Botne

The municipality (originally the parish) was named after the old farm Botne (Norse Botnar), since the first church was built there. The name is the plural form of botn m 'bottom, hollow, depression'.

Baptismal font

Botne Church (Botne kirke) is a stone church. It dates from the 13th century. The church is dedicated to St. Nicholas. There is rectangular nave and lower and narrower choir. The Renaissance / Baroque altarpiece is from 1664 and consists of four pictures from the gospels. The pulpit is from 1634 with five subjects with evangelists and painted in large fields. The baptismal font is also from the 1600s and has an octagonal basin with painted biblical scenes on four sides.[1]

Botne church was expanded in 1865 and restored in 1947. In 1865 the ridge turret was replaced by a tower in the west and with a gable roof at the east end of the choir. The ceiling was paneled, new hardwood floors replaced the stone floor, new gallery at the west wall, larger gallery at the north wall and new benches. During a restoration in 1947, the chancel screen and the north gallery were removed and west gallery was renewed. The church got a new altar and paintings on the north wall were uncovered.[2]

• Dag Jukvam / Statistics Norway (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2003-03-10. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Registreringssentral for historiske data. "Hjemmehørende folkemengde Buskerud 1801-1960" (in Norwegian). University of Tromsø.