Brandval is a parish in the municipality of Kongsvinger

Kongsvinger

is a town and is a municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Glåmdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kongsvinger....

, in Hedmark

Hedmark

is a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Akershus. The county administration is in Hamar.Hedmark makes up the northeastern part of Østlandet, the southeastern part of the country. It includes a long part of the borderline with Sweden, Dalarna County and Värmland County. The...

 county, Norway.

History

Brandval is located in the Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 traditional district

Districts of Norway

The country Norway is historically divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords,...

 of Solør

Solør

Solør is a Norwegian traditional district consisting of the valley between Elverum in the north and Kongsvinger in the south. It is part of the county of Hedmark, and includes the municipalities Våler, Åsnes and Grue.-Glomma valley :...

. Brandval parish forms the northern part of Kongsvinger municipality. Brandval is situated north of Kongsvinger

Kongsvinger

is a town and is a municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Glåmdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kongsvinger....

 on the Glåma river. The municipality was created as Brandval formannskapsdistrikt

Formannskapsdistrikt

Formannskapsdistrikt was the name for a Norwegian local self-government districts put into force in 1838. This system of municipality was created in a bill approved by the Storting and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January 1837...

 in 1837. Brandval was separated from Grue

Grue, Norway

Grue is a municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Solør. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkenær ....

 in 1867. In 1941 part of Grue

Grue

Grue may refer to:* Grue , a predator invented by Jack Vance and featured in the Zork series* Grue and bleen, portmanteau words formed from green and blue, coined by Nelson Goodman to illustrate his "new riddle of induction"...

 was transferred into Brandval. Brandval, Kongsvinger and Vinger

Vinger

Vinger is a traditional district and a parish as well as being a former municipality in Kongsvinger in Hedmark, Norway.The parish of Vinger was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 ....

  municipalities were merged to form Kongsvinger municipality in 1964.

Finnskogen

Finnskogen

Finnskogen is an area of Norway situated in the county of Hedmark, named so because of immigration of Finnish people in the 17th century, the so-called Skogfinner/"Forest Finns"....

 or the Finn's forest is a belt about 32 km (19.9 mi) wide and running continuously along the frontier in the districts of Austmarka, Brandval, Grue, Hof, Åsnes, and Våler.

Brandval church (Brandval kirke) is a neo-Gothic, cruciform

Cruciform

Cruciform means having the shape of a cross or Christian cross.- Cruciform architectural plan :This is a common description of Christian churches. In Early Christian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox forms of church architecture this is more likely to mean a tetraconch plan, a Greek cross,...

 church dating from 1651. the church was built of wood. The church was subject to a restoration in 1839 and underwent a renovation in 1876-77. Johan Heinrich Günther Schüssler was the architect behind the rebuilding. The baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

  pulpit and alter date from 1651. They were made ​​by Lauritz Lauritzen

Lauritz Lauritzen

Lauritz Lauritzen was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany . He was born in Kiel and died in Bad Honnef....

 and painted by Thomas Blix in 1728. The Baptismal font is from the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

.

The name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Brandval (Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

Brandváll), since the first church was built there (in 1651). The first element is brandr m 'fire; burning', the last element is váll m 'clearance made by the use of fire'.

Other sources

• Langen, Helge; Halvor Noer (2001) Brandval Kirke 350 år, Glimt fra kirkens historie Brandval menighet de siste 25 år (Brandval Menighetsråd) ISBN 82-995996-0-1