Hell, Norway
Encyclopedia
Hell is a village in the Lånke
area of the municipality of Stjørdal
in Nord-Trøndelag
county, Norway
. It is located in the western part of the municipality, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the municipal center of Stjørdalshalsen
. The 1.48 square kilometres (365.7 acre) village has a population (2009) of 1,418. The population density
of the village is 958 PD/km2.
Hell is a post town
with two post codes: 7517 for delivery route addresses and 7570 for post-office boxes. Hell currently has a grocery store
, gas station, and a retirement home
. Until late 1995, the European route E6
highway was aligned through Hell and across the Hell bridge to Sandfærhus (nearby Trondheim Airport, Værnes
). The new road now goes around the village.
The village of Hell has become a minor tourist attraction
because of its name, as visitors often have their photograph
taken in front of the station
sign. The station sign reads , an archaic Norwegian
spelling of the word for "cargo
handling" ( would be the current spelling).
The name Hell stems from the Old Norse
word hellir, which means "overhang" or "cliff cave". The Norwegian word hell in its everyday usage usually means "luck". The Old Norse
word Hel is the same as today's English Hell, and as a proper noun, Hel
was the ruler of Hel. In modern Norwegian the word for hell
is .
Among English
-speaking tourists, popular postcards depict the station with a heavy frost on the ground, making a visual joke about "Hell frozen over." Temperatures in Hell can reach -20 C during winter.
The station
itself, Hell Station
, is situated at a railway junction where the Nordlandsbanen
rail line north to Bodø
branches off from the Meråkerbanen
between Trondheim
and Storlien
, Sweden
. Hell Station is currently a manned railway station.
is located at Sandfærhus north of the Stjørdalselva
river, rather than in Hell/Lånke
, and thus the name is a misnomer
. The Værnes airport hotel is situated next to Hellsenteret.
A yearly blues
festival, the Hell Blues Festival, takes place in the area around Hell each year. The festival changed its name to Hell Music Festival in 2006 to open their doors for music other than blues. The Hell Music Festival in 2007 failed to attract many concert-goers, however, and the festival declared bankruptcy the same year. In 2008 a new festival was started, entitled "Blues in Hell", going back to the original concept.
Mona Grudt
, Miss Norway 1990 and Miss Universe 1990
, is from a small town near Hell. During the 1990 Miss Universe competition, she listed herself as "The beauty queen from Hell" as a publicity stunt
.
Lånke
Lånke is a village and former municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in south-central part of the present-day municipality of Stjørdal, south of the Stjørdalselva river. The famous Hell Station in the village of Hell is situated in the westernmost part of Lånke. There are...
area of the municipality of Stjørdal
Stjørdal
is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Stjørdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Stjørdal, also called Stjørdalshalsen...
in Nord-Trøndelag
Nord-Trøndelag
is a county constituting the northern part of Trøndelag in Norway. As of 2010, the county had 131,555 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-least populated county. The largest municipalities are Stjørdal, Steinkjer—the county seat, Levanger, Namsos and Verdal, all with between 21,000 and...
county, Norway
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...
. It is located in the western part of the municipality, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the municipal center of Stjørdalshalsen
Stjørdalshalsen
Stjørdalshalsen is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Stjørdal in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located between the rivers Stjørdalselva and Gråelva, and their mouth into the Trondheimsfjord.The town has a population of 10,779. The population density of the town is...
. The 1.48 square kilometres (365.7 acre) village has a population (2009) of 1,418. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
of the village is 958 PD/km2.
Hell is a post town
Post town
A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system. Including the correct post town in the address increases the chances of a letter or parcel being delivered on time. Post towns are usually based upon the location of...
with two post codes: 7517 for delivery route addresses and 7570 for post-office boxes. Hell currently has a grocery store
Grocery store
A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...
, gas station, and a retirement home
Retirement home
A retirement home is a multi-residence housing facility intended for senior citizens. Typically each person or couple in the home has an apartment-style room or suite of rooms. Additional facilities are provided within the building, including facilities for meals, gathering, recreation, and some...
. Until late 1995, the European route E6
European route E6
European route E 6 is the designation for the main north-south road in Norway, and the west coast of Sweden, running from the southern tip of Sweden, at Trelleborg, into Norway and through almost all of the country north to Finnmark. The route ends close to the Norwegian border with Russia...
highway was aligned through Hell and across the Hell bridge to Sandfærhus (nearby Trondheim Airport, Værnes
Trondheim Airport, Værnes
Trondheim Airport, Værnes is an international airport located in Stjørdal, east of Trondheim, Norway. Operated by the state-owned Avinor, it shares facilities with Værnes Air Station of the Royal Norwegian Air Force. In 2010, the airport had 3,521,734 passengers and 55,747 air movements,...
). The new road now goes around the village.
Name
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
because of its name, as visitors often have their photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
taken in front of the station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
sign. The station sign reads , an archaic Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
spelling of the word for "cargo
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
handling" ( would be the current spelling).
The name Hell stems from the Old 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....
word hellir, which means "overhang" or "cliff cave". The Norwegian word hell in its everyday usage usually means "luck". The Old 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....
word Hel is the same as today's English Hell, and as a proper noun, Hel
Hel (being)
In Norse mythology, Hel is a being who presides over a realm of the same name, where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
was the ruler of Hel. In modern Norwegian the word for hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
is .
Among English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-speaking tourists, popular postcards depict the station with a heavy frost on the ground, making a visual joke about "Hell frozen over." Temperatures in Hell can reach -20 C during winter.
The station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
itself, Hell Station
Hell Station
Hell Station is a railway station located in the village of Hell in the municipality of Stjørdal in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located at the intersection of the Nordland Line and Meråker Line....
, is situated at a railway junction where the Nordlandsbanen
Nordlandsbanen
The Nordland Line is a railway line between Trondheim and Bodø in Norway. Running for approximately 729 km, it is the Norwegian railway system's longest line, and the only one in Norway to cross the Arctic Circle. It is owned by the Norwegian National Rail Administration...
rail line north to Bodø
Bodø
is a city and a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten region.The city of Bodø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . Bodin was merged with Bodø on 1 January 1968. Skjerstad was merged with Bodø on 1 January 2005...
branches off from the Meråkerbanen
Meråkerbanen
The Meråker Line is a railway line which runs from Hell, outside Stjørdal, through the municipalities of Stjørdal and Meråker in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway, to the village of Storlien in Sweden. On the Swedish side, it continues as the Central Line to the city of Sundsvall...
between Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
and Storlien
Storlien
Storlien is a village and ski resort in the Åre municipality, in Jämtland, Sweden, a kilometre from the Swedish-Norwegian border.The village has only 78 permanent inhabitants. The work opportunities are based on tourism and shopping. Most tourists are Norwegians or Swedes. Shopping tourists arrive...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Hell Station is currently a manned railway station.
Attractions
The Hellsenteret mallShopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
is located at Sandfærhus north of the Stjørdalselva
Stjørdalselva
Stjørdalselva is a long river that reaches from near the Norwegian–Swedish border down the Stjørdalen valley through the municipalities of Meråker and Stjørdal before entering the Trondheimsfjord. The mouth is located between the villages of Stjørdalshalsen and Hell just south of Trondheim...
river, rather than in Hell/Lånke
Lånke
Lånke is a village and former municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in south-central part of the present-day municipality of Stjørdal, south of the Stjørdalselva river. The famous Hell Station in the village of Hell is situated in the westernmost part of Lånke. There are...
, and thus the name is a misnomer
Misnomer
A misnomer is a term which suggests an interpretation that is known to be untrue. Such incorrect terms sometimes derive their names because of the form, action, or origin of the subject becoming named popularly or widely referenced—long before their true natures were known.- Sources of misnomers...
. The Værnes airport hotel is situated next to Hellsenteret.
A yearly blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
festival, the Hell Blues Festival, takes place in the area around Hell each year. The festival changed its name to Hell Music Festival in 2006 to open their doors for music other than blues. The Hell Music Festival in 2007 failed to attract many concert-goers, however, and the festival declared bankruptcy the same year. In 2008 a new festival was started, entitled "Blues in Hell", going back to the original concept.
Mona Grudt
Mona Grudt
Mona Grudt Bittrick became the first Norwegian to capture the Miss Universe title in 1990.-Miss Universe:...
, Miss Norway 1990 and Miss Universe 1990
Miss Universe 1990
Miss Universe 1990, the 39th Miss Universe pageant was held at Shubert Theatre, Los Angeles, USA on April 15, 1990. Mona Grudt of Norway was crowned as Miss Universe 1990. Seventy-one contestants competed for the crown....
, is from a small town near Hell. During the 1990 Miss Universe competition, she listed herself as "The beauty queen from Hell" as a publicity stunt
Publicity stunt
A publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized or set up by amateurs...
.