have are divided with a line that is horizontal with a triangle point upwards in the middle. The field (background) below the line has a tincture of blue.