Bergen

Bergen (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈbæ̀rɡn̩]), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. As of 2021, its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers 465 square kilometres (180 sq mi) and is on the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen. 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, Fana, Fyllingsdalen, Laksevåg, Ytrebygda, Årstad, and Åsane.

 

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. Until 1789, Bergen enjoyed exclusive rights to mediate trade between Northern Norway 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). What remains of the quays, Bryggen, is a World Heritage Site. The city was hit by numerous fires over the years. The Bergen School of Meteorology was developed at the Geophysical Institute starting in 1917, the Norwegian School of Economics was founded in 1936, and the University of Bergen in 1946. From 1831 to 1972, Bergen was its own county. 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 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 and a unique tradition of the city is the buekorps. Natives speak a distinct dialect, known as Bergensk. The city features Bergen Airport, Flesland and Bergen Light Rail, and is the terminus of the Bergen Line. 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 in 1070 AD, four years after the Viking Age in England ended with the Battle of Stamford Bridge. 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 dates from the 1240s and guards the entrance to the harbour in Bergen. The functions of the capital city were lost to Oslo during the reign of King Haakon V (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 Kontore of the Hanseatic League at Bryggen 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 (1217–1263).[9] Stockfish 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 merchants lived in their own separate quarter of the town, where Middle Low German was used, enjoying exclusive rights 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, is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

 

In 1349, the Black Death 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, 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, 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, and it was Norway's biggest city until the 1830s, when the capital city of Oslo 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 Kontor finally closed. Bergen retained its monopoly of trade with northern Norway until 1789. The Bergen stock exchange, the Bergen børs, 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 formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality of Bergen landdistrikt 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. The Norwegian resistance movement groups in Bergen were Saborg, Milorg, "Theta-gruppen", Sivorg, Stein-organisasjonen and the Communist Party. On 20 April 1944, during the German occupation, the Dutch cargo ship Voorbode anchored off the Bergenhus Fortress, 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, 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 (Norwegian: 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, Laksevåg, and Åsane 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, in the county of Vestland.

 

Geography

 

Bergen occupies most of the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen in the district of Midthordland in mid-western Hordaland. The municipality covers an area of 465 square kilometres (180 square miles). 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, Fløyen, Løvstakken and Damsgårdsfjellet are always included as well as three of Lyderhorn, Sandviksfjellet, Blåmanen, Rundemanen and Kolbeinsvarden. Gullfjellet is Bergen's highest mountain, at 987 metres (3,238 ft) above mean sea level.

 

Bergen is sheltered from the North Sea by the islands Askøy, Holsnøy (the municipality of Meland) and Sotra (the municipalities of Fjell and Sund). Bergen borders the municipalities Alver and Osterøy to the north, Vaksdal and Samnanger to the east, Os (Bjørnafjorden) and Austevoll to the south, and Øygarden and Askøy to the west.

 

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 and Sandviken), the majority of the population lives in relatively sparsely populated residential areas built after 1950. While some are dominated by apartment buildings and modern terraced houses (e.g. Fyllingsdalen), others are dominated by single-family homes.

 

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 covered houses, as well as the remaining log houses, 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 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 and Sandviken 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, classicism and Art Nouveau. 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 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 in the 1950s and 1960s. Bergen acquired Fyllingsdalen from Fana municipality in 1955. Like similar areas in Oslo (e.g. Lambertseter), Fyllingsdalen was developed into a modern suburb with large apartment buildings, mid-rises, and some single-family homes, in the 1960s and 1970s. Similar developments took place beyond Bergen's city limits, for example in Loddefjord.

 

At the same time as planned city 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 and Laksevåg. Most of the homes in these areas are detached row houses, 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 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 ambitiously planned redevelopment of many areas in central Bergen. The plans involved demolition of several neighbourhoods of wooden houses, namely Nordnes, 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.[64]

 

Billboards are banned in the city.

 

(Wikpedia)

 

Fløyen or Fløyfjellet is one of the "city mountains" in Bergen, Hordaland, Norway. Its highest point is 400 m (1,300 ft) 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 sailing ships. The view of the Bergen peninsula makes Fløyfjellet a popular attraction among tourists and locals alike. It has a funicular system called Fløibanen that transports passengers from the center of Bergen to a height of 320 m (1,050 ft) in roughly eight minutes.

 

Fløibanen

 

Fløibanen is an 850-meter (2,790 ft)-long electric cable funicular that pulls two wagons between Fløyen and the station at Vetrlidsallmenningen in Bergen city centre. It also has three stations: Promsgate, Fjellveien and Skansemyren and it was opened in 1918. Since the opening Fløibanen has carried over 48 million people to and from Fløyfjellet. Over the past few years passenger numbers have averaged 1 million per year. Over the years, Fløibanen has cemented its position as Bergen's most popular tourist attraction and according to the Norwegian Council for Tourism, Fløibanen was Norway's fourth most visited tourist attraction in the 2001 summer season. Most of the traffic occurs in the summer months from May to September.

 

Fløyen station is 320 m (1,050 ft) above sea level and it is the last stop at the top. There is also a viewpoint. In 2002 the site was rebuilt for 46 million NOK, the viewpoint was extended and is called Fløytrappene. This is a broad staircase which goes from the station stop to Fløien Folkerestaurant. There are countless hiking paths, and there is one road intended for cars.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Bergen [ˈbærgən] ist mit 286.930 Einwohnern (Stand 1. Januar 2022) die zweitgrößte Stadt Norwegens, eine Kommune in der Provinz (Fylke) Vestland sowie deren Verwaltungssitz. Der Großraum von Bergen hat rund 440.000 Einwohner.

 

Der Hafen von Bergen (UN/LOCODE NO BGO) ist einer der geschäftigsten Seehäfen Europas, von dem aus die Schiffe der Hurtigruten starten. Die Stadt ist Ausgangspunkt der Bergensbane. Im Kulturbereich gibt es das bekannte Theater Den Nationale Scene sowie die Grieghalle.

 

Lage

 

Bergen ist eine Hafenstadt und liegt am inneren Byfjord an der Westküste Norwegens. Die Stadt wird auch als „Tor zu den Fjorden“ bezeichnet. Die höchste Erhebung auf dem Gebiet der Kommune ist der Gullfjellet (987 m). Die Stadt ist mit ca. 2548 mm Niederschlag an 248 Regentagen im Jahr (Stand: 2005) die „regenreichste Großstadt Europas“.

 

"De Syv Fjell"

 

Bergen ist in Norwegen auch als Syvfjellsbyen (Stadt der sieben Hügel) bekannt. Dieser Beiname soll auf den Dichter Ludvig Holberg, vermutlich in Anlehnung an die Sieben Hügel Roms, zurückgehen. Die eigentliche Anzahl Hügel, welche die Stadt umgeben, ist umstritten, unter anderem da fünf von ihnen (Ulriken, Fløyfjellet, Rundemanen, Blåmanen und Sandviksfjellet) alle Teil desselben Massivs sind. Auch der Storavarden auf der Nachbarinsel Askøy wird gelegentlich zu den sieben Hügeln gezählt.

 

Auf der jährlichen 7-fjellsturen (7-Hügel-Tour), die von der Ortsgruppe des norwegischen Wandervereins veranstaltet wird, werden seit 1981 die folgenden 7 Hügel, gegen den Uhrzeigersinn, bestiegen:

 

Lyderhorn (396 m), Damsgårdsfjellet (317 m), Løvstakken (477 m), Ulriken (643 m), Fløyfjellet (400 m), Rundemanen (568 m), Sandviksfjellet (417 m).

 

Stadtbild

 

Die Stadt ist geprägt durch die am Naturhafen Vågen verlaufende Bryggen oder früher Tyske Bryggen (norwegisch für Landungsbrücke/Kai bzw. Deutscher Kai), wobei es sich um alte Handelseinrichtungen der Hanse handelt. Ebenfalls aus dieser Zeit stammen die Marienkirche und weitere Bauten.

 

Nach mehreren verheerenden Stadtbränden (1702, 1855, 1916), die durch die typisch norwegische Holzbauweise begünstigt wurden, erließ die Stadt Verordnungen, die den Bau von Holzhäusern auf dem Stadtgebiet nicht mehr gestattete. Das Hafenviertel Bryggen, das bei den Stadtbränden mehrmals nicht verschont geblieben war, wurde nach jeder Zerstörung nach originalen Plänen wieder aufgebaut. Das Profil ist daher heute noch dasselbe wie im 12. Jahrhundert. Aus diesem Grund wurde Bryggen als Beispiel hanseatischer Baukunst in Norwegen durch die UNESCO 1979 zum Weltkulturerbe ernannt.

 

Geschichte

 

Auf eisenzeitliche Spuren weist der östlich gelegene Bautastein von Augastad.

 

Nach Angaben in den Königssagas wurde Bergen 1070 als Björgvin („Bergwiese“) von König Olav Kyrre gegründet. Ab dem 12. Jahrhundert war es norwegische Krönungsstadt; später wurde es in dieser Funktion von Trondheim abgelöst.

 

1360 eröffnete in Bergen ein Hansekontor „Tyske Bryggen“. Bergen wird zwar oft als „Hansestadt“ bezeichnet, war jedoch nicht gleichberechtigte Mitgliedsstadt, da es Städten, in denen Hansekontore lagen, verboten war, Hansestadt zu werden. Im Jahr 1665, während des Zweiten Englisch-Niederländischen Krieges, überfielen englische Kriegsschiffe eine niederländische Handelsflotte im Hafen von Bergen. Die Schlacht in der Bucht von Bergen endete mit einer Niederlage der Engländer. Dazu trug auch die Unterstützung der dänischen Festungsbesatzungen für die Niederländer mit bei.

 

Bis 1880 war Bergen wichtigster Hafen und größte Stadt Norwegens. Am 16. Januar 1916 wurde ein großer Teil der noch aus vielen Holzhäusern bestehenden Stadt von einem Großbrand vernichtet.

 

Im 19. Jahrhundert war die Lepra in Norwegen stark verbreitet und Bergen eines der Seuchenzentren. Zwischen 1850 und 1900 gab es in der Stadt drei Lepra-Krankenhäuser und die größte Dichte an Infizierten in ganz Europa. 1873 entdeckte der norwegische Arzt Gerhard Armauer Hansen in Bergen den Erreger Mycobacterium leprae. Das älteste Lepra-Spital, das im 15. Jahrhundert eröffnete St.-Jørgens-Hospital behandelte bis in die 1940er Jahre Leprakranke und beherbergt heute das Lepramuseum Bergen und das Lepra-Archiv, das zum UNESCO Memory-of-the-World-Programm gehört.

 

Im Zweiten Weltkrieg wurde Bergen schon am ersten Tag der deutschen Invasion, am 9. April 1940, von deutschen Truppen besetzt. Die Stadt wurde später durch alliiertes Bombardement beschädigt. Die deutsche Luftwaffe baute zur Verteidigung der Stadt und des U-Boot-Hafens die nahe gelegene Insel Herdla und die Festung Fjell festning aus. Am 20. April 1944 forderte die Explosion auf dem deutschen Munitionstransporter „Voorbode“, der am Kai vor der Festung Bergenhus lag, 150 Menschenleben und führte zu starken Schäden an hunderten von Gebäuden.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Fløyen oder Fløyberg ist einer der sieben Berge der norwegischen Stadt Bergen und deren beliebteste Touristenattraktion. Das Bergplateau liegt auf einer Höhe von 399 m, direkt oberhalb des Stadtzentrums.

 

Der Name stammt von dem noch heute auf dem Bergrücken existierenden Windflügel, der den aus dem geschützten Bergener Hafen, dem Vågen, auslaufenden Schiffen die Windrichtung anzeigen sollte.

 

Die fotogene Aussicht über die Halbinsel macht den Fløyberg zu einem beliebten Ausflugsziel sowohl bei Touristen wie bei Einheimischen. Auch gibt es von dort viele Wandermöglichkeiten über die Hochebene zum Ulriken.

 

Die Fløibahn ist eine 850 Meter lange elektrische Standseilbahn, die zwei Wagen zwischen dem Fløyen und dem Stadtzentrum mit drei Zwischenstationen hin und her zieht.

 

(Wikipedia)

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