Sister cities of Bø, Telemark

Bø is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Midt-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bø i Telemark. The municipality of Bø was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The area of Lunde was separated from Bø in 1867 to become a separate municipality.

Bø is well known for its folk traditions and for being home to one of the four branches of Telemark University College (Høgskolen i Telemark). Bø has several times been called "the most beautiful place on earth" in modern literature, among others in Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson's story, En glad Gut ("A Happy Boy").

In 1923 the county of Telemark decided to start a secondary school in Bø, the equivalent of today's middle school or "ungdomsskole", called Telemark Realskole. At this time secondary schools mostly existed in the larger towns and cities, and most youngsters ended their schooling after 7 years. It was the county's intention to expand this school to a high school as soon as practically possible. This happened in 1947, and the school's name was Telemark Offentlige Landsgymnas. The existence of this school made it possible to establish Distriktshøgskulen i Telemark in Bø, and from there expand the educational opportunities in Bø.