Berger is a town in the municipality of

Svelvik Svelvik is a town in Drammen municipality, Viken county. It is also a former municipality, which was a part of former Vestfold county. The town of Svelvik was separated from the rural municipality of Strømm to become a municipality of its own ...

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered th ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The town has a population of 1 125 (2021), and lies on the western side of the

Drammensfjord Drammensfjord ( en, Drammen Fjord) is a fjord in Norway that connects to Ytre Oslofjord on the west side. It stretches to the north and northeast. The Drammenselva river discharges into the head of the fjord. The municipality and city of Drammen ...

History

The town of Berger grew into an industrial center around the Berger and Fossekleven factories. In 1880,

Berger Factory The Berger Factory is a historic factory building at 37 Williams Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1902, it was home to one of the nation's first manufacturers of precision engineering and surveying instruments, and a surviving example o ...

was established by Jens J. Jebsen. Fossekleven Factory was established in 1889 by Jørg Jebsen, a younger brother of Jens J. Jebsen. Both were nephews of factory owner

Peter Jebsen Peter Jebsen ( 6 May 1824 – 30 October 1892) was a Norway, Norwegian businessperson and politician. He was the founder of Dale of Norway. Background Jebsen was born at Broager in the Duchy of Schleswig. He was the son of Jens Jebsen (1778-1 ...

who operated a textile factory at Arna outside Bergen. Berger and Fossekleven factories were situated at the waterfall Fossekleiva and were in operation until 2002. The former factory buildings now house the Berger Museum and the Fossekleiva Cultural Center.

Culture

Berger museum

was reopened in 2015, and is associated with the Vestfold museums (Norwegian: ). Based on Berger and Fossekleven factories, the museum shows the history of Norwegian textile history and has a number of displays relating to textile production.

Berger church

Berger church (''Berger kirke'') was built in 1895 and was designed by architect

Schak Bull Schak August Steenberg Bull (10 May 1858 – 25 January 1956) was a Norwegian architect. Personal life He was born in Årstad (municipality), Årstad as the son of Colonel Jens Munthe Bull (1815-1905) and his wife Johanne Margrethe Hagerup (18 ...

. Between 1948 and 1949, the church received a comprehensive internal restoration in collaboration with architect

Arnstein Arneberg Arnstein Rynning Arneberg (6 July 1882 – 9 June 1961) was a Norwegian architect. He was active professionally for 50 years and is often considered the leading architect in Norway of his time. Personal life Arnstein Rynning Arneberg was b ...

References

Villages in Vestfold og Telemark {{Vestfold-geo-stub