The Vingen rock carvings ( no, Vingenfeltet) are a set of petroglyphs located along the

Frøysjøen Frøysjøen is a fjord (or more accurately, a strait) in Bremanger Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The fjord is about long and between wide. The fjord runs on a northeast–southwest axis between the mainland of Norway (on the east) an ...

strait in

Bremanger Municipality Bremanger is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village of Svelgen is the administrative centre of the municipality. Other villages include Bremanger, Berle, Davik, Isane, Kalvåg, Svelgen, Rugsund, and Ålfoten. Bremanger i ...

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,

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 ...

. They are located about straight east of the village of

Berle Berle is a village on the west coast of Norway. It is located on the eastern coast of Bremangerlandet island in the municipality of Bremanger in Vestland county. The village lies along the Berlepollen fjord, a small inlet off the Frøysjøen ...

and about south of the village of

Rugsund Rugsund is a village in Bremanger Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the mainland along the shore of the Nordfjorden. The village is home to Rugsund Church, the local church for this part of the municipality. Ther ...

. The area is accessible by boat or by a hike from the nearest roads.

History

Vingen is one of the largest rock carving sites in Northern Europe. The site contains at least 2,000 different carvings and prints dating back to 4000–2000 years BC. The figures are mostly of

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

. There are also some other animal carvings, many other abstract

geometric patterns A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated l ...

and human figures. The site was discovered in 1910 by Kristian Bing, a lawyer from the city of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

. Kristian Magdalon Bing (1862-1935) was also a noted pioneer in the sport of mountain climbing. He was looking for a farm he could buy to commercialise the hydropower from the waterfalls in the area. In 1913, Kristian Bing bought the property. He retained rights to several large waterfalls but subsequently sold the site where most rock carvings are located to the

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 1923.

Current usage

Around 1,500 rock carvings have been found in Vingen, while around 500 others are scattered around at nearby Hennøy, Vingelven, and Fura. Various security measures have been set in place to protect the carvings from natural and anthropogenic influence. In 2002, the rock carvings at Vingen and the area around the site were closed to the public by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Entering the site without granted permission is forbidden.

still owns and manages the site.

References

Other sources

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External links

NRK Fylkesleksikonet
(in Norwegian)
Nordfjordhistorie.no
(in Norwegian) {{coord, 61, 49, 46, N, 5, 18, 50, E, region:NO_type:landmark_source:kolossus-nowiki, display=title Vingen Bremanger Tourist attractions in Vestland