municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in
Vestland
Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...
county on the
west coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of
Bergenshalvøyen
The Bergen Peninsula ( nb, Bergenshalvøya, ; nn, Bergenshalvøyen) is a peninsula in Vestland county, Norway. The city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city, is located on the peninsula. The peninsula extends out from the mainland and it i ...
. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are on Byfjorden, 'the city fjord', and the city is surrounded by mountains; Bergen is known as the "city of seven mountains". Many of the extra-municipal suburbs are on islands. Bergen is the administrative centre of Vestland county. The city consists of eight boroughs: Arna,
Bergenhus
Bergenhus is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. This borough encompasses the city centre and is the most urbanized area of the whole city. The borough has a population (2014) of 40,606. This gives Bergenhus a populatio ...
,
Fana
Fana is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the southeastern part of the municipality of Bergen. The borough was once part of the historic municipality of Fana which was incorporated into Bergen in ...
,
Fyllingsdalen
Fyllingsdalen () is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located southwest of the city centre in the Fyllingsdalen valley, west of the mountain Løvstakken. The neighbourhoods of Fyllingsdalen mainly consist ...
,
Laksevåg
Laksevåg is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located in the western part of the municipality. Historically, the area was called ''Laxevaag'', and it was a separate municipality until 1972 when it was m ...
,
Ytrebygda
Ytrebygda is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is the site of Bergen Flesland Airport.
Location
Ytrebygda is located southwest of the city center, south of the Grimstadfjorden and the lake Nordåsvannet. It ...
Åsane
Åsane is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the northern part of the city, north of the city centre.
Åsane is connected to downtown Bergen by the E16/ E39 highway. The E16 highway continues on t ...
.
Trading in Bergen may have started as early as the 1020s. According to tradition, the city was founded in 1070 by King Olav Kyrre and was named Bjørgvin, 'the green meadow among the mountains'. It served as Norway's capital in the 13th century, and from the end of the 13th century became a bureau city of the
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...
. Until 1789, Bergen enjoyed exclusive rights to mediate trade between
Northern Norway
Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical Regions of Norway, region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainlan ...
and abroad and it was the largest city in Norway until the 1830s when it was overtaken by the capital, Christiania (now known as
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
). What remains of the quays,
Bryggen
Bryggen (''the dock''), also known as Tyskebryggen (, ''the German dock''), is a series of Hanseatic heritage commercial buildings lining up the eastern side of the Vågen harbour in the city of Bergen, Norway. Bryggen has been on the UNESCO
...
, is a World Heritage Site. The city was hit by numerous fires over the years. The
Bergen School of Meteorology __NOTOC__
The "Bergen School of Meteorology" is a school of thought which is the basis for much of modern weather forecasting.
Founded by the meteorologist Prof. Vilhelm Bjerknes and his younger colleagues in 1917, the Bergen School attempts to de ...
was developed at the
Geophysical Institute The Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks conducts research into space physics and aeronomy; atmospheric sciences; snow, ice, and permafrost; seismology; volcanology; and tectonics and sedimentation. It was founded in 1946 by ...
starting in 1917, the
Norwegian School of Economics
The Norwegian School of Economics ( no, Norges Handelshøyskole) or NHH is a business school situated in Bergen, Norway. It was founded in 1936 as Norway's first business school and is a leading teaching and research institution in the fields of ...
was founded in 1936, and the
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...
in 1946. From 1831 to 1972, Bergen was its own
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
. In 1972 the municipality absorbed four surrounding municipalities and became a part of Hordaland county.
The city is an international center for aquaculture, shipping, the offshore petroleum industry and subsea technology, and a national centre for higher education, media, tourism and finance.
Bergen Port
Bergen Port is an international seaport located in the centre of Bergen, Norway, operated by Bergen Port Authority. Port locations are featured along most of the two bays in Bergen, Vågen, Bergen, Vågen and Puddefjorden. In 2006 it served 27,342 ...
is Norway's busiest in terms of both freight and passengers, with over 300 cruise ship calls a year bringing nearly a half a million passengers to Bergen, a number that has doubled in 10 years. Almost half of the passengers are German or British. The city's main football team is
SK Brann
Sportsklubben Brann (commonly known as Brann, and less often as SK Brann) is a Norwegian professional football club, founded 26 September 1908, from Bergen. Brann had been in the Eliteserien, Norway's Premier Division of Football, since 1987, bar ...
and a unique tradition of the city is the
buekorps
Buekorps (; literally "Bow Corps" or "Archery Brigade") are traditional marching neighbourhood youth organizations in Bergen, Norway.
The tradition is unique to Bergen. The organizations, which are called ''bataljoner'' (battalions), were first ...
. Natives speak a distinct dialect, known as
Bergensk
Bergensk or Bergen dialect is a dialect of Norwegian used in Bergen, Norway. It is easy for Norwegians to recognise, as it is more distinguishable from other dialects in Vestland than, for example, the Stavanger dialect (''Stavangersk'') from the ...
. The city features
Bergen Airport, Flesland
Bergen Airport ( nn, Bergen lufthamn; ), alternatively Bergen Flesland Airport or simply Flesland Airport, is an international airport located at Flesland in the city and municipality of Bergen, Vestland, Norway. Opened in 1955, it is the secon ...
and
Bergen Light Rail
Bergen Light Rail ( no, Bybanen) is a light rail system in Bergen, Norway. The first stage of the project was a twenty-station stretch between the city center and Lagunen Storsenter, where the first 15 stations comprising a stretch opened in ...
, and is the terminus of the
Bergen Line
The Bergen Line or the Bergen Railway ( no, Bergensbanen or nn, Bergensbana), is a long scenic standard gauge railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, Norway. The name is often applied for the entire route from Bergen via Drammen to Oslo, ...
. Four large bridges connect Bergen to its suburban municipalities.
Bergen has a mild winter climate, though with a lot of precipitation. From December to March, Bergen can, in rare cases, be up to 20 °C warmer than Oslo, even though both cities are at about 60° North. The Gulf Stream keeps the sea relatively warm, considering the latitude, and the mountains protect the city from cold winds from the north, north-east and east.
History
The city of Bergen was traditionally thought to have been founded by king Olav Kyrre, son of
Harald Hardråde
Harald Sigurdsson (; – 25 September 1066), also known as Harald III of Norway and given the epithet ''Hardrada'' (; modern no, Hardråde, roughly translated as "stern counsel" or "hard ruler") in the sagas, was King of Norway from 1046 t ...
in 1070AD, four years after the Viking Age in England ended with the
Battle of Stamford Bridge
The Battle of Stamford Bridge ( ang, Gefeoht æt Stanfordbrycge) took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, in England, on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading N ...
. Modern research has, however, discovered that a trading settlement had already been established in the 1020s or 1030s.
Bergen gradually assumed the function of capital of Norway in the early 13th century, as the first city where a rudimentary central administration was established. The city's cathedral was the site of the first royal coronation in Norway in the 1150s, and continued to host royal coronations throughout the 13th century.
Bergenhus fortress
Bergenhus fortress ( no, Bergenhus festning) is a fortress located in Bergen, Norway. Located at the entrance of Bergen harbour, the castle is one of the oldest and best preserved stone fortifications in Norway.
History
The fortress contains ...
dates from the 1240s and guards the entrance to the harbour in Bergen. The functions of the capital city were lost to
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
during the reign of King
Haakon V
Haakon V Magnusson (10 April 1270 – 8 May 1319) ( non, Hákon Magnússon; no, Håkon Magnusson, label=Modern Norwegian) was king of Norway from 1299 until 1319.
Biography
Haakon was the younger surviving son of Magnus the Lawmender, Kin ...
(1299–1319).
In the middle of the 14th century, North German merchants, who had already been present in substantial numbers since the 13th century, founded one of the four ' of the
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...
at
Bryggen
Bryggen (''the dock''), also known as Tyskebryggen (, ''the German dock''), is a series of Hanseatic heritage commercial buildings lining up the eastern side of the Vågen harbour in the city of Bergen, Norway. Bryggen has been on the UNESCO
...
in Bergen. The principal export traded from Bergen was dried cod from the northern Norwegian coast, which started around 1100. The city was granted a monopoly for trade from the north of Norway by King
Håkon Håkonsson
Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; Old Norse: ''Hákon Hákonarson'' ; Norwegian: ''Håkon Håkonsson''), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 y ...
(1217–1263).
Stockfish
Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called "hjell" in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage lif ...
was the main reason that the city became one of North Europe's largest centres for trade. By the late 14th century, Bergen had established itself as the centre of the trade in Norway. The
Hanseatic
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...
merchants lived in their own separate quarter of the town, where
Middle Low German
Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...
was used, enjoying
exclusive right
In Anglo-Saxon law, an exclusive right, or exclusivity, is a de facto, non-tangible prerogative existing in law (that is, the power or, in a wider sense, right) to perform an action or acquire a benefit and to permit or deny others the right to p ...
s to trade with the northern fishermen who each summer sailed to Bergen. The Hansa community resented Scottish merchants who settled in Bergen, and on 9 November 1523 several Scottish households were targeted by German residents. Today, Bergen's old quayside,
Bryggen
Bryggen (''the dock''), also known as Tyskebryggen (, ''the German dock''), is a series of Hanseatic heritage commercial buildings lining up the eastern side of the Vågen harbour in the city of Bergen, Norway. Bryggen has been on the UNESCO
...
, is on
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
's list of
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
s.
In 1349, the
Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
was brought to Norway by an English ship arriving in Bergen. Later outbreaks occurred in 1618, 1629 and 1637, on each occasion taking about 3,000 lives. In the 15th century, the city was attacked several times by the
Victual Brothers
, native_name_lang =
, named_after = french: vitailleurs (provisioners, Hundred Years' War)
, image = Vitalienbrueder, Wandmalerei in d, Kirche zu Bunge auf Gotland, gemalt ca. 1405.JPG
, image_size = 250px ...
, and in 1429 they succeeded in burning the royal castle and much of the city. In 1665, the city's harbour was the site of the
Battle of Vågen
The Battle of Vågen was a naval battle between a Netherlands, Dutch merchant and treasure fleet; and an England, English flotilla of warships in August 1665 as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The battle took place in Vågen, Bergen, Vågen ...
, when an English naval flotilla attacked a Dutch merchant and treasure fleet supported by the city's garrison. Accidental fires sometimes got out of control, and one in 1702 reduced most of the town to ashes.
Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, Bergen remained one of the largest cities in
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
, and it was Norway's biggest city until the 1830s, when the capital city of
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
became the largest. From around 1600, the Hanseatic dominance of the city's trade gradually declined in favour of Norwegian merchants (often of Hanseatic ancestry), and in the 1750s, the Hanseatic ' finally closed. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Bergen was involved in the
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
. Bergen-based slave trader
Jørgen Thormøhlen Jørgen Thormøhlen ( – 25 December 1708) was a German-born Norwegian merchant, shipowner, slave trader and industrialist.
Biography
Thormøhlen was born in the Duchy of Holstein, at that time a hereditary possession of the King of Denmar ...
, the largest shipowner in Norway, was the main owner of the
slave ship
Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...
''Cornelia'', which made two slave-trading voyages in 1673 and 1674 respectively; he also developed the city's industrial sector, particularly in the neighbourhood of
Møhlenpris
Møhlenpris (formerly Vestre Sydnes) is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is next to the Puddefjorden in the borough of Bergenhus. The neighbourhood is named after Jørgen Thor Møhlen, who was a shipowner, slav ...
, which is named after him. Bergen retained its monopoly of trade with northern Norway until 1789. The Bergen stock exchange, the ', was established in 1813.
Modern history
Bergen was separated from Hordaland as a county of its own in 1831. It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see ). The
rural municipality
A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries.
These include:
* Rural municipality (Canada), Rural municipalities in Canada, a Lists of municipalities in Canada, type of municipa ...
of was merged with Bergen on 1 January 1877. The rural municipality of Årstad was merged with Bergen on 1 July 1915.
During World War II, Bergen was occupied on the first day of the German invasion on 9 April 1940, after a brief fight between German ships and the Norwegian
coastal artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications.
From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...
. The
Norwegian resistance movement
The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian: ''Motstandsbevegelsen'') to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms:
*Asserting the legitimacy of the exiled government, ...
Milorg
Milorg (abbreviation of militær organisasjon – military organization) was the main Norwegian resistance movement during World War II. Resistance work included intelligence gathering, sabotage, supply-missions, raids, espionage, transport of ...
, ''""'', Sivorg, ' and the Communist Party. On 20 April 1944, during the German occupation, the Dutch cargo ship ' anchored off the
Bergenhus Fortress
Bergenhus fortress ( no, Bergenhus festning) is a fortress located in Bergen, Norway. Located at the entrance of Bergen harbour, the castle is one of the oldest and best preserved stone fortifications in Norway.
History
The fortress contains ...
, loaded with over 120 tons of explosives, and blew up, killing at least 150 people and damaging historic buildings. The city was subject to some Allied
bombing raids
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...
, aimed at German naval installations in the harbour. Some of these caused Norwegian civilian casualties numbering about 100.
Bergen is also well known in Norway for the
Isdal Woman
)
, image = Stephen Missal-Isdal woman.jpg
, image_size =
, caption = 2016 sketch by a forensic artist from morgue photographs
, birth_name =
, birth_date = 1930–1945 (approximate)
, birt ...
( no, Isdalskvinnen), an unidentified person who was found dead at Isdalen ("Ice Valley") on 29 November 1970. The unsolved case encouraged international speculation over the years and it remains one of the most profound mysteries in recent Norwegian history.
The rural municipalities of Arna,
Fana
Fana is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the southeastern part of the municipality of Bergen. The borough was once part of the historic municipality of Fana which was incorporated into Bergen in ...
,
Laksevåg
Laksevåg is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located in the western part of the municipality. Historically, the area was called ''Laxevaag'', and it was a separate municipality until 1972 when it was m ...
, and
Åsane
Åsane is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the northern part of the city, north of the city centre.
Åsane is connected to downtown Bergen by the E16/ E39 highway. The E16 highway continues on t ...
were merged with Bergen on 1 January 1972. The city lost its status as a separate county on the same date, and Bergen is now a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
, in the county of
Vestland
Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...
.
Fires
The city's history is marked by numerous great fires. In 1198, the faction set fire to the city in connection with a battle against the faction during the civil war. In 1248, and burned, and 11 churches were destroyed. In 1413 another fire struck the city, and 14 churches were destroyed. In 1428 the city was plundered by the
Victual Brothers
, native_name_lang =
, named_after = french: vitailleurs (provisioners, Hundred Years' War)
, image = Vitalienbrueder, Wandmalerei in d, Kirche zu Bunge auf Gotland, gemalt ca. 1405.JPG
, image_size = 250px ...
, and in 1455,
Hanseatic
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...
merchants were responsible for burning down
Munkeliv Abbey
Munkeliv Abbey ( no, Munkeliv kloster) was a Benedictine abbey located at Nordnes in Bergen, Norway. It was one of the oldest monasteries in Norway, and also one of the wealthiest and best-documented. There are no visible remains today.
History
M ...
. In 1476, burned down in a fire started by a drunk trader. In 1582, another fire hit the city centre and . In 1675, 105 buildings burned down in . In 1686 another great fire hit , destroying 231 city blocks and 218 boathouses. The greatest fire in history was in 1702, when 90% of the city was burned to ashes. In 1751, there was a great fire at . In 1756, yet another fire at burned down 1,500 buildings, and further great fires hit in 1771 and 1901. In 1916, 300 buildings burned down in the city centre including the
Swan pharmacy
Swan pharmacy or Svaneapoteket in Bergen, Norway is the oldest pharmacy in Norway. It was established in 1595. The original building burned down in a fire in 1916 and it was rebuilt by the architects Fredrik Arnesen and Darre Kaarbø. A replica o ...
, the oldest pharmacy in Norway, and in 1955 parts of burned down.
Toponymy
Bergen is pronounced in English or and in
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
*Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
*Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including the ...
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
forms of the name were ' and ' (and in Icelandic and Faroese the city is still called '). The first element is (n.) or ' (n.), which translates as 'mountain(s)'. The last element is (f.), which means a new settlement where there used to be a pasture or meadow. The full meaning is then "the meadow among the mountains". This is a suitable name: Bergen is often called "the city among the seven mountains". It was the playwright
Ludvig Holberg
Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian dual monarchy. He was influenced by Humanism, ...
who felt so inspired by the
seven hills of Rome
The seven hills of Rome ( la, Septem colles/montes Romae, it, Sette colli di Roma ) east of the river Tiber form the geographical heart of Rome, within the walls of the city.
Hills
The seven hills are:
* Aventine Hill (Latin: ''Collis Aventi ...
, that he decided that his home town must be blessed with a corresponding seven mountains – and locals still argue which seven they are.
In 1918, there was a campaign to reintroduce the Norse form ' as the name of the city. This was turned down – but as a compromise, the name of the
diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
was changed to '.
Geography
Bergen occupies most of the peninsula of
Bergenshalvøyen
The Bergen Peninsula ( nb, Bergenshalvøya, ; nn, Bergenshalvøyen) is a peninsula in Vestland county, Norway. The city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city, is located on the peninsula. The peninsula extends out from the mainland and it i ...
in the
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
of
Midthordland
Midhordland or Midthordland is a traditional district in the Vestlandet region of Norway. It consists of the central-west portion of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county), mostly including the islands and coastal fjord areas sur ...
in mid-western Hordaland. The municipality covers an area of . Most of the urban area is on or close to a fjord or bay, although the urban area has several mountains. The city centre is surrounded by the Seven Mountains, although there is disagreement as to which of the nine mountains constitute these.
Ulriken
Ulriken (or the older, ''Ålreken'') is the highest of the Seven Mountains ( no, De syv fjell) that surround the city of Bergen, Norway. It has a height of above sea level. Ulriken has an aerial tramway, Ulriksbanen, that can bring people to the ...
,
Fløyen
Fløyen or Fløyfjellet is one of the "city mountains" in Bergen, Hordaland, Norway. Its highest point is above sea level. The name could originate from ''fløystangen'' or a weather vane that was set up to indicate the direction of the wind for ...
,
Løvstakken
Løvstakken is one of the Seven Mountains that surround the center of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The tall mountain is located between the Fyllingsdalen and Bergensdalen valleys on the Bergen Peninsula. Løvstakken and the fo ...
and
Damsgårdsfjellet
Damsgårdsfjellet is a mountain in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The tall mountain lies west of Melkeplassen and it is one of the seven mountains surrounding the city center of Bergen.
See also
*List of mountains of Norway
...
are always included as well as three of
Lyderhorn
Lyderhorn is a mountain in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is one of "De syv fjell", the seven mountains surrounding the city centre, and the starting location of Bergen Turlag's annual trip of the mountains. It is located by L ...
,
Sandviksfjellet
Sandviksfjellet is a mountain in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is one of the traditional seven mountains that surround the city centre of Bergen. The mountain lies on the east side of the city neighborhood of Sandviken, just ...
,
Blåmanen
Blåmanen is one of the seven mountains that surround the centre of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The tall mountain is located east of the mountain Fløyen, making it somewhat difficult to see from the city centre of Bergen. T ...
,
Rundemanen
Rundemanen is a mountain in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is considered one of the " seven mountains" which surround the city centre of Bergen. At in height, it is the second highest of them all. It's a part of the same massi ...
Gullfjellet
Gullfjellet or Gulfjellet is a tall mountain in Vestland county, Norway. It is situated on the border between the municipalities of Bergen and Samnanger, and it is the highest mountain in the municipality of Bergen. The name "Gul" is an old name ...
is Bergen's highest mountain, at
above mean sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
.
Bergen is sheltered from the North Sea by the islands
Askøy
Askøy is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island municipality is located in the Midhordland district of the county, sitting in a large group of islands immediately northwest of the city of Bergen. The administrative centre of the ...
,
Holsnøy
Holsnøy is an island in Alver Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies to the north/west of the mainland, between the islands of Radøy to the north and Askøy to the south. The highest point on the island is the tall Eldsfjel ...
(the municipality of
Meland
Meland is a former municipality in the Nordhordland district in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1923 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020 when it was merged into the new Alver Municipality in Vestland county. ...
) and
Sotra
Sotra or Store Sotra is the name of a large island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway, located just west of the city of Bergen. It is part of a pair of islands called 'Sotra' and 'Litlesotra' ('small Sotra') that are part of a ...
(the municipalities of
Fjell
Fjell is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Midhordland. The municipality consisted of several islands west of the city of Bergen, the major ones being Litlesotra, the northern p ...
and Sund). Bergen borders the municipalities Alver and
Osterøy
Osterøy is an island municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordhordland. The municipality encompasses most of the island of Osterøy. The administrative centre of Osterøy is the village of Lon ...
to the north,
Vaksdal
is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordhordland. The administrative centre is the village of Dalekvam. Other villages in Vaksdal include Dalegarden, Flatkvål, Helle, Nesheim, S ...
and
Samnanger
Samnanger () is a municipality in the Midhordland region of Vestland county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Tysse. Other main villages in the municipality include Haga and Bjørkheim in Nordbygda. The ...
Bjørnafjorden
Bjørnafjorden is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway. It runs through the municipalities of Austevoll, Bjørnafjorden, and Tysnes. The large island of Tysnesøya (and many small, surrounding islands such as Reksteren) lie along the south side ...
) and
Austevoll
Austevoll is a municipality and an archipelago in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Midthordland in Western Norway. The administrative centre is the village of Storebø on the island of Huftarøy. Other vill ...
to the south, and
Øygarden
Øygarden is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is an island municipality located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Midhordland, stretching along the west coast of the cou ...
and
Askøy
Askøy is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island municipality is located in the Midhordland district of the county, sitting in a large group of islands immediately northwest of the city of Bergen. The administrative centre of the ...
to the west.
Climate
Bergen has an
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Cfb''), with plentiful rainfall in all seasons; with intermittent snowfall during winter, but the snow usually melts quickly in the city. Average annual
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
during 1961–90 was . This is because Bergen is surrounded by mountains that cause moist
North Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...
air to undergo
orographic lift
Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...
, yielding abundant rainfall. It rained every day from 29 October 2006 to 21 January 2007: 85 consecutive days. The highest temperature ever recorded was on 26 July 2019, beating the previous record from 2018 at 32.6 degrees, and the lowest was in January 1987. Bergen is considered the rainiest city in Europe, although it is not the wettest "place" on the continent.
Bergen's weather is much warmer than the city's latitude (60.4° N) might suggest. Temperatures below −10 °C (14 °F) are rare. Summer temperatures sometimes reach the upper 20s, temperatures over 30°C were previously only seen a few days each decade. The growing season in Bergen is exceptionally long for its latitude, with more than 200 days. Its mild winters and proximity to the Gulf stream move the plant hardiness zone between 8b and 9a depending on location.
The high precipitation is often used in the marketing of the city, and features to a degree on postcards sold in the city. Compared to areas behind the mountains on the Scandinavian peninsula, Bergen is much wetter and has a more narrow range of temperature, with mild summers and cool winters. In fact, winters are very mild considering its high latitude, though not warmer than Denmark despite its coastal location and as much as milder than on the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
coasts of Sweden and Finland on the same latitude. Summers tend to be significantly more variable. The old sunshine hours data was from the met office in the city; at this location sunlight is obscured by mountains, especially by Ulriken. A new sunrecorder was established by met.no at Bergen Airport Flesland (less terrain obscuring the sun) in December 2015, and this recorded on average 1,598 hours of sun annually during 2016–2020.
Demographics
, the municipality had a population of 286,930, making the population density 599 people per km2. Urban areas, as defined by
Statistics Norway
Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876.
Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every yea ...
, consist of
Indre Arna
Indre Arna is a suburban village in the borough of Arna in the municipality of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. While Indre Arna is relatively far from most of the city centre by road, there is an 8-minute train journey through the mountain Ulr ...
(6,536 residents on 1 January 2012),
Fanahammeren
Fanahammeren or Fanahammaren is a residential village area at the eastern end of the Fanafjorden in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. Fanahammeren lies about south of the city centre.
The village area was the administrative centre ...
(3,690),
Ytre Arna
Ytre Arna is a settlement in the borough of Arna in the municipality of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. Ytre Arna is principally associated with ''A/S Arne Fabrikker'', the country's first mechanised cotton mill. Ytre Arna Church () is also lo ...
(2,626),
Hylkje
Hylkje is a village in the borough of Åsane in the municipality of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The village lies in the northeastern part of the municipality, along the Sørfjorden. The European route E39 runs through Hylkje.
The villag ...
(2,277) and
Espeland
Espeland is a village in the borough of Arna in the municipality of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. Espeland is located north of Lake Haukeland ( no, Haukelandsvatnet) and Mount Livarden. The village of Indre Arna lies about to the north.
...
(2,182).
People of
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
*Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
*Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including the ...
origin (those who have two parents born in Norway) make up 84.5% of Bergen's residents. In addition, 8.1% were
first
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
or second generation immigrants of Western background and 7.4% were first or second generation immigrants of non-Western background. The population grew by 4,549 people in 2009, a growth rate of 1,8%. Ninety-six percent of the population lives in urban areas. As of 2002, the average gross income for men above the age of 17 is 426,000
Norwegian krone
The krone (, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including Svalbard). Traditionally known as the Norwegian crown in English. It is nominally subdivided into 100 '' ...
(NOK), the average gross income for women above the age of 17 is NOK238,000, with the total average gross income being NOK330,000. In 2007, there were 104.6 men for every 100 women in the age group of 20–39. 22.8% of the population were under 17years of age, while 4.5% were 80 and above.
The immigrant population (those with two foreign-born parents) in Bergen, includes 42,169 individuals with backgrounds from more than 200 countries representing 15.5% of the city's population (2014). Of these, 50.2% have background from Europe, 28.9% from Asia, 13.1% from Africa, 5.5% from Latin America, 1.9% from North America, and 0.4% from Oceania. The immigrant population in Bergen in the period 1993–2008 increased by 119.7%, while the ethnic Norwegian population grew by 8.1% during the same period. The national average is 138.0% and 4.2%. The immigrant population has thus accounted for 43.6% of Bergen's population growth and 60.8% of Norway's population growth during the period 1993–2008, compared with 84.5% in Oslo.
The immigrant population in Bergen has changed a lot since 1970. As of 1 January 1986, there were 2,870 people with a non-Western immigrant background in Bergen. In 2006, this figure had increased to 14,630, so the non-Western immigrant population in Bergen was five times higher than in 1986. This is a slightly slower growth than the national average, which has sextupled during the same period. Also in relation to the total population in Bergen, the proportion of non-Westerns increased significantly. In 1986, the proportion of the total population in the municipality of non-Western background was 3.6%. In January 2006, people with a non-Western immigrant background accounted for 6 percent of the population in Bergen. The share of Western immigrants has remained stable at around 2% in the period. The number of
Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...
in Bergen rose from 697 in 2006 to 3,128 in 2010.
The
Church of Norway
The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...
is the largest denomination in Bergen, with 201,006 (79.74%) registered adherents in 2012. Bergen is the seat of the
Diocese of Bjørgvin
The Diocese of Bjørgvin ( no, Bjørgvin bispedømme) is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway. The cathedral city is Bergen, Norway's second ...
with
Bergen Cathedral
Bergen Cathedral ( no, Bergen domkirke) is a cathedral in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Bjørgvin as well as the seat of the "Bergen domkirke" parish and the seat of the Bergen domprosti ...
as its centrepiece, while St John's Church is the city's most prominent. As of 2012, the state church is followed by 52,059 irreligious, 4,947 members of various
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
free church
A free church is a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church does not define government policy, and a free church does not accept church theology or policy definitions from ...
Russian Orthodox
Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...
and 147 registered
Oriental Orthodox
The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent o ...
.
Cityscape
The city centre of Bergen lies in the west of the municipality, facing the fjord of Byfjorden. It is among a group of mountains known as the Seven Mountains, although the number is a matter of definition. From here, the urban area of Bergen extends to the north, west and south, and to its east is a large mountain massif. Outside the city centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods (i.e. Årstad, inner
Laksevåg
Laksevåg is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located in the western part of the municipality. Historically, the area was called ''Laxevaag'', and it was a separate municipality until 1972 when it was m ...
and
Sandviken
Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 39,234 inhabitants in 2019. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...
), the majority of the population lives in relatively sparsely populated residential areas built after 1950. While some are dominated by
apartment building
An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...
s and modern
terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
s (e.g.
Fyllingsdalen
Fyllingsdalen () is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located southwest of the city centre in the Fyllingsdalen valley, west of the mountain Løvstakken. The neighbourhoods of Fyllingsdalen mainly consist ...
), others are dominated by
single-family home
A stand-alone house (also called a single-detached dwelling, detached residence or detached house) is a free-standing residential building. It is sometimes referred to as a single-family home, as opposed to a multi-family residential dwelling ...
s.
The oldest part of Bergen is the area around the bay of Vågen in the city centre. Originally centred on the bay's eastern side, Bergen eventually expanded west and southwards. Few buildings from the oldest period remain, the most significant being St Mary's Church from the 12th century. For several hundred years, the extent of the city remained almost constant. The population was stagnant, and the city limits were narrow. In 1702, seven-eighths of the city burned. Most of the old buildings of Bergen, including Bryggen (which was rebuilt in a mediaeval style), were built after the fire. The fire marked a transition from
tar
Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...
covered houses, as well as the remaining
log house
A log house, or log building, is a structure built with horizontal logs interlocked at the corners by notching. Logs may be round, squared or hewn to other shapes, either handcrafted or milled. The term " log cabin" generally refers to a sm ...
s, to painted and some brick-covered wooden buildings.
The last half of the 19th century saw a period of rapid expansion and modernisation. The fire of 1855 west of
Torgallmenningen
Torgallmenningen, Torgalmenningen, or Torvallmenningen, is the main square of Bergen, Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and ...
led to the development of regularly sized city blocks in this area of the city centre. The city limits were expanded in 1876, and Nygård,
Møhlenpris
Møhlenpris (formerly Vestre Sydnes) is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is next to the Puddefjorden in the borough of Bergenhus. The neighbourhood is named after Jørgen Thor Møhlen, who was a shipowner, slav ...
and
Sandviken
Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 39,234 inhabitants in 2019. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...
were urbanized with large-scale construction of city blocks housing both the poor and the wealthy. Their architecture is influenced by a variety of styles;
historicism
Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely u ...
,
classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aestheti ...
and
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
. The wealthy built villas between Møhlenpris and Nygård, and on the side of Mount Fløyen; these areas were also added to Bergen in 1876. Simultaneously, an urbanization process was taking place in
Solheimsviken
Solheimsviken is a bay and a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The bay is situated at the end of the Damsgårdssundet strait, near the large Store Lungegårdsvann bay. Located near the city centre of Bergen, Solheim ...
in Årstad, at that time outside the Bergen municipality, centred on the large industrial activity in the area. The workers' homes in this area were poorly built, and little remains after large-scale redevelopment in the 1960s–1980s.
After Årstad became a part of Bergen in 1916, a development plan was applied to the new area. Few city blocks akin to those in Nygård and Møhlenpris were planned. Many of the worker class built their own homes, and many small, detached apartment buildings were built. After World War II, Bergen had again run short of land to build on, and, contrary to the original plans, many large apartment buildings were built in
Landås
Landås is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. Landås is located by the western side of the Ulriken mountain massif, from southeast of Haukeland University Hospital to the neighborhood of Nattland almost further sou ...
in the 1950s and 1960s. Bergen acquired
Fyllingsdalen
Fyllingsdalen () is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located southwest of the city centre in the Fyllingsdalen valley, west of the mountain Løvstakken. The neighbourhoods of Fyllingsdalen mainly consist ...
from
Fana
Fana is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the southeastern part of the municipality of Bergen. The borough was once part of the historic municipality of Fana which was incorporated into Bergen in ...
municipality in 1955. Like similar areas in Oslo (e.g.
Lambertseter
Lambertseter () is a suburb of the city of Oslo, Norway, and is part of the borough of Nordstrand.
Lambertseter was built over a short period starting from 1951, and was the very first modern suburb of Oslo. A Tram line was built to the neighborho ...
), Fyllingsdalen was developed into a modern suburb with large apartment buildings,
mid-rise
A low-rise is a building that is only a few stories tall or any building that is shorter than a high-rise, though others include the classification of mid-rise.
Definition
Emporis defines a low-rise as "an enclosed structure below 35 metres 15 ...
s, and some single-family homes, in the 1960s and 1970s. Similar developments took place beyond Bergen's city limits, for example in
Loddefjord
Loddefjord is an urban settlement in the borough of Laksevåg in the municipality of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which c ...
.
At the same time as
planned city
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
expansion took place inside Bergen, its extra-municipal suburbs also grew rapidly. Wealthy citizens of Bergen had been living in Fana since the 19th century, but as the city expanded it became more convenient to settle in the municipality. Similar processes took place in
Åsane
Åsane is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the northern part of the city, north of the city centre.
Åsane is connected to downtown Bergen by the E16/ E39 highway. The E16 highway continues on t ...
and Laksevåg. Most of the homes in these areas are detached
row house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house (British English, UK) or townhouse (American English, US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings party ...
s, single family homes or small apartment buildings. After the surrounding municipalities were merged with Bergen in 1972, expansion has continued in largely the same manner, although the municipality encourages condensing near commercial centres, future
Bergen Light Rail
Bergen Light Rail ( no, Bybanen) is a light rail system in Bergen, Norway. The first stage of the project was a twenty-station stretch between the city center and Lagunen Storsenter, where the first 15 stations comprising a stretch opened in ...
stations, and elsewhere.
As part of the modernisation wave of the 1950s and 1960s, and due to damage caused by World War II, the
city government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
ambitiously planned redevelopment of many areas in central Bergen. The plans involved demolition of several neighbourhoods of wooden houses, namely
Nordnes
Nordnes is a peninsula and neighbourhood in the city centre of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway.
Vågen, Bergen, Vågen, Byfjorden (Hordaland), Byfjorden, and Puddefjorden surround the peninsula. The Akvariet i Bergen, Bergen Aquarium is locat ...
, Marken, and Stølen. None of the plans was carried out in its original form; the Marken and Stølen redevelopment plans were discarded and that of Nordnes only carried out in the area that had been most damaged by war. The city council of Bergen had in 1964 voted to demolish the entirety of Marken, however, the decision proved to be highly controversial and the decision was reversed in 1974. Bryggen was under threat of being wholly or partly demolished after the fire of 1955, when a large number of the buildings burned to the ground. Instead of being demolished, the remaining buildings were restored and accompanied by reconstructions of some of the burned buildings.
Demolition of old buildings and occasionally whole city blocks is still taking place, the most recent major example being the 2007 razing of Jonsvollskvartalet at Nøstet.
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
s are banned in the city.
Administration
Since 2000, the city of Bergen has been governed by a city government (''byråd'') based on the principle of
parliamentarism
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
. The government consists of seven government members called commissioners, and is appointed by the city council, the supreme authority of the city.
This is the political party breakdown of the current and historical city councils:
Boroughs
Bergen is divided into eight boroughs, as seen on the map to the right. Clockwise, starting with the northernmost, the boroughs are
Åsane
Åsane is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the northern part of the city, north of the city centre.
Åsane is connected to downtown Bergen by the E16/ E39 highway. The E16 highway continues on t ...
Fana
Fana is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the southeastern part of the municipality of Bergen. The borough was once part of the historic municipality of Fana which was incorporated into Bergen in ...
,
Ytrebygda
Ytrebygda is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is the site of Bergen Flesland Airport.
Location
Ytrebygda is located southwest of the city center, south of the Grimstadfjorden and the lake Nordåsvannet. It ...
,
Fyllingsdalen
Fyllingsdalen () is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located southwest of the city centre in the Fyllingsdalen valley, west of the mountain Løvstakken. The neighbourhoods of Fyllingsdalen mainly consist ...
,
Laksevåg
Laksevåg is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located in the western part of the municipality. Historically, the area was called ''Laxevaag'', and it was a separate municipality until 1972 when it was m ...
Bergenhus
Bergenhus is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. This borough encompasses the city centre and is the most urbanized area of the whole city. The borough has a population (2014) of 40,606. This gives Bergenhus a populatio ...
. The city centre is located in
Bergenhus
Bergenhus is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. This borough encompasses the city centre and is the most urbanized area of the whole city. The borough has a population (2014) of 40,606. This gives Bergenhus a populatio ...
. Parts of Fana, Ytrebygda, Åsane and Arna are not part of the Bergen urban area, explaining why the municipality has approximately 20,000 more inhabitants than the urban area.
Local borough administrations have varied since Bergen's expansion in 1972. From 1974, each borough had a politically chosen administration. From 1989, Bergen was divided into 12 health and social districts, each locally administered. From 2000 to 2004, the former organizational form with eight politically chosen local administrations was again in use and from 2008 through to 2010, a similar form existed where the local administrations had less power than previously.
(Pertaining to the table above: The acreage figures include fresh water and uninhabited mountain areas, except: 1 1 The borough Bergenhus is , the rest is water and uninhabited mountain areas. 2 2 The borough Årstad is , the rest is water and uninhabited mountain areas.)
Former borough: Sentrum
Sentrum (literally, "Centre") was a borough (with the same name as a present-day neighbourhood). The borough was numbered ''01'', and its perimeter was from
Store Lungegårdsvann
Store may refer to:
Enterprises
* Retail store, a shop where merchandise is sold, usually products and usually on a retail basis, and where wares are often kept
** App store, an online retail store where apps are sold, included in many mobile op ...
and Strømmen along
Puddefjorden
Puddefjorden, often anglicized as Pudde Fjord,Koop, Gerhard, Klaus-Peter Schmolke. 2014. ''German Light Cruisers of World War II: Warships of the Kriegsmarine''. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth, p. 83. is an inlet or fjord in the central part of the city ...
around
Nordnes
Nordnes is a peninsula and neighbourhood in the city centre of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway.
Vågen, Bergen, Vågen, Byfjorden (Hordaland), Byfjorden, and Puddefjorden surround the peninsula. The Akvariet i Bergen, Bergen Aquarium is locat ...
and over to Skuteviken, up Mt. Fløyen east of Langelivannet, on to Skansemyren and over Forskjønnelsen to Store Lungegårdsvann, south of the railroad tracks.
The population of the (now defunct) borough, numbered in 1994 more than 18,000 people.
Education
There are 64 elementary schools, 18 lower secondary schools and 20 upper secondary schools in Bergen, as well as 11 combined elementary and lower secondary schools.
Bergen Cathedral School
Bergen Cathedral School (Norwegian: ''Bergen Katedralskole'', Latin: ''Schola Cathedralis Bergensis'', formerly known as Bergens lærdeskole and Bergen latinskole and colloquially known as Katten) is an upper secondary school in Bergen, Norway. Loc ...
is the oldest school in Bergen and was founded by
Pope Adrian IV
Pope Adrian IV ( la, Adrianus IV; born Nicholas Breakspear (or Brekespear); 1 September 1159, also Hadrian IV), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 4 December 1154 to his death in 1159. He is the only Englishman t ...
in 1153.
The "
Bergen School of Meteorology __NOTOC__
The "Bergen School of Meteorology" is a school of thought which is the basis for much of modern weather forecasting.
Founded by the meteorologist Prof. Vilhelm Bjerknes and his younger colleagues in 1917, the Bergen School attempts to de ...
" was developed at the
Geophysical Institute The Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks conducts research into space physics and aeronomy; atmospheric sciences; snow, ice, and permafrost; seismology; volcanology; and tectonics and sedimentation. It was founded in 1946 by ...
beginning in 1917, the
Norwegian School of Economics
The Norwegian School of Economics ( no, Norges Handelshøyskole) or NHH is a business school situated in Bergen, Norway. It was founded in 1936 as Norway's first business school and is a leading teaching and research institution in the fields of ...
was founded in 1936, and the
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...
in 1946.
The University of Bergen has 16,000 students and 3,000 staff, making it the third-largest educational institution in Norway. Research in Bergen dates back to activity at
Bergen Museum
The University Museum of Bergen ( no, Universitetsmuseet i Bergen) is a university museum in Bergen, Norway. The museum features material related to anthropology, archaeology, botany, geology, zoology, art, and cultural history.
History
The Univ ...
in 1825, although the university was not founded until 1946. The university has a broad range of courses and research in academic fields and three national centres of excellence, in
climate research
Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of study ...
medieval studies
Medieval studies is the academic interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages.
Institutional development
The term 'medieval studies' began to be adopted by academics in the opening decades of the twentieth century, initially in the titles of books ...
. The main campus is located in the city centre. The university co-operates with
Haukeland University Hospital
Haukeland University Hospital ( no, Haukeland universitetssjukehus) is a hospital in Bergen, Norway, and one of the eleven institutions that make up Bergen Hospital Trust. Haukeland is the largest in Norway in terms of number of patients, and serv ...
within medical research. The
Chr. Michelsen Institute
The Chr. Michelsens Institutt for Videnskap og Åndsfrihet (CMI) was founded in 1930, and is currently the largest centre for development research in Scandinavia. In 1992, the Department for Natural Science and Technology established the ''Ch ...
is an independent research foundation established in 1930 focusing on human rights and development issues.
The
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences () or HVL is a Norwegian public institution of higher education, established in January 2017 through the merging of formerly independent colleges across five campuses: Bergen, Førde, Haugesund, Sog ...
, which has its main campus in
Kronstad Kronstad may refer to:
Places
* Kronstadt, a Russian town and seaport
* Kronstad, Bergen, a neighbourhood in Bergen, Norway
* Kronstad Hovedgård, a Norwegian manor house
* Kroonstad, a South African city
Other
* Kronstadt rebellion, anti-Bols ...
, has 16,000 students and 1800 staff. It focuses on professional education, such as teaching, healthcare and engineering. The college was created through amalgamation in 1994; campuses are spread around town but will be co-located at
Kronstad Kronstad may refer to:
Places
* Kronstadt, a Russian town and seaport
* Kronstad, Bergen, a neighbourhood in Bergen, Norway
* Kronstad Hovedgård, a Norwegian manor house
* Kroonstad, a South African city
Other
* Kronstadt rebellion, anti-Bols ...
. The
Norwegian School of Economics
The Norwegian School of Economics ( no, Norges Handelshøyskole) or NHH is a business school situated in Bergen, Norway. It was founded in 1936 as Norway's first business school and is a leading teaching and research institution in the fields of ...
is located in outer
Sandviken
Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 39,234 inhabitants in 2019. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...
and is the leading
business school
A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, o ...
in Norway, having produced three Economy Nobel Prize laureates. The school has more than 3,000 students and approximately 400 staff. Other tertiary education institutions include the
Bergen School of Architecture
Bergen School of Architecture or BAS ( no, Bergen Arkitekt Skole) is a private and academically independent school located in Bergen, Norway.
BAS offers two master's degree programs: Master of Architecture and Master of Architecture with speciali ...
, the
Bergen National Academy of the Arts
Bergen Academy of Art and Design ( no, Kunst- og designhøgskolen i Bergen) or KHiB was one of two independent and accredited scientific institutions of higher learning in the visual arts and design in Norway (The other is Oslo National Academy o ...
, located in the city centre with 300 students, and the
Norwegian Naval Academy
The Royal Norwegian Naval Academy (RNoNA, ''Sjøkrigsskolen'' in Norwegian) is located at Laksevåg in Bergen. It was formally established 27 October 1817 in Frederiksvern. The institution educates officers for the Royal Norwegian Navy.
History
...
located in Laksevåg. The
Norwegian Institute of Marine Research
The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research ( no, Havforskningsinstituttet) is a national consultative research institute which is owned by the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs. The institute performs research and provides advisory services ...
has been located in Bergen since 1900. It provides research and advice relating to ecosystems and aquaculture. It has a staff of 700 people.
Economy
In August 2004, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine named the city one of Europe's 14 "secret capitals" where Bergen's capital reign is acknowledged within maritime businesses and activities such as aquaculture and marine research, with the
Institute of Marine Research
The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research ( no, Havforskningsinstituttet) is a national consultative research institute which is owned by the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs. The institute performs research and provides advisory services ...
(IMR) (the second-largest
oceanography
Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...
research centre in Europe) as a leading institution. Some of the world's largest aquaculture companies, such as
Mowi
Mowi ASA, formerly known as Marine Harvest ASA (until January 1, 2019), (Pan Fish prior to February 6, 2007), is a Norwegian seafood company with operations in a number of countries around the world. The company's primary interest is fish farmi ...
and
Lerøy
Lerøy Seafood Group ASA is a seafood production and distribution company based in Bergen, Norway
The company started operation in the 19th century when the fisherman Ole Mikkel Lerøen started selling fish and other seafood on the fish market o ...
are headquartered in the city. Shipowners based in Bergen control a significant portion of the Norwegian merchant fleet, including shipowners such as
Wilson
Wilson may refer to:
People
* Wilson (name)
** List of people with given name Wilson
** List of people with surname Wilson
* Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender
* Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...
,
Odfjell
Odfjell SE is a company specialising in worldwide seaborne transportation and storage of chemicals and other speciality bulk liquids. The Odfjell fleet comprises more than 80 ships in total. The ships transport around 600 different kinds of l ...
and
Gearbulk
Gearbulk Holding Limited is an international shipping company headquartered in Pfaeffikon, Switzerland. The company operates the world's largest fleet of open hatch gantry and semi-open jib craned vessels. These vessels specialise in carrying un ...
. The city has a large presence of financial institutions. Banks
Sbanken
Sbanken ASA is a Norwegian online bank headquartered in Bergen.
The CEO is Øyvind Thomassen.
History
The bank was founded by Skandia as a branch of its existing bank in Sweden, Skandiabanken, on April 27, 2000, and became the first online- ...
and
Sparebanken Vest
Sparebanken Vest () is the third largest savings bank in Norway, and the country's second oldest bank. Its predecessor, Bergens Sparebank, was established in 1823. The main offices lie in Bergen, though the bank has branches throughout Hordaland, S ...
are headquartered in the city. The Norwegian branches of insurance companies
Tryg
Tryg A/S is a Scandinavian insurance company present in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The company is the largest provider of general insurance services in the Nordic countries and is listed on Nasdaq OMX Copenhagen.
History
The current com ...
,
DNB Livsforsikring
Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...
and
Nordea Liv
Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a European financial services group operating in northern Europe and based in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The bank is the result of the successive m ...
are headquartered in Bergen, along with a significant presence of marine insurance companies, including
Norwegian Hull Club {{Infobox company
, name = Norwegian Hull Club - Gjensidig Assuranseforening
, logo = Norwegian Hull Club logo.png
, type = Mutual
, area_served = Global
, key_people = Hans Christian Seim (CEO)
, industry = Insurance
, num_employees = 136 ...
. A number of banks maintain large corporate banking divisions in connection with shipping and aquaculture in the city.
Bergen is the main base for the
Royal Norwegian Navy
The Royal Norwegian Navy ( no, Sjøforsvaret, , Sea defence) is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for naval operations of Norway. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 in mobilized state, 3 ...
(at
Haakonsvern
Haakonsvern is the main base of the Royal Norwegian Navy and the largest naval base in the Nordic area. The base is located at Mathopen within Bergen municipality, about 15 km south-west of the city centre. Around 5,400 people work at the base ...
) and its
international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
Flesland
Flesland is a village in the borough of Ytrebygda in the municipality of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It sits on the western coast of the Bergen Peninsula, about southwest of the city centre of Bergen. It is the site of Bergen Airport, Fle ...
is the main heliport for the Norwegian
North Sea oil
North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea.
In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and ...
and gas industry, from where thousands of offshore workers commute to their work places onboard oil and gas rigs and platforms.
Tourism is an important income source for the city. The hotels in the city may be full at times, due to the increasing number of tourists and conferences. Bergen is recognized as the unofficial capital of the region known as
Western Norway
Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrativ ...
, and recognized and marketed as the gateway city to the world-famous
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...
s of Norway, and for that reason, it has become Norway's largest – and one of Europe's largest –
cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...
ports of call.
Transport
Bergen Airport, Flesland
Bergen Airport ( nn, Bergen lufthamn; ), alternatively Bergen Flesland Airport or simply Flesland Airport, is an international airport located at Flesland in the city and municipality of Bergen, Vestland, Norway. Opened in 1955, it is the secon ...
, is located from the city centre, at
Flesland
Flesland is a village in the borough of Ytrebygda in the municipality of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It sits on the western coast of the Bergen Peninsula, about southwest of the city centre of Bergen. It is the site of Bergen Airport, Fle ...
. In 2013, the
Avinor
Avinor AS is a state-owned limited company that operates most of the civil airports in Norway. The Norwegian state, via the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, controls 100 percent of the share capital. Avinor was created on 1 ...
-operated airport served 6 million passengers. The airport serves as a hub for
Scandinavian Airlines
Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...
,
Norwegian Air Shuttle
Norwegian Air Shuttle Aksjeselskap, ASA, trading as Norwegian, is a Norway, Norwegian Low-cost carrier, low-cost airline and Norway's largest airline. It is the fourth largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind Wizz Air, easyJet and Ryanair, the ...
and
Widerøe
Widerøes Flyveselskap AS, trading as Widerøe, is a Norwegian airline, and is the largest regional airline operating in the Nordic countries. The airline's fleet of 40 Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft, and 3 Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, serves over 40 d ...
; there are direct flights to 20 domestic and 53 international destinations.
Bergen Port
Bergen Port is an international seaport located in the centre of Bergen, Norway, operated by Bergen Port Authority. Port locations are featured along most of the two bays in Bergen, Vågen, Bergen, Vågen and Puddefjorden. In 2006 it served 27,342 ...
, operated by
Bergen Port Authority
Bergen Port Authority ( no, Bergen og Omegn havnevesen) is an intermunicipal enterprise owned by the municipalities of Askøy, Austrheim, Bergen, Fedje, Fjell, Lindås, Meland, Os, Radøy, Sund and Øygarden as well as Hordaland county municipa ...
, is the largest
seaport
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
in Norway.
In 2011, the port saw 264 cruise calls with 350,248 visitors, In 2009, the port handled 56million tonnes of cargo, making it the ninth-busiest cargo port in Europe. There are plans to move the port out of the city centre, but no location has been chosen.
Fjord Line
Fjord Line is a Norwegian ferry operator offering services between Norway and Denmark; in October 2020 the company announced a scale-back of operations whereby the ferry operations will only serve the ports of Kristiansand, Hirtshals, and St ...
operates a
cruiseferry
A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship and a Ro-Pax ferry. Many passengers travel with the ships for the cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while oth ...
service to
Hirtshals
Hirtshals is a town and seaport on the coast of Skagerrak on the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark, Europe. It is located in Hjørring municipality in Region Nordjylland. The town of Hirtshals has a po ...
, Denmark. Bergen is the southern terminus of
Hurtigruten
''Hurtigruten'' (), formally Kystruten Bergen-Kirkenes ("coastal route Bergen- Kirkenes"), is a Norwegian public coastal route transporting passengers that travel locally, regionally and between the ports of call, and also cargo between ports no ...
, the Coastal Express, which operates with daily services along the coast to
Kirkenes
Kirkenes (; ; Skolt Sami: ''Ǩeârkknjargg;'' fi, Kirkkoniemi; ; russian: Киркенес) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town ...
. Passenger
catamaran
A Formula 16 beachable catamaran
Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States
A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...
s run from Bergen south to
Leirvik
Leirvik is a town and the administrative centre of Stord municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The town lies along the southern coast of the large island of Stord, along the Hardangerfjorden. The town gained "town status" in 1997. The town ...
and
Sunnhordland
Sunnhordland is a traditional district in the western region of Norway. The district consists of the southern coastal regions of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county). It includes the areas that surround the mouth of the Hardang ...
, and north to
Sognefjord
The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the smal ...
and
Nordfjord
Nordfjord ( en, Northern fjord—in contrast to Sunnfjord) is a traditional district of Norway.
Geography
The region is located in the northern part of Vestland county in Western Norway. It centers on the Nordfjorden and it comprises the muni ...
Autopass
Autopass (stylized autoPASS) is an electronic toll collection system used in Norway. It allows collecting road tolls automatically from cars. It uses electronic radio transmitters and receivers operating at 5.8 GHz (MD5885) originally supp ...
system. The main motorways consist of E39, which runs north–south through the municipality, E16, which runs eastwards, and National Road 555, which runs westwards. There are four major bridges connecting Bergen to neighbouring municipalities: the
Nordhordland Bridge
The Nordhordland Bridge ( no, Nordhordlandsbrua) is a combined cable-stayed and pontoon bridge which crosses Salhusfjorden between Klauvaneset (in Bergen Municipality) and the island of Flatøy (in Alver Municipality) in Vestland county, Norwa ...
, the
Askøy Bridge
The Askøy Bridge ( no, Askøybroen) is a suspension bridge that crosses the Byfjorden between the municipalities of Bergen and Askøy in Vestland county, Norway. It is long and has a main span of . Its span was the longest for any suspension b ...
, the
Sotra Bridge
The Sotra Bridge ( no, Sotrabrua) is a suspension bridge which crosses Knarreviksundet between Knarrevik in Øygarden Municipality and Drotningsvik on the mainland of Bergen Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It carries two road lanes ...
and the
Osterøy Bridge
The Osterøy Bridge ( no, Osterøybrua) is a suspension bridge in Vestland county, Norway. The bridge connects the Kvisti farm area on the island of Osterøy in Osterøy Municipality with the Herland farm area on the mainland in Bergen Municipa ...
. Bergen connects to the island of
Bjorøy
Bjorøyna or Bjorøy is an island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island is located south of the island of Litlesotra, west of the Bergen Peninsula, north of the island of Tyssøyna, and east of the island of Sotra.
Bj ...
via the subsea
Bjorøy Tunnel
The Bjorøy Tunnel ( no, Bjorøytunnelen) is a subsea road tunnel in Vestland county, Norway. The tunnel is part of the Norwegian County Road 5236 which connects the island of Bjorøy in the municipality of Øygarden to the mainland near H ...
Bergen Line
The Bergen Line or the Bergen Railway ( no, Bergensbanen or nn, Bergensbana), is a long scenic standard gauge railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, Norway. The name is often applied for the entire route from Bergen via Drammen to Oslo, ...
, which runs to
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
Bergen Commuter Rail
Bergen Commuter Rail, sometimes called Vossebanen, is a commuter rail service between Bergen and Arna, Voss and Myrdal, Norway. It is operated by Vy using Stadler FLIRT electric multiple units. It runs on the mainline Bergen Line and all servic ...
to
Voss
Voss () is a municipality and a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages include Bolstadøyri, Borstrondi, Evanger, Kvitheim, Mjølfjell, Opphe ...
. Between Bergen and Arna Station, the train runs about every 30minutes through the
Ulriken Tunnel
The Ulriken Tunnel ( no, Ulrikstunnelen) is a railway tunnel on the Bergen Line between Bergen Station and Arna Station in Bergen Municipality in Vestland county, Norway.
Original (old) tunnel
The existing long tunnel runs under the north ...
; there is no corresponding road tunnel, forcing road vehicles to travel via Åsane or
Nesttun
Nesttun is an urban settlement in the borough of Fana in the municipality of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is located approximately south of the city centre. It was the centre of the old Fana municipality, which merged with Bergen in 1972 ...
.
Bergen is one of the smallest cities in Europe to have both
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
and
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
electric urban transport systems simultaneously. Public transport in Hordaland is managed by
Skyss
Skyss is the public authority that plans, purchases and markets the public transport services governed by the county authority in Vestland, Norway. Skyss does not have a board, but is governed by the county council. Skyss was established in 2007 ...
, which operates an extensive city bus network in Bergen and to many neighbouring municipalities, including one route which operates as a trolleybus. The trolleybus system in Bergen is the only one still in operation in Norway and one of two trolleybus systems in
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
Nesttun
Nesttun is an urban settlement in the borough of Fana in the municipality of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is located approximately south of the city centre. It was the centre of the old Fana municipality, which merged with Bergen in 1972 ...
in 2010, extended to
Rådal
Rådal is a neighborhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is located at the border between the boroughs of Fana and Ytrebygda. The center of the area is the shopping center Lagunen Storsenter. While the area has no official bo ...
(Lagunen Storsenter) in 2013 and to the Bergen airport Flesland in 2017. Extensions to other boroughs may occur later.
Fløibanen
The Fløibanen is a funicular railway in the Norwegian city of Bergen. It connects the city centre with the mountain of Fløyen, with its mountain walks and magnificent views of the city. It is one of Bergen's major tourist attractions and one of N ...
is a
funicular
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...
which runs from the city centre to Mount
Fløyen
Fløyen or Fløyfjellet is one of the "city mountains" in Bergen, Hordaland, Norway. Its highest point is above sea level. The name could originate from ''fløystangen'' or a weather vane that was set up to indicate the direction of the wind for ...
and
Ulriksbanen
Ulriksbanen is a passenger aerial tramway in Bergen, Norway. It connects the mountain Ulriken to the city, and is frequently used by tourists as well as locals. The tramway was first thought of by Frithjof Meidell Andersen in 1954, and a compan ...
is an
aerial tramway
An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...
which runs to Mount
Ulriken
Ulriken (or the older, ''Ålreken'') is the highest of the Seven Mountains ( no, De syv fjell) that surround the city of Bergen, Norway. It has a height of above sea level. Ulriken has an aerial tramway, Ulriksbanen, that can bring people to the ...
.
Culture and sports
''
Bergens Tidende
''Bergens Tidende'' is Norway's fifth-largest newspaper, and the country's largest newspaper outside Oslo.
''Bergens Tidende'' is owned by the public company Schibsted ASA. Norwegian owners held a mere 42% of the shares in Schibsted at the end ...
'' (BT) and ''
Bergensavisen
''Bergensavisen'' (lit. "the Bergen newspaper"), usually shortened to ''BA'', is the second largest newspaper in Bergen, Norway. The paper is published in tabloid format. The newspaper's webpage ba.no is Bergen's largest local newspaper webpage ...
'' (BA) are the largest newspapers, with circulations of 87,076 and 30,719 in 2006, ''BT'' is a regional newspaper covering all of Vestland, while ''BA'' focuses on metropolitan Bergen. Other newspapers published in Bergen include the Christian national '' Dagen'', with a circulation of 8.936, and ''
TradeWinds
The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...
'', an international shipping newspaper. Local newspapers are ''
Fanaposten
''Fanaposten'' is a Norwegian newspaper, published in Nesttun in Bergen, and covering the districts of Fana and Ytrebygda. The newspaper was founded in 1978, and its first editor was Hans D. Fasmer. The newspaper is issued twice a week. In 2004 ' ...
'' for Fana, ''
Sydvesten
''Sydvesten'' (The Southwest) is a local Norwegian newspaper published once a week in Bergen in Hordaland county.
''Sydvesten'' covers events in the boroughs of Laksevåg and Fyllingsdalen. When the newspaper was launched in 1994, it was originall ...
'' for Laksevåg and Fyllingsdalen and ''
Bygdanytt
''Bygdanytt'' is a Norwegian newspaper, published in Indre Arna in Bergen, and covering Arna and Osterøy. The newspaper was founded in 1951, and its first editor was Sigurd Mjeldheim. The newspaper is issued twice a week. It had a circulation of ...
'' for Arna and the neighbouring municipality
Osterøy
Osterøy is an island municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordhordland. The municipality encompasses most of the island of Osterøy. The administrative centre of Osterøy is the village of Lon ...
.TV 2, Norway's largest private television company, is based in Bergen.
The 1,500-seat
Grieg Hall
Grieg Hall ( no, Grieghallen) is a 1,500 seat concert hall located on Edvard Griegs' square in Bergen, Norway.
Grieghallen was named in honor of Bergen-born composer Edvard Grieg, who served as music director of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra ...
is the city's main cultural venue, and home of the
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is a Norwegian orchestra based in Bergen. Its principal concert venue is the Grieg Hall.
History
Established in 1765 under the name ''Det Musicalske Selskab'' (The Musical Society), it later changed its name t ...
, founded in 1765, and the
Bergen Woodwind Quintet
The Bergen Woodwind Quintet is a well-known woodwind quintet based in Bergen, Norway. The ensemble's members are the principal wind musicians of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, also known as Harmonien, which was founded in 1765 and is one of th ...
. The city also features
Carte Blanche
A blank cheque in the literal sense is a cheque that has no monetary value written in, but is already signed. In the figurative sense, it is used to describe a situation in which an agreement has been made that is open-ended or vague, and therefo ...
, the Norwegian national company of contemporary dance. The annual
Bergen International Festival
Bergen International Festival ( no, Festspillene i Bergen) is an annual international music and cultural festival in Bergen, Norway.
Biography
The Bergen International festival is the largest festival in the Nordic countries in its genre and ha ...
is the main cultural festival, which is supplemented by the
Bergen International Film Festival
The Bergen International Film Festival (BIFF) is a film festival held annually in October in Bergen, Norway since 2000, and is the largest film festival in the nation in number of films. The festival celebrated its 20th edition in 2019, featuring ...
. Two internationally renowned composers from Bergen are
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...
and
Ole Bull
Ole Bornemann Bull (; 5 February 181017 August 1880) was a Norwegian virtuoso violinist and composer. According to Robert Schumann, he was on a level with Niccolò Paganini for the speed and clarity of his playing.
Biography
Background
Bull was ...
. Grieg's home,
Troldhaugen
Troldhaugen is the former home of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg and his wife Nina Grieg. Troldhaugen is located in Bergen, Norway and consists of the Edvard Grieg Museum, Grieg's villa, the hut where he composed music, and his and his wife's g ...
, has been converted to a museum. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Bergen produced a series of successful pop, rock and
black metal
Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...
artists, collectively known as the
Bergen Wave
The Bergen Wave (in Norwegian: ''Bergensbølgen'') is an expression often used by Norwegian media regarding the city of Bergen, Norway as a platform for the development of modern music, illustrating a period in time of a new generation of artists ...
.
Den Nationale Scene
Den Nationale Scene ( en, National Theater) is the largest theatre in Bergen, Norway. Den Nationale Scene is also one of the oldest permanent theatres in Norway.
History
Opened under the name '' Det Norske Theater'' in 1850, the theatre has root ...
is Bergen's main theatre. Founded in 1850, it had
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
as one of its first in-house playwrights and art directors. Bergen's
contemporary art
Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...
scene is centred on
BIT Teatergarasjen
BIT Teatergarasjen (BIT) is a producer and co-producer of international contemporary theatre and dance in Norway. It emphasises projects that stimulate international co-production and co-operations between different fields of art.
BIT was establi ...
, Bergen Kunsthall, United Sardines Factory (USF) and Bergen Center for Electronic Arts (BEK). Bergen was a European Capital of Culture in 2000.
Buekorps
Buekorps (; literally "Bow Corps" or "Archery Brigade") are traditional marching neighbourhood youth organizations in Bergen, Norway.
The tradition is unique to Bergen. The organizations, which are called ''bataljoner'' (battalions), were first ...
is a unique feature of Bergen culture, consisting of boys aged from 7 to 21 parading with imitation weapons and
snare drum
The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...
s. The city's Hanseatic heritage is documented in the Hanseatic Museum located at Bryggen.
SK Brann
Sportsklubben Brann (commonly known as Brann, and less often as SK Brann) is a Norwegian professional football club, founded 26 September 1908, from Bergen. Brann had been in the Eliteserien, Norway's Premier Division of Football, since 1987, bar ...
is Bergen's premier
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
team; founded in 1908, they have played in the (men's)
Norwegian Premier League
Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...
for all but seven years since 1963 and consecutively, except one season after relegation in 2014, since 1987. The team were the football champions in 1961–1962,
1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...
, and
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
, and reached the quarter-finals of the
Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
in 1996–1997. Brann play their home games at the 17,824-seat
Brann Stadion
Brann Stadion is a football stadium in Bergen, Norway. It was constructed in 1919, and has been the home of the football club Brann ever since. The stadium lies south of the city centre, at the foot of Mount Ulriken.
The record attendance dat ...
.
FK Fyllingsdalen
FK Fyllingsdalen is a football club from Fyllingsdalen, a borough in the Norwegian city of Bergen. The club is a result of a merge between the two football clubs Fyllingen and Løv-Ham.
In 2011, the last season before the merge, Løv-Ham pla ...
is the city's second-best team, playing in the
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
at
Varden Amfi
Varden Amfi is a football venue in Bergen, Norway. The stadium is currently used by FK Fyllingsdalen who plays in the Norwegian Second Division. It was formerly used by now dissolved clubs Løv-Ham and Fyllingen Fotball.
It was originally opene ...
. Its predecessor, Fyllingen, played in the Norwegian Premier League in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
,
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
and
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
.
Arna-Bjørnar
Arna-Bjørnar Fotball is a Norwegian football club from Arna, Bergen.
It was founded in late 2000 as a merger between the football branches from ''IL Bjørnar'' and ''Arna T&IL'', and replaced Bjørnar IL in the league system from 2001. The w ...
and
Sandviken
Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 39,234 inhabitants in 2019. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...
Bergen IK
Bergen Ishockeyklubb is an ice hockey club from Bergen
History
Bergen Flyers were elite commitment to the club until 2005. Elite team's history went back to the hockey team to the Sportkluben Djerv, which changed its name in turn to "Bergen / ...
is the premier men's ice hockey team, playing at
Bergenshallen
Bergenshallen is an indoor ice hockey arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on mos ...
IL Norna-Salhus
Idrettslaget Norna-Salhus is a Norwegian athletics club from Salhus in Åsane, Bergen
It was founded on 14 October 1935. The club originally had an association football section as well, but it split away in 1987 to form FK Bergen Nord.
Since t ...
,
IL Gular
Idrottslaget Gular is a Norwegian athletics club from Bergen, founded in 1946. In the past it has had sections for handball, skiing, gymnastics and football.
The athletics section cooperates on youth level with local clubs Bergens TF and TIL Hov ...
and
FIK BFG Fana
Friidrettsklubben BFG Fana is a Norwegian athletics club from Fana in Bergen, founded in 1987 as an umbrella team for Bjarg, Fana and Gneist.
BFG Fana uses the Fana stadion, and hosted the Bislett Games in 2004.
Among its most prominent members ...
, formerly also Norrøna IL and
TIF Viking
Turn & Idrettsforeningen Viking is a Norwegian sports club from Bergenhus, Bergen. It has sections for gymnastics, athletics, race walking, orienteering, volleyball, handball and skiing.
It was founded on 17 May 1892 as ''IK Viking'', but later ...
.
Bergensk
Bergensk or Bergen dialect is a dialect of Norwegian used in Bergen, Norway. It is easy for Norwegians to recognise, as it is more distinguishable from other dialects in Vestland than, for example, the Stavanger dialect (''Stavangersk'') from the ...
is the native dialect of Bergen. It was strongly influenced by
Low German
:
:
:
:
:
(70,000)
(30,000)
(8,000)
, familycolor = Indo-European
, fam2 = Germanic
, fam3 = West Germanic
, fam4 = North Sea Germanic
, ancestor = Old Saxon
, ancestor2 = Middle L ...
-speaking merchants from the mid-14th to mid-18th centuries. During the Dano-Norwegian period from 1536 to 1814, Bergen was more influenced by
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
than other areas of Norway. The Danish influence removed the female
grammatical gender
In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all nouns ...
in the 16th century, making Bergensk one of very few Norwegian dialects with only two instead of three grammatical genders. The Rs are
uvular trill
The voiced uvular trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a small capital letter ''R''. This consonant is one of several collectively ...
s, as in French, which probably spread to Bergen some time in the 18th century, overtaking the
alveolar trill
The voiced alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar trills is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r. ...
in the time span of two to three generations. Owing to an improved
literacy rate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
, Bergensk was influenced by
riksmål
(, also , ) is a written Norwegian language form or spelling standard, meaning the ''National Language'', closely related and now almost identical to the dominant form of Bokmål, known as .
Both Bokmål and Riksmål evolved from the Danish wri ...
and bokmål in the 19th and 20th centuries. This led to large parts of the German-inspired
vocabulary
A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...
disappearing and pronunciations shifting slightly towards East Norwegian.
The 1986 edition of the
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
took place in Bergen. Bergen was the host city for the
2017 UCI Road World Championships
The 2017 UCI Road World Championships were held in 2017 in Bergen, Norway. It was the 90th UCI Road World Championships and the second to be held in Norway, after the 1993 world championships in Oslo. Chantal Blaak of the Netherlands won the wom ...
Bergen Wave
The Bergen Wave (in Norwegian: ''Bergensbølgen'') is an expression often used by Norwegian media regarding the city of Bergen, Norway as a platform for the development of modern music, illustrating a period in time of a new generation of artists ...
. These bands include
Röyksopp
Röyksopp (), a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø formed in 1998. The duo consists of Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland.
Berge and Brundtland were introduced to each other through a mutual friend in Tromsø, Norway. They enjoye ...
and
Kings of Convenience
Kings of Convenience is an indie folk-pop duo from Bergen, Norway, consisting of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe.
History
Øye and Bøe were both born in 1975 (Øye on 21 November and Bøe on 25 October) and have known each other since they ...
on the small, Bergen-based record label Tellé Records, as well as related side-projects, such as
The Whitest Boy Alive
The Whitest Boy Alive is a German-Norwegian musical group based in Berlin. It was originally active from 2003 to 2014; after a five-year hiatus, the group reformed in 2019. The band is composed of singer and guitarist Erlend Øye of Kings of Conv ...
and
Kommode
, label =
, past_members =
* Anders Waage Nilsen
* Øystein Gjærder Bruvik
* Eirik Glambek Bøe
* Erlend Øye
, website =
Skog (''forest'' in Norwegian, taking inspiration from the famous song "A Forest" by The Cure) was a rock b ...
, on independent labels. Other internationally well-received artists also originating from Bergen include
Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
,
Sondre Lerche
Sondre Lerche (; born 5 September 1982) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and guitarist, now based in Los Angeles, California. He has released nine studio albums.
Early life
Growing up in a suburb of Bergen, Lerche was heavily influenced by 1980s ...
,
Magnet
A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...
,
Kygo
Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll (born 11 September 1991), known professionally as Kygo (), is a Norwegian DJ and music producer. He garnered international attention with his December 2013 remix of the track "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran and his December 201 ...
,
Boy Pablo
Boy Pablo (stylized as boy pablo) is the indie pop music project of Chilean–Norwegian singer songwriter Nicolas Muñoz. In the recording studio, Muñoz writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Boy Pa ...
and
Alan Walker
Alan Olav Walker (born 24 August 1997) is a British-born Norwegian music producer and DJ primarily known for the critically acclaimed single " Faded" (2015), which was certified platinum in 14 countries. He has also made several songs including ...
. Bergen is also known as the "
black metal
Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...
capital of Norway", due to its role in the
early Norwegian black metal scene
The early Norwegian black metal scene of the 1990s is credited with creating the modern black metal genre and produced some of the most acclaimed and influential artists in extreme metal. It attracted massive media attention when it was revealed ...
and the amount of acts to come from the city in the early 1990s.
Bergen is also the birthplace of composer
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...
.
Street art
Bergen is considered to be the street art capital of Norway. Famed artist
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams ...
visited the city in 2000 and inspired many to start creating street art. Soon after, the city brought up the most famous street artist in Norway: Dolk. His art can still be seen in several places in the city, and in 2009 the city council choose to preserve Dolk's work "Spray" with protective glass. In 2011, Bergen council launched a plan of action for street art in Bergen from 2011 to 2015 to ensure that "Bergen will lead the fashion for street art as an expression both in Norway and
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
".
The Madam Felle (1831–1908) monument in Sandviken, is in honour of a Norwegian woman of German origin, who in the mid-19th century managed, against the will of the council, to maintain a counter of beer. A well-known restaurant of the same name is now situated at another location in Bergen. The monument was erected in 1990 by sculptor Kari Rolfsen, supported by an anonymous donor. Madam Felle, civil name Oline Fell, was remembered after her death in a popular song, possibly originally a folksong, "Kjenner Dokker Madam Felle?" by
Lothar Lindtner
Per Lothar Lindtner (July 22, 1917 – April 14, 2005) was a Norwegian actor.
Early life
Lindtner was born in Bergen and played a large number of roles at the National Theatre in Oslo. He is considered one of the greatest actors Bergen has pro ...
and
Rolf Berntzen
Rolf Johannes Berntzen (4 June 1918 – 22 September 2005) was a Norwegian actor, and the grandfather of the Norwegian musician Julian Berntzen.
He was born in Bergen, co-founded ''Bergens Dramatiske Klubb'' in 1939, made his debut at Den Nationa ...
on an album in 1977.
Neighbourhoods
The traditional neighbourhoods of Bergen include
Bryggen
Bryggen (''the dock''), also known as Tyskebryggen (, ''the German dock''), is a series of Hanseatic heritage commercial buildings lining up the eastern side of the Vågen harbour in the city of Bergen, Norway. Bryggen has been on the UNESCO
...
, Eidemarken, Engen, Fjellet,
Kalfaret
Kalfaret is a neighborhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The neighborhood is located in the borough of Bergenhus, just north of the Store Lungegårdsvannet bay, east of the city centre. The area is an affluent neighborhood, ...
, Ladegården,
Løvstakksiden
Løvstakksiden, commonly shortened to Løvstakken or simply Stakken, is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. Currently it is part of the borough of Årstad, but before 2000 it was part of a borough called "Løvstakke ...
Møhlenpris
Møhlenpris (formerly Vestre Sydnes) is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is next to the Puddefjorden in the borough of Bergenhus. The neighbourhood is named after Jørgen Thor Møhlen, who was a shipowner, slav ...
,
Nordnes
Nordnes is a peninsula and neighbourhood in the city centre of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway.
Vågen, Bergen, Vågen, Byfjorden (Hordaland), Byfjorden, and Puddefjorden surround the peninsula. The Akvariet i Bergen, Bergen Aquarium is locat ...
Sandviken
Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 39,234 inhabitants in 2019. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...
Sydnes
Sydnes is a traditional neighbourhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is located along the Puddefjorden
Puddefjorden, often anglicized as Pudde Fjord,Koop, Gerhard, Klaus-Peter Schmolke. 2014. ''German Light Cruisers of W ...
,
Verftet
Verftet is a neighbourhood of Bergen, Norway. It is located on the Nordnes
Nordnes is a peninsula and neighbourhood in the city centre of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway.
Vågen, Byfjorden, and Puddefjorden surround the peninsula. The B ...
, Vågsbunnen, Wergeland, and Ytre Sandviken.
''Grunnkretser''
The various addresses in Bergen, each belong to one of the various ''
grunnkrets The basic statistical unit ( no, Grunnkrets) is a type of statistical unit used by Statistics Norway to provide stable and coherent geographical units for regional statistics in Norway. Basic statistical units are subdivisions of municipalities
...
''.
International business
Each year Bergen sells the
Christmas Tree
A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...
seen in Newcastle's Haymarket as a sign of the ongoing friendship between the sister cities. The Nordic friendship cities of Bergen,
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
,
Turku
Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
and
Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...
arrange inter-Nordic camps each year by registering tenth grade school classes from each of the other cities to school camps, for a profit. Bergen received a
totem pole
Totem poles ( hai, gyáaʼaang) are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually m ...
as a gift of friendship from the city of
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
on the city's 900th anniversary in 1970. It is now placed in the
Nordnes Park
The Nordnes Park ( no, Nordnesparken) is a public park in the municipality of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The park is located near the centre of the city of Bergen on the northwestern end of the Nordnes peninsula. It was established in 188 ...
and gazes out over the sea towards the friendship city far to the west.
Sister (town) cities
Planned partner city relations:
*
Nagykovácsi
Nagykovácsi (whose name in English translates as "Great Smithy") is a small town in the Pilisvörösvári kistérség district of Hungary situated some north-west of the centre of Budapest, in a valley, at an altitude of 340 metres. It is locate ...
, Hungary (2022)
Notable people from Bergen
*
List of people from Bergen
This is a list of famous people from Bergen, Norway.
Artists and actors
* Johan Christian Dahl (1788–1857), painter.
* Helge Jordal (1946–) actor
* Elly Kjølstad (1850–1930), actress
* Frank Krog (1954–2008), actor
* Bjarte Hjelmeland ...