Alvøen or Alvøy is a manor house located on a historic industrial site in the

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 ...

borough of the city of

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Alvøen Manor was once one of the grander private homes in Bergen.

History

Alvøen is the site one of Norway's oldest industrial communities and one of the best preserved industrial locations. In 1626, King

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and King of Norway, Norway and List of rulers of Schleswig-Holstein, Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years and 330 days is th ...

granted the right to establish a gunpowder mill on the site. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1733, but rebuilt. Didrich Jansen Fasmer (1706-1770) improved it and built another gun mill in the 1760s. Towards the end of the 1700s, Alvøen became an industrial site with working houses attached to the factories. Later it started production of saltpeter, linseed oil and paper. Hendrik Jansen Fasmer (1766-1836) founded the paper mill during 1797. In 1858, Hendrik Fasmer (1835–1930) built a new papermill in Alvøen and from the late 1800s the production was concentrated on finer grades in different blends of cloths and cellulose. Alvøens Papirfabrik A/S manufacturing

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

in Alvøen until stopped production in 1981. At that time, it was the oldest paper mill in the country. The specialty was finer paper for documents and from 1908, supplier of paper for Norwegian banknotes. Alvøen Manor was the main residence of the owners of the paper factory of Alvøen. Alvøen Manor was originally built as a countryside retreat for members of the Fasmer family in 1797. Eventually the rococo main building was surrounded by several gardens. Alvøen Manor and the factory were opened as a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

(''Alvøen Hovedbygning'') in 1983, as a branch of the West Norway Museum of Decorative Art. It is now managed by the Bergen City Museum. The site includes Alvøen Manor together with some forty worker cottages and production buildings dating from the 1800s.''Historikk'' (Alvøen Gamle Mølle)
/ref> Alvøen lies at the Vatlestraumen

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

, west of Bergen, where the

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

''Rocknes'' hit an underwater rock and

capsize Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is Turtling (sailing), upside down in the water. The act of reco ...

d in January 2004. The wreckage was towed to Alvøen, stabilised and partly examined, before being taken to the CCB base at Ågotnes in

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 ...

for further examination and recovery.

Interior of Alvøen manor

File:Alvøen.3.jpg, Living room File:Alvøen.6.jpg, Large room File:Alvøen.7.jpg, Dining room File:Alvøen.8.jpg, Porcelain chamber

References

External links

Alvøen Hovedbygning website

Bergen City Museum Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvoen Populated places in Bergen Farms in Vestland Manor houses in Norway Historic farms in Norway Museums in Bergen Historic house museums in Norway Industry museums in Norway Open-air museums in Norway

History

Interior of Alvøen manor

See also

References

External links