is the administrative centre of the

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 ...

Bamble Bamble is a municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Langesund. General information Name The Old Norse form of the na ...

, Norway. The town of Langesund was established as a municipality 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It was merged with Bamble 1 January 1964. In the early days, Langesund was one of the most important shipping towns in

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 the ...

. Peter Wessel Tordenskiold got one of his ships built in Langesund, '' Løvendals Gallej''. It was known as Longsound in English in the 1800s. It is possible to visit the remains of the old Coastal Fortress on Langesundstangen on the extreme end of the Langesund peninsula. The fort was established during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and later used by the Norwegian Coastal Artillery and

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...

until 1993. Langesund is one of the most celebrated summer towns in

because of the large number of sunny days. It is also well known for Wrightegaarden, a building that hosts outdoor concerts every weekend the whole summer. Artists like

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, A-ha, Elton John and Little Richard have played in Wrightegaarden. Langesund marks the border between Ytre Oslofjord and

Skagerrak The Skagerrak (, , ) is a strait running between the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, the southeast coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area through the Danish Straits to the Baltic Sea. T ...

Landmarks

The best-known landmark in Langesund is ''Langøytangen fyr'', a lighthouse placed on the peak of

Langøya Langøya is the third largest island of Norway (outside of Svalbard), with an area of . The island is a part of the Vesterålen archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. The island includes the municipalities of Bø and Øksnes as well as parts ...

, a kilometre-long island right outside of Langesund. The island group east of the town are called

Arøya Arøya is a group of isles located in the outer part of the Langesund fjord in Norway. The isles, in detail referred to as Store Arøy, Lille Arøy and Vesle Arøy ('Big', 'Small' and 'Tiny' Arøy), are situated approximately midway between the to ...

. A short walk outside of the town centre, facing the

strait, lies the decommissioned military fort known as

Tangen Fortress Tangen is a village in Stange Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located near the shores of the large lake Mjøsa, about south of the village of Stangebyen. The small village of Espa lies about to the south of Tangen. The ...

Mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

Atle Selberg Atle Selberg (14 June 1917 – 6 August 2007) was a Norwegian mathematician known for his work in analytic number theory and the theory of automorphic forms, and in particular for bringing them into relation with spectral theory. He was awarde ...

, musician Vidar Busk,

Norwegian-American Norwegian Americans ( nb, Norskamerikanere, nn, Norskamerikanarar) are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

theologian

Marcus Olaus Bockman Marcus Olaus Bockman (January 9, 1849 – July 21, 1942) was a Norwegian-American Lutheran theologian. Background Marcus Olaus Bockman was born Marcus Olaus Bøckmann at Langesund in Bamble municipality, Telemark county, Norway. He was educated a ...

and Instagram influencer Jens Kulås were all born in Langesund.

Cultural contribution

Artists like Vidar Busk and Stephen Ackels are originally from Langesund. The concertplace Wrightegaarden is famous for its intimate concerts and is hosting big Norwegian bands like Postgirobygget every year. Langesund is mentioned in the opening lyrics of Postgirobygget's song Sommer på jorda (Summer on Earth).

The name

The meaning of the name is 'the long strait.' Former municipalities of Norway Cities and towns in Norway Port cities and towns in Norway Populated places in Vestfold og Telemark Bamble {{Telemark-geo-stub