Bergen (ˈbærɡən) is the
second largest city in
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of
Hordalandis a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...
county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by
Statistics NorwayStatistics Norway is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876.Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All releases are published both in Norwegian and English...
, has a population of as of , .
Bergen is located in the county of Hordaland on the south-western coast of Norway. It is an important cultural hub in its region, recognized as the unofficial capital of Western Norway and sometimes also referred to as the Atlantic coast capital of Norway.
Bergen's inter-municipal harbour, Port of Bergen, is by far Norway's largest and one of Europe's largest ports.
The city was one of nine European cities honoured with the title of
European Capital of CultureThe European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....
in the Millennium year.
History
The city of Bergen, traditionally thought to have been founded by king
Olav KyrreOlaf Kyrre , or Olaf III Haraldsson, was King of Norway from 1067 to 1093. He was present at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in England in 1066 where his father, Harald Hardrada, saw defeat and was killed in action...
, son of
Harald Hardråde in 1070 AD, four years after the Viking Age ended. Modern research has, however, discovered that a trading settlement was established already during the 1020s or 1030s. It is considered to have replaced
TrondheimTrondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
as Norway's capital in 1217, and that
OsloOslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
became the de jure capital in 1299. Towards the end of the 13th century, Bergen became one of the
Hanseatic LeagueThe Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
's most important bureau cities.
The main reason for Bergen's importance was the trade with dried cod from the northern Norwegian coast, which started around 1100. By the late 14th century, Bergen had established itself as the centre of the trade in Norway. The
HanseaticThe Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
merchants lived in their own separate quarter of town, where
Middle SaxonMiddle Low German is a language that is the descendant of Old Saxon and is the ancestor of modern Low German. It served as the international lingua franca of the Hanseatic League...
was used, enjoying
exclusive rightIn Anglo-Saxon law, an exclusive right is a de facto, non-tangible prerogative existing in law to perform an action or acquire a benefit and to permit or deny others the right to perform the same action or to acquire the same benefit. A "prerogative" is in effect an exclusive right...
s to trade with the northern fishermen that each summer sailed to Bergen. Today, Bergen's old quayside,
BryggenBryggen , also known as Tyskebryggen is a series of Hanseatic commercial buildings lining the eastern side of the fjord coming into Bergen, Norway. Bryggen has since 1979 been on the UNESCO list for World Cultural Heritage sites. The name has the same origin as the Flemish city of Brugge.The city...
is on
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
's list of
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
.
The city has throughout its history been plagued with numerous great city fires. In 1198, the
BaglerThe Bagli Party or Bagler was a faction or party during the Norwegian Civil Wars. The Bagler faction was made up principally of the Norwegian aristocracy, clergy and merchants....
-faction set fire on the city in connection with a battle against the
BirkebeinerThe Birkebein Party or Birkebeinar was the name for a rebellious party in Norway, formed in 1174 around the pretender to the Norwegian throne, Eystein Meyla...
faction during the civil war. In 1248, Holmen and Sverresborg burned, and 11 churches were destroyed. In 1413 another fire struck the city, and 14 churches were destroyed. In 1428 the city was plundered by pirates on a mission for the
Hanseatic LeagueThe Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
, the same who was responsible for burning down
Munkeliv AbbeyMunkeliv Abbey was a Benedictine abbey located at Nordnes in Bergen, Norway. It was one of the oldest monasteries in Norway, and also one of the wealthiest and best-documented.-History:...
in 1455. In 1476, Bryggen burned down in a fire started by a drunk trader. In 1582, another fire hit the city centre and Strandsiden. In 1675, 105 buildings burned down in Øvregaten. In 1686 a new great fire hit Strandsiden, destroying 231 city blocks and 218 boathouses. The greatest fire to date happened in 1702 when 90 percent of the city was burned to ashes. In 1751, there was a great fire at Vågsbunnen. In 1756, a new fire at Strandsiden burned down 1,500 buildings, and further great fires hit Strandsiden in 1771 and 1901. In 1916, 300 buildings burned down in the city centre, and in 1955 parts of Bryggen burned down.
In 1349, the
Black DeathThe Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
was inadvertently brought to
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
by the crew of an English ship arriving in Bergen. In the 15th century, the city was several times attacked by the
Victual BrothersThe Victual Brothers were a companionship of privateers who later turned to piracy. They were hired in 1392 by the Dukes of Mecklenburg to fight against Denmark, because the Danish Queen Margaret I had imprisoned Albrecht of Mecklenburg and his son in order to subdue the kingdom of Sweden...
, and in 1429 they succeeded in burning the royal castle and much of the city. In 1536, the King of the country was able to force the Saxon merchants to become Norwegian citizens, or else to return home, heralding a decline in the Saxon influence. In 1665, the city's harbour was the site of the
Battle of VågenThe Battle of Vågen was a naval battle between a Dutch merchant and treasure fleet and an English flotilla of warships in August 1665 as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The battle took place in Vågen , the main port area of neutral Bergen, Norway...
, between English ships on the one side and Dutch ships supported by the city's garrison on the other.
Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, Bergen remained one of the largest cities in
ScandinaviaScandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, and was Norway's biggest city until the 1830s, when the capital city of
OsloOslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
became the largest. Bergen retained its monopoly of trade with Northern Norway until 1789.
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 artilleryCoastal artillery is the branch of armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications....
. On 20 April 1944, during the German occupation, the Dutch cargo ship
VoorbodeThe Dutch steam trawler Voorbode was a fishing vessel, until it was confiscated by the Germans during World War II and used for military transport. In April 1944, it was on its way from Oslo to Kirkenes when it faced mechanical problems, forcing it to seek repair in Bergen...
anchored off the
Bergenhus FortressBergenhus fortress is a fortress located in Bergen, Norway. Bergenhus fortress is located in the entrance to the harbor in Bergen. This is one of the oldest and best preserved castles in Norway.-History:...
, loaded with over 120 tons of explosives, blew up, killing at least 150 people and damaging historic buildings. The city was subject to some Allied
bombing raidsStrategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
, aiming at German naval installations in the harbour. Some of these caused Norwegian
civilian casualtiesCivilian casualties is a military term describing civilian or non-combatant persons killed, injured, or imprisoned by military action. The description of civilian casualties includes any form of military action regardless of whether civilians were targeted directly...
numbering about 100.
Bergen was separated from Hordaland as a county of its own in 1831. It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see
formannskapsdistriktFormannskapsdistrikt was the name for a Norwegian local self-government districts put into force in 1838. This system of municipality was created in a bill approved by the Storting and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January 1837...
). The
rural municipalityA rural municipality, often abbreviated RM, is a form of municipality in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, perhaps best comparable to counties or townships in the western United States...
of
Bergen landdistriktBergen landdistrikt is a former municipality in Hordaland county, Norway.Bergen landdistrikt or Domkirken og Korskirkens landsokn was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 . In the 1835 census the area had a population of 1,381. It was merged with the municipality and county of Bergen...
was merged with Bergen on 1 January 1877. The rural municipality of Årstad was merged with Bergen on 1 July 1915. The rural municipalities of
ArnaArna is a borough and suburb of Bergen, Norway and a former municipality in Hordaland county.Arna has approximately 12,000 inhabitants. Situated behind mount Ulriken, Arna is geographically close to downtown Bergen, but it takes some time to drive there by road as there is no road tunnel as of yet....
,
FanaFana is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-History:Prior to 1972, Fana was an independent municipality which territory also included today's boroughs of Ytrebygda, Fyllingsdalen, and the southernmost part of Årstad.-Geography:...
,
LaksevågLaksevåg is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-Location:Laksevåg was separated from Askøy as a municipality of its own July 1, 1918. It was merged with Bergen January 1, 1972....
, and
ÅsaneÅsane is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway, making up the northwestern part of the city.It was a municipality in Hordaland county, from January 1, 1904, when it was separated from Hamre, until January 1, 1972 when it was merged with Bergen . The area was developed from mostly farmland to a...
were merged with Bergen on 1 January 1972. The city lost its status as a separate county on the same date. Bergen is now a municipality in Norway, in the county of
Hordalandis a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...
.
In 1972, Bergen was unified with the neighbouring municipalities, of Arna, Fana, Laksevåg, and Åsane, abolishing its
countyPopulation figures from 2009 .-By population:-Historical population:-By area:-By density:...
status and setting its present boundaries.
Toponymy
The
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
forms of the name were Bergvin and Bjǫrgvin (and in
IcelandicIcelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
and
FaroeseFaroese , is an Insular Nordic language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 25,000 Faroese people in Denmark and elsewhere...
the city is still called Björgvin). The first element is berg (n.) or bjǫrg (n.), which translates to mountain(s). The last element is vin (f.), which means a new settlement where there used to be a pasture or meadow. The full meaning is then 'the meadow among the mountains'. A suitable name: Bergen is often called 'the city among the seven mountains'. It was the playwright
Ludvig HolbergLudvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian double monarchy, who spent most of his adult life in Denmark. He was influenced by Humanism, the Enlightenment and the Baroque...
who felt so inspired by the seven hills of Rome, that he decided that his home town must be blessed with a corresponding seven mountains - and locals still argue which seven they are.
In 1918, there was a campaign to reintroduce the Norse form Bjørgvin as the name of the city. This was turned down - but as a compromise the name of the
dioceseA diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
was changed to
Bjørgvin bispedømmeBjørgvin Diocese is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers churches located in the counties of Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane. The cathedral city is Bergen. Bergen Cathedral, formerly the Church of Saint Olaf, serves as the seat of the presiding Bishop...
.
Geography
Bergen municipality occupies the majority of the Bergen peninsula in mid-western
Hordalandis a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...
. It is sheltered from the North Sea by the islands
AskøyAskøy is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Since the opening of the Askøy Bridge leading to the mainland in Bergen in 1992, the population has increased rapidly. Its population growth is as of 2008 among the highest in Norway...
,
HolsnøyHolsnøy is an island in Meland municipality, Hordaland county, Norway. The area is 88.8 km². The island is the largest within the municipality. There is a bridge over Flatøy to the Lindås peninsula. The highest point is Eldsfjellet at 324 m....
(the municipality of
MelandMeland is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway.-History:The municipality is named after the farm of Meland. The norse name of the farm was "Meðalland"...
) and
SotraSotra is the name of an archipelago in Hordaland, Norway, just west of Bergen. The largest island is Store Sotra, while the second-largest and most populated is Litlesotra. The latter and part of Store Sotra are part of Fjell, while southern Sotra is part of Sund. Roughly 25,000 people live on Sotra...
(the municipalities of
FjellFjell is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. The parish of Fjæld was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838...
and
SundSund is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Sund covers the southern part of the island of Store Sotra, west of Bergen, and many smaller, surrounding islands. The history of the municipality dates back to 1838, when Sund was first established as a formannskapsdistrikt, the precursor...
).
The municipality covers an area of 465 km
2. The population is 256,580 making the
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
551 people per km
2. The population of the main urban area is 220,418. The municipality also contains eight minor urban settlements with a total population of 17,213, with Indre Arna, situated in the borough
ArnaArna is a borough and suburb of Bergen, Norway and a former municipality in Hordaland county.Arna has approximately 12,000 inhabitants. Situated behind mount Ulriken, Arna is geographically close to downtown Bergen, but it takes some time to drive there by road as there is no road tunnel as of yet....
, being the largest with a population of 6,151 as of 1 January 2007.
Bergen's city centre is situated among a group of mountains known collectively as de syv fjell (the seven mountains), including the mountains
UlrikenUlriken is the highest of the Seven Mountains that surround Bergen, Norway. It has an altitude of 643 metres above sea level....
,
FløyenFløyen or Fløyfjellet is the most visited of the seven mountains that surround the city centre of Bergen, Norway....
,
LøvstakkenLøvstakken is one of the Seven Mountains that surround the city centre of Bergen, Norway. The mountain is located between the Fyllingsdalen and Bergensdalen valleys. Løvstakken and the forests nearby are popular hiking areas among the locals...
and
DamsgårdsfjelletDamsgårdsfjellet is a mountain in Bergen, Norway west of Melkeplassen, and one of the seven mountains surrounding the city center of Bergen. It is high....
, as well as three of the following:
LyderhornLyderhorn is a mountain in Bergen, Norway. It is one of "De syv fjell", the seven mountains surrounding the city centre, and the starting location of Bergen Turlag's annual trip of the mountains. It is located by Liavatnet approximately five kilometers west of the city center. Due to its prominent...
,
SandviksfjelletSandviksfjellet is a mountain in Bergen, Norway and one of the traditional seven mountains that surround the city centre of Bergen. The mountain is 392 m high. The hiking route Stoltzekleiven is arena for a yearly mountain run, where Jon Tvedt holds the record....
,
Blåmanen-See also:* De syv fjell...
,
RundemanenRundemannen is a mountain in Bergen, Norway. It is considered one of the "De syv fjell" surrounding Bergen, and at 568 meters is the second highest of them. It's a part of the same massive as Fløyen and Ulriken, but not easily visible from the city center. The radio station at the top was founded...
, and
Askøyfjellet. The first to name them "the seven mountains" might have been
Ludvig HolbergLudvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian double monarchy, who spent most of his adult life in Denmark. He was influenced by Humanism, the Enlightenment and the Baroque...
, inspired by the
seven hills of RomeThe Seven Hills of Rome east of the river Tiber form the geographical heart of Rome, within the walls of the ancient city.The seven hills are:* Aventine Hill * Caelian Hill...
. These seven mountains are, however, only a few of the mountains located within the borders of the Bergen municipality.
GullfjelletGullfjellet , also called Gulfjellet, is the highest mountain in the municipality of Bergen. It is situated on the border between Bergen and Samnanger, Hordaland, Norway....
is the highest mountain in Bergen, at 987 metres
above sea levelThe term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
.
Bergen borders the municipalities
MelandMeland is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway.-History:The municipality is named after the farm of Meland. The norse name of the farm was "Meðalland"...
,
LindåsLindås is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway.-Background:The parish of Lindaas was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . Masfjorden was separated from Lindås on 1 March 1879. Austrheim was separated from Lindås on 1 January 1910...
and
OsterøyOsterøy is an island municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordhordland. The administrative centre is located in Lonevåg in the central part of the island, while the settlement with the largest population is Valestrandfossen with 1,012...
to the north,
Vaksdalis a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordhordland. The administrative centre is the village of Dalekvam....
and
SamnangerSamnanger is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Samnanger was separated from Os on 1 January 1907. The municipality is located east of Bergen. Development of hydroelectric power plants started here in 1909.-Name:...
to the east,
OsOs is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Due to its proximity to Bergen, Os is experiencing strong population growth. -History:...
and
AustevollAustevoll is a municipality and an archipelago in the district of Midthordland in the county of Hordaland in Western Norway, Norway. Austevoll was separated from Sund on 1 January 1886....
to the south, and
SundSund is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Sund covers the southern part of the island of Store Sotra, west of Bergen, and many smaller, surrounding islands. The history of the municipality dates back to 1838, when Sund was first established as a formannskapsdistrikt, the precursor...
,
FjellFjell is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. The parish of Fjæld was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838...
and
AskøyAskøy is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Since the opening of the Askøy Bridge leading to the mainland in Bergen in 1992, the population has increased rapidly. Its population growth is as of 2008 among the highest in Norway...
to the west.
Climate
Bergen features a temperate
oceanic climateAn oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, maritime climate, Cascadian climate and British climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the...
with relatively mild winters and cool summers. Despite being so far north, Bergen's weather is relatively mild. In the winter, Bergen is one of the warmest cities in Norway, caused by the
Gulf StreamThe Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean...
. The city is located further north than
Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, yet winters are much warmer in Bergen than St. Petersburg.
Bergen experiences plentiful rainfall, with annual
precipitationIn meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
measuring 2250 mm (88.6 in) on average. This is because the city is surrounded by mountains that cause moist
North AtlanticThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
air to undergo
orographic liftOrographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and create clouds and, under the right conditions,...
, which yields abundant rainfall. Rain fell every day between 29 October 2006 and 21 January 2007, 85 consecutive days. In Bergen, precipitation is plentiful and heavy rain can happen at any time of the year. The highest temperature ever recorded was 31.8 °C, a record that dates back to 1947. The lowest ever recorded is −16.3 °C, in 1987.
The high precipitation is often used in the marketing of the city, and figures to a degree on postcards sold in the city. For some time there were umbrella
vending machineA vending machine is a machine which dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, consumer products and even gold and gems to customers automatically, after the customer inserts currency or credit into the machine....
s in the city, but these did not turn out to be a success.
Climate change
In recent years, precipitation and winds have increased in the city. In late 2005, heavy rains caused floods and several landslides, the worst of which killed three people on 14 September. Some indications are that due to
climate changeClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, severe storms causing landslides and floods will become more powerful in the area and in surrounding counties in coming years. As a response, the municipality created a special 24-man rescue unit within the fire department in 2005, to respond to future slides and other
natural disasterA natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard . It leads to financial, environmental or human losses...
s, and neighbourhoods considered at risk of slides were surveyed in 2006. As of October 2007, the prediction has been supported by over 480 landslides in Hordaland county from the spring of 2006 to the summer of 2007. Most of the slides hit roads however none of them caused damage to cars, buildings, or people, until October 2007, when a large rock dislodged and killed the driver of a car.
Another concern is the risk of rising
sea levelMean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
s. Already today, Bryggen is regularly flooded at extreme tide, and it is feared that as sea levels rise, floods will become a major problem in Bergen. Floods may in the future reach the old fire station in Olav Kyrres Gate, as well as the railroad tracks leading out of the city. It has therefore been suggested by among others Stiftelsen Bryggen, the foundation responsible for preserving the UNESCO site, that a
sea wallA seawall is a form of coastal defence constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation and leisure activities from the action of tides and waves...
, built so that it could be raised and lowered as demanded by the tides, be built outside the harbour to protect the city.
Another effect of recent years' weather conditions in the area is that Norwegians increasingly believe that
climate changeClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
is a threat.
Demographics
Ethnic
NorwegiansNorwegians constitute both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegian people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in United States, Canada and Brazil.-History:Towards the end of the 3rd...
make up 88.8% of Bergen's residents. Of these, 2.1% were
firstThe term first-generation [citizen of a country], e.g., "first-generation Ruritanian" may have either of two different meanings:*A citizen of the country who is a naturalized immigrant.or*A citizen whose parents are naturalized immigrants....
or second generation immigrants with
WesternThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
backgrounds and 6.6% were first or second generation immigrants with non-Western backgrounds. The population growth with 4,549 persons in 2009, which is a growth rate of 1,8%. 96% of the population live in urban areas.
As of 2002, the average
gross incomeGross income in United States tax law is receipts and gains from all sources less cost of goods sold. Gross income is the starting point for determining Federal and state income tax of individuals, corporations, estates and trusts, whether resident or nonresident."Except as otherwise provided" by...
for men above the age of 17 is 426,000
NOKThe krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...
, the average gross income for women above the age of 17 is 238,000 NOK, with the total average gross income being 330,000 NOK. In 2007, there were 104.6 men for every 100 women in the age group of 20-39. 22.8% of the population were under 17 years of age, while 4.5% were 80 and above.
Religion
Registered in Bergen for 2010 are more than 7,300 Catholics (up from 408 in 1951), 4,947 members of
ProtestantProtestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
Free churchThe term "free church" refers to a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separated from government . A free church does not define government policy, nor have governments define church policy or theology, nor seeks or receives government endorsement or funding for its general mission...
es, 2,707
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, 816
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s, 255 (up from 175 in 2009)
Russian OrthodoxThe Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
and 147 (up from 98 in 2009) Oriental Orthodox. The
Church of NorwayThe Church of Norway is the state church of Norway, established after the Lutheran reformation in Denmark-Norway in 1536-1537 broke the ties to the Holy See. The church confesses the Lutheran Christian faith...
made up the majority of the population and there are also many other
ProtestantProtestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
Free Churches. There is one Catholic Church and one
MosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
. There is no Orthodox Church in Bergen, but one is planned because the Orthodox community is on of the fastest growing religious communities in Bergen. The Holy Epiphany Parish of
Russian Orthodox ChurchThe Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
has been active in the city since 2004. Whereas more than 7.3% and 42,516 are Muslims in
OsloOslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, the figures are just 1.0% and 2,533 in Bergen (actual numbers are likely higher). Bergen has a relatively low percentage of Muslims, in relation to many
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an cities, for example
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and
MalmöMalmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
with 8.5% and 20.6% Muslims respectively.
| Religion |
Members |
Percent |
Church of NorwayThe Church of Norway is the state church of Norway, established after the Lutheran reformation in Denmark-Norway in 1536-1537 broke the ties to the Holy See. The church confesses the Lutheran Christian faith...
|
201,006 |
79.74% |
| Non-Religious |
52,059 |
13.55% |
| Saint Paul Catholic Church Sankt Paul katolske kirke is a Roman Catholic church in Bergen, Norway. It is located at Christies street and Nygård street between Lille Lungegårdsvann and Nygårdshøyden....
|
7,300 |
2.84% |
| Protestant Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
Free churchThe term "free church" refers to a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separated from government . A free church does not define government policy, nor have governments define church policy or theology, nor seeks or receives government endorsement or funding for its general mission...
es |
4,947 |
1.92% |
IslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
|
2,707 |
1.05% |
HinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
|
816 |
0.31% |
| Russian Orthodox Christianity |
255 |
0.09% |
| Oriental Orthodox Christianity |
147 |
0.05% |
| Year |
1876 |
1951 |
1976 |
2004 |
2008 |
| Roman Catholics in Bergen |
20 |
408 |
1,112 |
4,044 |
7,300 |
| Percent |
0.0% |
0.3% |
0.5% |
1.7% |
2.9% |
| Year |
2006 |
2010 |
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s in Bergen |
1,892 |
2,707 |
| Percent |
0.7% |
1.0% |
Churches
The churches of the
EstablishedA state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
Church (the Church of Norway) in Bergen are St Olav's Cathedral Church (Bergen Domkirken, or Cathedral), St Mary's Church (Mariakirken, currently closed for renovation), St John's Church (Johanneskirken), Holy Trinity Church (Nykirken, or New Church), Holy Cross Church (Korskirken), and St George's Church (Jurgenkirken, chapel of the leper hospital), together with the Nonneseter Abbey Chapel. There are also small churches of various other minority denominations, plus St Paul's Roman Catholic Church.
Immigration
| Countries |
Population |
| Total |
260,392 |
EUThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
/EEAThe European Economic Area was established on 1 January 1994 following an agreement between the member states of the European Free Trade Association and the European Community, later the European Union . Specifically, it allows Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to participate in the EU's Internal...
, USAThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
|
241,390 |
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, AfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Latin America, Oceania except AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
except the EUThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
/EEAThe European Economic Area was established on 1 January 1994 following an agreement between the member states of the European Free Trade Association and the European Community, later the European Union . Specifically, it allows Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to participate in the EU's Internal...
|
19,002 |
The immigrant population (those with two foreign born parents) in Bergen, includes 23,682 individuals with backgrounds from 164 countries representing 9.56% of the city's population (2008). Of these, 40.8% have background from
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, 36.0% from
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, 12.4% from
AfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, 7.8% from
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, 2.5% from
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and 0.5% from
OceaniaOceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
. The immigrant population in Bergen in the period 1993–2008 increased by 119.7%, while the ethnic Norwegian population has grown by 8.1% during the same period. The national average is 138.0% and 4.2%. The immigrant population has thus accounted for 43.6% of Bergen's population growth and 60.8% of
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's population growth during the period 1993–2008, compared with 84.5% in
OsloOslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
.
The immigrant population in Bergen has changed a lot since 1970. As of 1 January 1986, there were 2,870 persons with non-Western immigrant background in Bergen. In 2006, this figure had increased to 14,630, so the non-Western immigrant population in Bergen was five times higher than in 1986. This is a slightly slower growth than the national average, which has sextupled during the same period. Also in relation to the total population in Bergen, the proportion of non-Western increased significantly. In 1986, the proportion of the total population in the municipality of non-Western background was 3.6%. In January 2006, persons with non-Western immigrant background accounted for 6 percent of the population in Bergen. The share of Western immigrants has remained stable at around 2% in the period. The number of
Polesthumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
in Bergen rose from 697 in 2006 to 3,128 in 2010.
| Country of origin |
Population (2001) |
Percent of total population (2001) |
| Total |
230,948 |
100.0% |
 Norway |
216,153 |
93.5% |
| Immigrants |
14,795 |
6.4% |
 Vietnam |
1,154 |
0.4% |
 Chile |
1,154 |
0.4% |
 United Kingdom |
855 |
0.3% |
 Sri Lanka |
834 |
0.3% |
 Iraq |
805 |
0.3% |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina |
636 |
0.2% |
 Denmark |
631 |
0.2% |
 Sweden |
630 |
0.2% |
 Germany |
563 |
0.2% |
 United States |
525 |
0.2% |
 Iran |
432 |
0.1% |
 Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
367 |
0.1% |
 Turkey |
345 |
0.1% |
 Pakistan |
336 |
0.1% |
 India |
333 |
0.1% |
 Poland |
275 |
0.1% |
 Philippines |
242 |
0.1% |
 Somalia |
220 |
0.0% |
 Netherlands |
219 |
0.0% |
 Iceland |
210 |
0.0% |
| Other countries |
4,029 |
1.7% |
| Country of origin |
Population (2011) |
Percent of total population (2011) |
| Total |
260,392 |
100.0% |
| Norway |
228,354 |
87.6% |
| Immigrants |
32,038 |
12.3% |
| Poland |
3,563 |
1.3% |
| Iraq |
1,758 |
0.6% |
| Vietnam |
1,287 |
0.4% |
| Chile |
1,244 |
0.4% |
| Germany |
1,237 |
0.4% |
| Sri Lanka |
1,152 |
0.4% |
| Sweden |
1,111 |
0.4% |
| Somalia |
1,090 |
0.4% |
| United Kingdom |
1,014 |
0.3% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina |
831 |
0.3% |
 Lithuania |
830 |
0.3% |
 Thailand |
770 |
0.2% |
| Denmark |
716 |
0.2% |
| Iran |
703 |
0.2% |
| Philippines |
650 |
0.2% |
| Turkey |
643 |
0.2% |
| India |
628 |
0.2% |
 Russia |
626 |
0.2% |
| United States |
547 |
0.2% |
 People's Republic of China |
535 |
0.2% |
 Bangladesh |
200 |
0.1% |
| Other countries |
11,105 |
4.2% |
History of the Jews in Bergen
The first Jewish family settled in Bergen in 1857, but just about 150 of around 2,000 Jews in Norway settled in Bergen between 1851 and 1945. A congregation was established. Herschel Rabinowitz, the brother to
Moritz RabinowitzMoritz Moses Rabinowitz was a Norwegian retail merchant based in the city of Haugesund, memorialized for his humanitarian outlook and contribution to his city.- Family :...
said in 1936 that "Bergen would never have a significant Jewish population". Eight years later, he was arrested and murdered in
AuschwitzConcentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
. The Jewish congregation in Bergen was removed after the Holocaust in Norway. In all, 20 Jews from Bergen were deported to Auschwitz and killed by the winter of 1942–1943. Ten of them lived in the
MøhlenprisMøhlenpris, formerly Vestre Sydnes, is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen, Norway, located next to the Puddefjord. The neighbourhood is named after Jørgen Thor Møhlen, who established some industry at Møhlenpris in the late 17th century...
area, including the 29-year-old store employee Harry Hirsch Scheer. Each year the torch is lit at the Møhlenpris school on November 26th, the date on which the deportation with D/S Donau took place.
Urban areas
According to
Statistics NorwayStatistics Norway is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876.Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All releases are published both in Norwegian and English...
there are nine
urban areaAn urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
s in the municipality. The largest, Bergen urban area, covers 94.03 km² (36.3 sq mi) or just 20% of the municipality. The population density is 2,422 p/km
2.
Population as of 1 January 2009:
- Bergen urban area – 227,752
- Indre Arna
Indre Arna is a settlement in Arna borough in Bergen, Norway. While Indre Arna is relatively far from most of the city by road, an 8-minute train journey through Ulriken connects Indre Arna to the city centre. On January 1, 2008, the Indre Arna urban settlement, as defined by Statistics Norway, had...
– 6,296
- Fanahammeren
Fanahammeren is a residential area in Bergen, Norway. Located several kilometers south of the main body of the city, Statistics Norway considers it a separate urban area. On January 1, 2008, Fanahammeren had a population of 3647 and a population density of 1317 per square kilometre. The urban area...
– 3,613
- Ytre Arna
Ytre Arna is a settlement in the borough of Arna in Bergen, Norway. Ytre Arna is known for Arne Fabrikker, the country's first mechanised cotton mill. On January 1, 2008, the Ytre Arna urban settlement, as defined by Statistics Norway, had a population of 2513...
– 2,522
- Hylkje
Hylkje is a village in the borough of Åsane in Bergen, Norway. On January 1, 2008, the population of the Hylkje urban area was 2137. The urban area covered a land area of 2.59 square kilometres, and had a population density of 825 per square kilometre. European route E39 runs through Hylkje....
– 2,195
- Espeland
Espeland is a village in Arna borough in Bergen, Norway. As of January 1, 2008, the population of the Espeland urban area is 1937. The urban area covers a land area of 2.14 square kilometres, and has a population density of 905 per square kilometre. Espeland is known for the Espeland concentration...
– 2,049
- Nordvik
Nordvik is a settlement in the municipalities of Bergen and Os in the county of Hordaland, Norway. As of January 1, 2008, the population of the Nordvik urban area is 429, of which 383 people live in Bergen and 46 in Os. The urban area covers a land area of 0.42 square kilometres, and has a...
– 431
- Krokeidet – 337
- Flesland
Flesland is a village in Bergen municipality, Norway. As of January 1, 2008, its population is 335.It is the site of Bergen Airport, Flesland.-The name:...
– 335
Cityscape
The city centre of Bergen is located west in the municipality, facing the fjord of
ByfjordenByfjorden is a fjord in the county of Hordaland, Norway. It separates the island of Askøy from the city of Bergen on the mainland. The western entrance to Byfjorden is between Drotningsvik in Laksevåg, Bergen, and Marikoven on Askøy...
. It is situated 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 of the city centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods (i.e. Årstad, inner
LaksevågLaksevåg is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-Location:Laksevåg was separated from Askøy as a municipality of its own July 1, 1918. It was merged with Bergen January 1, 1972....
and
Sandviken-Location:Geographically it is located geographically north-east of the city center. The neighbourhood begins north of Bergenhus Fortress, and follows the coastline facing west. Sandvik Road is the main thoroughfare through the area, which mostly consists of residential buildings...
), the majority of the population lives in relatively sparsely populated residential areas that have been built since the 1950s. While some are dominated by
apartment buildingAn apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
s and modern
terraced houseIn architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
s (e.g.
FyllingsdalenFyllingsdalen is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway, located south-west of the city centre in the valley to the west of Løvstakken. The early name of the valley, Fynö dalen, was the origin of the name of the farm which gave Fyllingsdalen its name, Fyllingen...
), 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 eastern side of the bay, Bergen eventually expanded west and southwards. Few buildings from the oldest period remain, the most significant being
St Mary's ChurchSt Mary's Church is a church in Bergen, Norway. The construction of the church is believed to have started in the 1130s or 40s and completed around 1180, making the church the oldest remaining building in Bergen.-History:...
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, 7/8 of the city burned. Most of the old buildings of Bergen, including Bryggen (which was rebuilt in a medieval style), were built after the fire. The fire marked a transition from
tarTar is modified pitch produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving wooden vessels against rot. The largest...
covered houses, as well as the remaining
log houseA log home is structurally identical to a log cabin...
s, to painted and some brick-covered wooden buildings.
The last half of the 19th century was a period of rapid expansion and modernisation of the city. The fire of 1855 west of
TorgallmenningenTorgallmenningen, Torgalmenningen, or Torvallmenningen, is the main square of Bergen, Norway.-External links:* positioned on Bergens Tidende's main building...
led to the development of regularly sized city blocks in this area of the city centre. The city limits were expanded in 1876, and
NygårdNygård is a neighbourhood of Bergen, Norway, located south of the Lille Lungegårdsvann lake in the city centre. Grieghallen and parts of the University of Bergen are located in Nygård.-References:*...
,
MøhlenprisMøhlenpris, formerly Vestre Sydnes, is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen, Norway, located next to the Puddefjord. The neighbourhood is named after Jørgen Thor Møhlen, who established some industry at Møhlenpris in the late 17th century...
and Sandviken were urbanised with large-scale construction of city blocks housing both the poor and the wealthy. Their architecture is influenced by a variety of styles;
historicismHistoricism refers to artistic styles that draw their inspiration from copying historic styles or artisans. After neo-classicism, which could itself be considered a historicist movement, the 19th century saw a new historicist phase marked by a return to a more ancient classicism, in particular in...
,
classicismClassicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
and
Art NouveauArt Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
. The wealthy built villas between Møhlenpris and Nygård, and on the side of Fløyen, had also been added to Bergen in 1876. Simultaneously, an urbanisation process was taking place in
SolheimsvikenSolheimsviken is a bay and a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen, Norway. The bay is situated at the end of the strait of Damsgårdssundet, near Store Lungegårdsvann...
in Årstad, at the time outside of Bergen municipality, centred around 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 on land to build on, and, contrary to the original plans, many large apartment buildings were built in
LandåsLandås is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen, Norway. Landås is located by the western side of the Ulriken mountain massif, from south-east of Haukeland University Hospital to Nattland almost 3 km further south. It was the last part of former Årstad municipality to be urbanised, the...
in the 1950s and 1960s. Bergen acquired
FyllingsdalenFyllingsdalen is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway, located south-west of the city centre in the valley to the west of Løvstakken. The early name of the valley, Fynö dalen, was the origin of the name of the farm which gave Fyllingsdalen its name, Fyllingen...
from
FanaFana is a former municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. The parish of "Fane" was established as a formannskapsdistrikt, the predecessor of today's municipalities , 1 January 1838. Fana, in addition to Arna, Laksevåg and Åsane, was merged with Bergen 1 January 1972...
municipality in 1955. Like similar areas in Oslo (e.g.
LambertseterLambertseter is a suburb of the city of Oslo, Norway, and is part of the borough of Nordstrand.Lambertseter was built over a short period starting from 1951, and was the very first modern suburb of Oslo...
), Fyllingsdalen was developed into a modern suburb with large apartment buildings,
mid-riseA tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...
s, and some single-family homes, in the 1960s and 1970s. Similar developments took place outside of Bergen's city limits, for example in
LoddefjordLoddefjord is a suburb of Bergen, Norway, located in Laksevåg borough west of the city centre. Loddefjord consists mainly of high and lowrise flats revolving around the local shopping mall. It is home to a large group of immigrants who came to Bergen in late 70's and 80's....
.
At the same time as
planned cityA new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
expansion took place inside Bergen, its extra-municipal suburbs too 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
ÅsaneÅsane is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway, making up the northwestern part of the city.It was a municipality in Hordaland county, from January 1, 1904, when it was separated from Hamre, until January 1, 1972 when it was merged with Bergen . The area was developed from mostly farmland to a...
and Laksevåg. Most of the homes in these areas are detached
row houseIn architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
s, single family homes or small apartment buildings. Since 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 RailBergen Light Rail is a light rail system in Bergen, Norway. The first stage of the project is a fifteen-station, stretch between the city center and Nesttun, which opened on 22 June 2010...
stations, and elsewhere.
As part of the modernisation wave of the 1950s and 1960s, and due to damages caused by World War II, the
city governmentLocal government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
ambitiously developed redevelopment plans for many areas in central Bergen. The plans involved demolition of several neighbourhoods of wooden houses, namely
NordnesNordnes is a peninsula and neighbourhood in the city centre of Bergen, Norway. Bergen Aquarium is located at the tip of the peninsula. The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research and Fredriksberg Fortress are also located on Nordnes....
, Marken, and Stølen. None of the plans were carried out in their original form, the Marken and Stølen redevelopment plans discarded entirely 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 enterity of Marken, however, the decision proved to be strongly 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 eventually 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 razing of Jonsvollskvartalet at Nøstet.
Administration
Since 2000, the city of Bergen is governed by a city government (byråd) based on the principle of
parliamentarismA parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined....
. The government consists of 6 government members called commissioners, and is appointed by the city council, the supreme authority of the city. Since the local elections of 2007, the city has been ruled by a right-wing coalition of the
Progress PartyThe Progress Party is a political party in Norway which identifies as conservative liberal and libertarian. The media has described it as conservative and right-wing populist...
, the Christian Democratic Party and the Conservative Party, each with two commissioners. The Progress Party member
Gunnar BakkeGunnar Bakke is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party, and current mayor of Bergen.-Personal life:Bakke was born in the city of Bergen. He was CEO of the bakery chain Baker Brun until mid-2007, and former board leader of Gaia Trafikk which was the largest public transportation provider in...
is
mayorIn many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
, while conservative
Monica MælandMonica Mæland is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party and has since 27 October 2003 been the Chief Commissioner of the City of Bergen.- Background :...
is the leader of the city government, the most powerful political position in Bergen.
2007 elections
| Bergen city council 2007–2011 |
| Conservative Party |
18 (0) |
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....
|
16 (+1) |
Progress PartyThe Progress Party is a political party in Norway which identifies as conservative liberal and libertarian. The media has described it as conservative and right-wing populist...
|
14 (+2) |
Socialist Left PartyThe Socialist Left Party or SV, is a Norwegian left-wing political party. At one point one of the smallest parties in Parliament, it became the fourth-largest political party in Norway for the first time in the 2001 parliamentary election, and has been so ever since...
|
5 (–3) |
| Christian Democratic Party |
4 (0) |
| Liberal Party |
4 (+2) |
Red Electoral AllianceRed Electoral Alliance was an alliance of left-wing groups formed into a Norwegian political party to promote revolutionary far-left ideals into the Norwegian parliament...
|
3 (–1) |
Centre PartyThe Centre Party is a centrist and agrarian political party in Norway, founded in 1920. The Centre Party's policy is not based on any of the major ideologies of the 19th and 20th century, but has a focus on maintaining decentralised economic development and political decision-making.From its...
|
2 (+1) |
| Pensioners' Party |
1 (–2) |
| Total |
67 |
The
2007 city council electionsCountry-wide local elections for seats in municipality and county councils were held throughout Norway on September 10, 2007, with some areas polling on September 9 as well. For most places this meant that two elections, the municipal elections and the county elections ran concurrently...
were held on 10 September. The Socialist
Left PartyThe Socialist Left Party or SV, is a Norwegian left-wing political party. At one point one of the smallest parties in Parliament, it became the fourth-largest political party in Norway for the first time in the 2001 parliamentary election, and has been so ever since...
(SV) and the Pensioners Party (PP) ended up as the losers of the election, SV going from 11.6% of the votes in the
2003 electionsThe 2003 county council election was held on Monday September 15, 2003 for all eighteen county councils in Norway. The election was held parallel to the municipal council election.-Votes:-Seats:-County mayors:-Cabinets:...
to 7.1%, and PP losing 2.9% ending up at 1.2%. The Liberal Party more than doubled, going from 2.7% to 5.8%. The Conservative Party lost 1.1% of the votes, ending up at 26.3%, while the Progress Party got 20.2% of the votes, a gain of 3% since the 2003 elections. The Christian Democratic Party gained 0.2%, ending up at 6.3%. The Red Electoral Alliance lost 1.4%, ending up at 4.5%, while the Centre Party gained 1.2%, ending up at 2.8%. Finally, the Labour Party continued being the second largest party in the city, gaining 1% and ending up at 23.9%.
Boroughs
Bergen is divided into 8 boroughs, as seen on the map to the left. Going clockwise, starting north, the boroughs are
ÅsaneÅsane is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway, making up the northwestern part of the city.It was a municipality in Hordaland county, from January 1, 1904, when it was separated from Hamre, until January 1, 1972 when it was merged with Bergen . The area was developed from mostly farmland to a...
,
ArnaArna is a borough and suburb of Bergen, Norway and a former municipality in Hordaland county.Arna has approximately 12,000 inhabitants. Situated behind mount Ulriken, Arna is geographically close to downtown Bergen, but it takes some time to drive there by road as there is no road tunnel as of yet....
,
FanaFana is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-History:Prior to 1972, Fana was an independent municipality which territory also included today's boroughs of Ytrebygda, Fyllingsdalen, and the southernmost part of Årstad.-Geography:...
,
YtrebygdaYtrebygda is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-Location:Ytrebygda is located southwest of the city center. It was originally part of Fana municipality that was incorporated in Bergen in 1972, and later part of the Fana district, but was administratively a separate district in 1990...
,
FyllingsdalenFyllingsdalen is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway, located south-west of the city centre in the valley to the west of Løvstakken. The early name of the valley, Fynö dalen, was the origin of the name of the farm which gave Fyllingsdalen its name, Fyllingen...
,
LaksevågLaksevåg is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-Location:Laksevåg was separated from Askøy as a municipality of its own July 1, 1918. It was merged with Bergen January 1, 1972....
, Årstad and
BergenhusBergenhus is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-Location:Named after the historic Bergenhus Fortress, Bergenhus makes up the city centre and the neighborhoods immediately surrounding it, including Sandviken and Kalfaret, as well as the mountains to the north and east of the city centre...
. The city centre is located in Bergenhus. Parts of Fana (= the fens), Ytrebygda, Åsane (= the hills) and Arna are not part of the Bergen urban area, explaining why the municipality has approximately 20,000 more inhabitants than the urban area. The separate borough administrations were closed 30 June 2004, but were re-established 1 January 2008.
| Borough |
Population |
% |
Area (km2) |
% |
Density
(/km2) |
ArnaArna is a borough and suburb of Bergen, Norway and a former municipality in Hordaland county.Arna has approximately 12,000 inhabitants. Situated behind mount Ulriken, Arna is geographically close to downtown Bergen, but it takes some time to drive there by road as there is no road tunnel as of yet....
|
12,680 |
4.9 |
102.44 |
22.0 |
123 |
BergenhusBergenhus is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-Location:Named after the historic Bergenhus Fortress, Bergenhus makes up the city centre and the neighborhoods immediately surrounding it, including Sandviken and Kalfaret, as well as the mountains to the north and east of the city centre...
1 |
38,544 |
14.8 |
26.58 |
5.7 |
4.415 |
FanaFana is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-History:Prior to 1972, Fana was an independent municipality which territory also included today's boroughs of Ytrebygda, Fyllingsdalen, and the southernmost part of Årstad.-Geography:...
|
38,317 |
14.8 |
159.70 |
34.3 |
239 |
FyllingsdalenFyllingsdalen is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway, located south-west of the city centre in the valley to the west of Løvstakken. The early name of the valley, Fynö dalen, was the origin of the name of the farm which gave Fyllingsdalen its name, Fyllingen...
|
28,844 |
11.1 |
18.84 |
4.0 |
1.530 |
LaksevågLaksevåg is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-Location:Laksevåg was separated from Askøy as a municipality of its own July 1, 1918. It was merged with Bergen January 1, 1972....
|
38,391 |
14.8 |
32.72 |
7.0 |
1.173 |
YtrebygdaYtrebygda is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-Location:Ytrebygda is located southwest of the city center. It was originally part of Fana municipality that was incorporated in Bergen in 1972, and later part of the Fana district, but was administratively a separate district in 1990...
|
25,710 |
9.9 |
39.61 |
8.5 |
649 |
| Årstad2 |
37,614 |
14.5 |
14.78 |
3.2 |
4.440 |
ÅsaneÅsane is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway, making up the northwestern part of the city.It was a municipality in Hordaland county, from January 1, 1904, when it was separated from Hamre, until January 1, 1972 when it was merged with Bergen . The area was developed from mostly farmland to a...
|
39,534 |
15.2 |
71.01 |
15.2 |
556 |
| Not stated |
758 |
|
|
|
|
| Total |
260,392 |
100 |
465.68 |
100 |
559 |
The following acreage figures in the table include fresh water and uninhabited mountain areas.
1 1 The borough Bergenhus is 8.73 km (5.42 mi) ², the rest is water and uninhabited mountain areas.
2 2 The borough Årstad is 8.47 km (5.26 mi) ², the rest is water and uninhabited mountain areas.
Higher education
Bergen has one university, the
University of BergenThe University of Bergen is located in Bergen, Norway. Although founded as late as 1946, academic activity had taken place at Bergen Museum as far back as 1825. The university today serves more than 14,500 students...
, and one university college,
Bergen University CollegeBergen University College is a Norwegian public institution of higher education, established in August 1994 by the merging of six former independent colleges in Bergen, Norway.The College is organised in 3 faculties:*Faculty of Education...
, with a total of 22,000 students and 3,600 staff. With approximately 16,000 students and 3,000 staff, the University of Bergen is the third largest university in Norway, after the
University of OsloThe University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
and the
Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyThe Norwegian University of Science and Technology , commonly known as NTNU, is located in Trondheim. NTNU is the second largest of the eight universities in Norway, and, as its name suggests, has the main national responsibility for higher education in engineering and technology...
. Although it was founded as late as 1946, academic activity had been taking place at
Bergen MuseumThe Bergen Museum is a university museum in Bergen, Norway. Founded in 1825 with the intent of building large collections in the fields of culture and natural history, it became the grounds for most of the academic activity in the city, a tradition which has prevailed since the museum became part...
since 1825. The university's academic profile focuses on marine research and co-operation with
developing countriesA developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...
. In 2002, the university was awarded three national centres of excellence in
climate researchClimatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences...
,
petroleum researchPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
and
medieval studiesMedievalism is the system of belief and practice characteristic of the Middle Ages, or devotion to elements of that period, which has been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and various vehicles of popular culture.Since the 18th century, a...
. In December 2004, billionaire
Trond MohnTrond Mohn is a Norwegian businessperson and philanthropist. He is current owner and CEO of the family company Frank Mohn AS....
donated 250 million NOK to the University as
research fundingResearch funding is a term generally covering any funding for scientific research, in the areas of both "hard" science and technology and social science. The term often connotes funding obtained through a competitive process, in which potential research projects are evaluated and only the most...
. In addition, he has given the university several individual gifts of 50 million NOK.
Bergen University CollegeBergen University College is a Norwegian public institution of higher education, established in August 1994 by the merging of six former independent colleges in Bergen, Norway.The College is organised in 3 faculties:*Faculty of Education...
(Norwegian: Høgskolen i Bergen) is one of 24
state-ownedPublic property is property, which is dedicated to the use of the public. It is a subset of state property. The term may be used either to describe the use to which the property is put, or to describe the character of its ownership...
university colleges in Norway. As of 2007, it has approximately 6,000 students and 600 staff. The university college offers studies directed towards specific professions. The college is organised in 3 faculties: the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Engineering, and the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences.
The Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (Norwegian: Norges Handelshøyskole) is a leading school of business and economics in Norway.
Finn E. KydlandFinn Erling Kydland is a Norwegian economist. He is currently the Henley Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also holds the Richard P...
, the most recent (2004) of three Norwegian laureates of the
Economy Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, but officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel , is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, generally regarded as one of the...
, has studied and lectured at the school. The school has approximately 2,700 students and 350 staff. As the result of a resolution passed by the Norwegian Storting in 1917, the school was founded in 1936 as the first
business schoolA business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in Business Administration. It teaches topics such as accounting, administration, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems, marketing, organizational behavior, public relations, strategy, human resource...
in Norway. As of 2007, the school's
MScA Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
programme is ranked by the
Financial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
as the 36th best in Europe.
The
Bergen School of ArchitectureBergen School of Architecture or BAS is a private and academically independent school which trains architects, located in Bergen, Norway....
(Bergen Arkitekt Skole), founded in 1986 by
architectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Svein HatløySvein Hatløy is a Norwegian architect, professor and founder of the Bergen School of Architecture.Hatløy was the principal of this school from its foundation in 1986 until August 2007. After his retirement as the school's principal, he still works as professor for the institution...
, has alternative programs, with graduates like 3RW arkitekter and Tommie Wilhemsen.
The
Bergen National Academy of the ArtsBergen National Academy of the Arts or KHiB is one of the two independent institutions of higher learning in the visual arts and design in Norway. It is located in Bergen, Norway.-History:...
(Kunsthøgskolen i Bergen, approximately 300 students and 100 staff) is one of the two independent institutions of higher learning in the visual arts and design in Norway. Students can take a three-year Bachelor degree and a two-year Master degree in the following areas: Visual Art,
Interior ArchitectureInterior Architecture is truly a marriage of three distinct design disciplines: interior design, architecture, and industrial design...
, Furniture Design, Room Design, Visual Communications, Photography, Printmaking, Ceramics and Textiles.
The
Naval Academy- External links :*...
(Sjøkrigsskolen) of the
Royal Norwegian NavyThe Royal Norwegian Navy is the branch of the Norwegian Defence Force responsible for naval operations. , the RNoN consists of approximately 3,700 personnel and 70 vessels, including 5 heavy frigates, 6 submarines, 14 patrol boats, 4 minesweepers, 4 minehunters, 1 mine detection vessel, 4 support...
is located at Laksevåg in Bergen.
Primary and secondary education
There are 64
elementary schoolsA primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
, 18 lower secondary schools and 20 upper secondary schools in Bergen, as well as 11 combined elementary/lower secondary schools.
Bergen Katedralskole is believed to have been founded in 1153 by
Pope Adrian IVPope Adrian IV , born Nicholas Breakspear or Breakspeare, was Pope from 1154 to 1159.Adrian IV is the only Englishman who has occupied the papal chair...
(then known as Nicholas Breakspear), thus making it Bergen's oldest school and one of the oldest schools in Norway. The school moved to its present location in 1840, and the old building was left mostly unused until the School Museum of Bergen moved into the building in 2003. Since 1972, the school is a regular
upper secondary schoolEducation in Norway is mandatory for all children aged 6–16. The school year in Norway runs from mid August to late June the following year. The Christmas holiday from mid December to early January historically divides the Norwegian school year into two terms...
(similar to a
high schoolHigh school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in the
United StatesEducation in the United States is mainly provided by the public sector, with control and funding coming from three levels: federal, state, and local. Child education is compulsory.Public education is universally available...
and the
United KingdomEducation in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments: the UK Government is responsible for England, and the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are...
).
In 2006,
Bergen HandelsgymnasiumBergen Handelsgymnasium is an upper secondary school in Bergen, Norway. Established in 1904, it is one of the oldest gymnasia in the country. Its architect was Jens Zetlitz Monrad Kielland, a nephew of the novelist Alexander Kielland....
, an upper secondary school in Bergen, was chosen as a finalist in the
The Holberg Prize School ProjectThe Holberg International Memorial Prize was established in 2003 by the government of Norway with the objective of increasing awareness of the value of academic scholarship within the arts, humanities, social sciences, law and theology, either within one of these fields or through interdisciplinary...
.
Research
The University of Bergen and Haukeland
University HospitalA teaching hospital is a hospital that provides clinical education and training to future and current doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, in addition to delivering medical care to patients...
are by far the largest research institutions in Bergen.
The
Chr. Michelsen InstituteThe Chr. Michelsen Institute was founded in 1930, and is currently the largest centre for development research in Scandinavia. CMI is an independent, non-profit research foundation for policy-oriented and applied development research. Headed by the director Ottar Mæstad, it employs 40 social...
(Christian Michelsens Institutt), founded in 1930, is located in Bergen. With an annual turnover of 56 million
NOKThe krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...
, it is one of Scandinavia's largest independent research institutes on
human rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and development issues. The aim of CMI is to inform and influence policy on
international developmentInternational development or global development is a concept that lacks a universally accepted definition, but it is most used in a holistic and multi-disciplinary context of human development — the development of greater quality of life for humans...
issues.
The
Norwegian Institute of Marine ResearchThe Norwegian Institute of Marine Research is a national consultative research institute which is owned by the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs. The Institute performs research and provides advisory services in the fields of marine ecosystems and aquaculture.With a staff of almost 700,...
(Norwegian: Havforskningsinstituttet), formerly known as Norwegian Fisheries Investigations (Norwegian: Norske Fiskeriundersøgelser) has been located in Bergen since 1900. The primary responsibility of the institute is to provide advice to national authorities, society and industry regarding questions related to the ecosystems of the
Barents SeaThe Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of Norway and Russia. Known in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the sea takes its current name from the Dutch navigator Willem Barents...
, the
Norwegian SeaThe Norwegian Sea is a marginal sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of Norway. It is located between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea and adjoins the North Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a...
, the
North SeaIn the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
and the Norwegian coastal zone and in the field of aquaculture. The institute has a staff of 700, making it the largest marine research institution in Norway.
UNIFOB AS is a non-profit research organisation affiliated with the University of Bergen. Unifob conducts research and associated activities across all the scientific fields covered by the university departments, including Petroleum, Health,
Computational ScienceComputational science is the field of study concerned with constructing mathematical models and quantitative analysis techniques and using computers to analyze and solve scientific problems...
, Marine Molecular Biology.
Economy
Bergen's inter-municipal harbour is by far Norway's largest port and one of Europe's largest ports, according to the inter-municipal company Port of Bergen.
In August 2004,
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine named the city one of Europe's 14 "secret capitals" where Bergen's capital reign is acknowledged within maritime businesses and activities such as aquaculture and marine research, with the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) (the second-largest in Europe) as the leading institution. Bergen is the main base for the
Royal Norwegian NavyThe Royal Norwegian Navy is the branch of the Norwegian Defence Force responsible for naval operations. , the RNoN consists of approximately 3,700 personnel and 70 vessels, including 5 heavy frigates, 6 submarines, 14 patrol boats, 4 minesweepers, 4 minehunters, 1 mine detection vessel, 4 support...
(at
HaakonsvernHaakonsvern is the main base of the Royal Norwegian Navy and the largest naval base in the Nordic area. The base is located at Mathopen within Bergen municipality, about 15 km south-west of the city centre...
) and its
international airportAn international airport is any airport that can accommodate flights from other countries and are typically equipped with customs and immigration facilities to handle these flights to and from other countries...
FleslandBergen Airport, Flesland is an international airport located southwest of Bergen, Norway. Opened in 1955, it is the second-busiest airport in Norway, with 5,296,325 passengers in 2010. Flesland is operated by the state-owned Avinor...
is the main heliport for the huge Norwegian
North Sea oilNorth Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid oil and natural gas, produced from oil reservoirs beneath the North Sea.In the oil industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and the area known as "West of Shetland", "the Atlantic Frontier" or "the...
and gas industry, from where thousands of offshore workers commute to their work places onboard oil and gas rigs and platforms.
The headquarters of
TV 2TV 2 is the largest commercial television station in Norway. Over 30% of the time Norwegians spend watching TV is spent watching TV 2. The station has 65% of the market for TV commercials in Norway....
Norway's largest commercial
television channelA television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...
are located in Bergen.
One of
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's largest shopping malls,
Lagunen StorsenterLagunen Storsenter is one of the largest shopping centres in Norway, and was in 2002 the fifth largest in Scandinavia, with a turnover of 2,540 billion Norwegian kroner. It is located in the borough Fana in Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The shopping centre was opened in 1985. It has 135...
, is located in
FanaFana is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-History:Prior to 1972, Fana was an independent municipality which territory also included today's boroughs of Ytrebygda, Fyllingsdalen, and the southernmost part of Årstad.-Geography:...
in Bergen, with a turnover of 2 540 million
Norwegian kroneThe krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...
r, and 5.2 million visitors every year.
Tourism is an important income source for the city. The hotels in the city may be full at times, due to the increasing number of tourists and conferences. Prior to
the Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
concert in September 2006, many hotels were already fully booked several months in advance. Bergen is recognised as the unofficial capital of the region known as Western Norway, and recognised and marketed as the gateway city to the world famous
fjordGeologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
s of Norway and for that reason it has become Norway's largest - and one of Europe's largest -
cruise shipA cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
ports of call.
Transportation
Bergen has an international
airportAn airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
,
Bergen Airport, FleslandBergen Airport, Flesland is an international airport located southwest of Bergen, Norway. Opened in 1955, it is the second-busiest airport in Norway, with 5,296,325 passengers in 2010. Flesland is operated by the state-owned Avinor...
, with direct flights to several European cities. The Bergensbanen
railwayRail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
line runs east to
Vossis a municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Voss. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen....
,
Geilois a centre in the municipality of Hol in Norway, in the valley of Hallingdal, with around 2300 inhabitants.Geilo is primarily a ski resort town, but also offers summer activities. Geilo is in a valley with mountain ranges on each side. The center of the town lies at 800 meters above sea level, and...
,
HønefossHønefoss is a city in Buskerud county, Norway, and the center of the municipality of Ringerike.In 1852, Hønefoss received town status and was separated from Norderhov. Hønefoss celebrated its 150th year of township in 2002...
and
OsloOslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
.
The
E39E 39 is the designation of a 1330 km long north-south road in Norway and Denmark, running from Klett just south of Trondheim to Aalborg, via Orkanger, Vinjeøra, Halsa ... Straumsnes, Krifast, Batnfjordsøra, Molde ... Vestnes, Skodje, Ålesund ... Volda ... Nordfjordeid ... Sandane, Førde,...
road passes through the city, connecting to Trondheim and Stavanger. The
E16European route E 16 is the designation of a main west-east road through Northern Ireland, Scotland and Norway, from Derry to Oslo, via Glasgow, Edinburgh, previously by ferry to Bergen, Voss, through the Gudvanga Tunnel, Lærdal, through the Lærdal Tunnel, over Filefjell to Fagernes, Hønefoss,...
road to Oslo passes through the Lærdalstunnelen, the longest road tunnel in the world. Bergen was the first city in
Northern EuropeNorthern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
to introduce a ring of
toll roadA toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
s entirely surrounding the city, making entering the city centre by car impossible without paying the toll. The toll road system, established to fund new roads and motorways, opened 2 January 1986.
The toll was collected by both
toll plazaA toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
s and an
electronic toll collectionElectronic toll collection , an adaptation of military "identification friend or foe" technology, aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads by collecting tolls electronically. It is thus a technological implementation of a road pricing concept...
system. In the early 2000s, the electronic toll collection system
AutoPASSAutopass is an electronic toll collection system used in Norway. It allows collecting road tolls automatically from cars...
was introduced, replacing both the remaining toll plazas and the existing but dated electronic toll collection system.
Public transportPublic transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
ation is provided by the transportation company
TideTide ASA is a public transport company in Hordaland, Norway which resulted from the merger of Gaia Trafikk and Hardanger Sunnhordlandske Dampskipsselskap . The company provides the public transit network in the city of Bergen, and most of the bus service in Hordaland...
, the result of a merger between Gaia and HSD. Among the fleet of buses are 8
trolleybusesThe Bergen trolleybus system serves the city of Bergen, Norway. It is the only trolleybus system still in operation in Norway.The system opened on February 24, 1950, as the Bergen Tramway was gradually closed and some of the tramway lines were transferred to trolleybus operation...
(two of which are dual-mode buses). Local train transport to Arna is provided by Norges Statsbaner. There is a funicular (
FløibanenFløibanen is a funicular in Bergen, Norway which runs up the mountain of Fløyen. It is one of Bergen's major tourist attractions and one of Norway's most visited attractions. Over 1 million passengers a year have used it over the past few years. Fløibanen was officially opened on 15 January 1918...
) and an
aerial tramwayAn aerial tramway , cable car , ropeway or aerial tram is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion...
(
UlriksbanenUlriksbanen is a passenger aerial tramway in Bergen, Norway. It connects the mountain Ulriken to the city, and is frequently used by tourists as well as locals. The tramway was first thought of by Frithjof Meidell Andersen in 1954, and a company was established in 1959...
). The city's
tramBergen Tramway was a tramway in Bergen, Norway, which was in operation from 1897 to 1965. The first three lines were opened on 29 June 1897. Starting in 1950, tramway lines were gradually replaced with bus and trolleybus routes. The last line was closed in 1965. Since 1993, a heritage tram operates...
system was closed in 1965, although a museum line still operates on
MøhlenprisMøhlenpris, formerly Vestre Sydnes, is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen, Norway, located next to the Puddefjord. The neighbourhood is named after Jørgen Thor Møhlen, who established some industry at Møhlenpris in the late 17th century...
. The first stage of a modern
light railBergen Light Rail is a light rail system in Bergen, Norway. The first stage of the project is a fifteen-station, stretch between the city center and Nesttun, which opened on 22 June 2010...
system was opened 22 June 2010, and connects the city centre with
NesttunNesttun is an urban centre and neighbourhood in the southern parts of the city of Bergen, Norway, located approximately 10 km south of the city centre. It was the centre of Fana municipality, which merged with Bergen in 1972, and is today the administration centre of Fana borough. Nesttun...
. Express buses go to all larger destinations in Norway.
The Norwegian coastal steamer service
HurtigrutenHurtigruten or Hurtigruta is a Norwegian passenger and freight line with daily sailings along Norway's western and northern coast. Sometimes referred to in English as Norwegian Coastal Express, Hurtigruten ships sail almost the entire length of the country, completing the roundtrip journey in 11...
originates in Bergen, running north to Trondheim, Bodø, Tromsø and Kirkenes. Passenger catamarans run from Bergen south to
Haugesundis a town and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.-Location:Haugesund was separated from Torvastad as a town and municipality of its own in 1855. The rural municipality of Skåre was merged with Haugesund on January 1, 1958. Haugesund is a small municipality, only 73 km²...
and
StavangerStavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
, and north to
SognefjordThe Sognefjord is the largest fjord in Norway, and the second longest in the world. Located in Sogn og Fjordane county, it stretches inland to the small village of Skjolden...
en and
NordfjordNordfjord is a fjord and a traditional district in the northern part of Sogn og Fjordane county in Western Norway. The district comprises the municipalities of Selje, Vågsøy, Bremanger, Eid, Gloppen, Hornindal, and Stryn. Nordfjord covers an area of and is home to a population of approximately...
. Car ferries connect to
HanstholmHanstholm is a small town and a former island, now elevated area in Thisted municipality of Region Nordjylland, located in the northern part of Denmark. Coordinates:...
and
HirtshalsHirtshals is a town in Hjørring municipality in Region Nordjylland on the north coast of the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark, Europe.-The town of Hirtshals:...
in Denmark. The ferries to
LerwickLerwick is the capital and main port of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, located more than 100 miles off the north coast of mainland Scotland on the east coast of the Shetland Mainland...
,
ScrabsterScrabster is a small settlement on Thurso Bay in Caithness on the north coast of Scotland. It is some 1½ miles from Thurso, 22½ miles from Wick and 112 miles from Inverness....
,
TórshavnTórshavn is the capital and largest town of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the north west of the town lies the high mountain Húsareyn, and to the southwest, the high Kirkjubøreyn...
on
the Faroe IslandsThe Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
, and
SeyðisfjörðurSeyðisfjörður is a town and municipality in the Eastfjords of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name.As of January 2011, the town has 668 inhabitants....
in Iceland are not operative anymore. The service from
NewcastleNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
in the United Kingdom, once provided by such ships as the
LedaThe North Sea ferry TS Leda was operated by Bergen Line between Britain and Norway for over 20 years. In 1981 she was rebuilt as a cruise liner and later became an accommodation vessel at a penal colony for terrorists and members of the Mafia...
, was cancelled after 1 September 2008.
Culture and sports
Bergen is an important cultural centre in its region and in Norway, maybe best known for hosting the annual Bergen International Festival (Festspillene i Bergen). The city is home to the
Bergen Philharmonic OrchestraThe Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world's oldest orchestral institutions. It performs some 110 concerts a year, and is based at the 1,500-seat Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway.-History:...
, which was founded in 1765 and is one of the world's oldest orchestral institutions. The orchestra performs regularly at the 1,500 seat
Grieg HallThe Grieg Hall is a 1,500 seat concert hall in Bergen, Norway. It has been the home of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra since the hall's completion in 1978. It hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1986, and is the host of the annual Norwegian Brass Band Championship competition, which occurs in...
. The city is also home of the
Bergen Woodwind QuintetThe Bergen Woodwind Quintet is a well-known woodwind quintet based in Bergen, Norway. The ensemble's members are the principal wind musicians of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, also known as Harmonien, which was founded in 1765 and is one of the world's oldest orchestral institutions...
, which is made up primarily of principal winds of the Bergen Philharmonic. Bergen was a
European Capital of CultureThe European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....
in 2000. Other main cultural events include Borealis, Nattjazz, Lost Weekend Festivalen and Bergenfest (formerly Ole Blues).
There are numerous amateur bands in Bergen and the surrounding communities performing regularly throughout the city. They generally fall within two distinct categories:
brass bandA brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
s, following the British band tradition, and Janitsjar or
wind bandsA concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...
, which include both woodwind and
brass instrumentA brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
s. Both of these types of bands tend to be quite competitive, and the Grieg Hall in Bergen is home to the annual Norwegian Brass Band Championships, which takes place in late winter.
A third category, perhaps unique to Bergen, are the
BuekorpsBuekorps are traditional marching neighbourhood youth organizations in Bergen, Norway.The tradition, which is unique to Bergen, dates back at least to the 19th century when children would imitate the adult militia soldiers performing close order drill...
, a prominent feature in the
Constitution DayNorwegian Constitution Day is the National Day of Norway and is an official national holiday observed on May 17 each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to simply as syttende mai or syttande mai , Nasjonaldagen or Grunnlovsdagen , although the latter is less frequent.- Historical...
celebrations in the city. Buekorps parade in the streets with wooden sticks shaped as guns or crossbows, sabres and even halberds, to a military snare sounded by several drummers. The performers are usually boys between 7 and 21 years of age, but older veterans can be seen. In recent times there are buekorps for girls and for both girls and boys as well. Buekorps are regarded with warmth by some, whilst others dislike them due to their militarised appearance or the dominant sound of the drumming.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s several pop, rock and
black metalBlack metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
artists from Bergen became famous, at home as well as abroad. Many of these were connected to the small
record labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Tellé Records. In the domestic press this became known as the
Bergen WaveThe Bergen Wave was a term used by the Norwegian press for the emergence of successful bands from Bergen in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. Several of these artists gained international breakthroughs, which was uncommon for Norwegian music at that time...
.
Bergen has a small but thriving scene for
contemporary artContemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
, most notably centred around
BIT TeatergarasjenBIT Teatergarasjen are a producer and co-producer of international contemporary theatre and dance in Norway. They emphasise projects that stimulate international co-production and co-operations between different fields of art....
, Bergen Kunsthall, United Sardines Factory (USF) and Bergen Center for Electronic Arts (BEK).
With
circulationsA newspaper's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on an average day. Circulation is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some newspapers are distributed without cost to the...
of 87,076 and 30,719 in 2006,
Bergens TidendeBergens Tidende is Norway's fourth largest newspaper and largest newspaper outside Oslo, with a circulation of about 87,000 copies . Founded in 1868, it is a Norwegian-language newspaper published daily in Bergen. It reaches approximately 260,000 readers every day , mainly in the counties of...
and
BergensavisenBergensavisen , usually shortened to BA, is the second largest newspaper in Bergen, Norway. It is published in tabloid format. The newspaper webpage ba.no is Bergen's largest local newspaper webpage....
are the two largest newspapers in Bergen. Bergens Tidende has won three
European Newspaper AwardEuropean Newspaper Award is a design competition for European newspapers organized by the German Office for Newspaper Design. The Award was founded in 1998 by Norbert Küpper. In 2011 there are 20 different award categories and the winners will be announced around November 15....
s, in 2006 for best designed regional newspaper, in 2004 for best designed weekly newspaper, and in 2002 for best designed regional newspaper. The city is also the home of several smaller newspapers and publications, including Fanaposten (circulation of 4,062), a local newspaper for
FanaFana is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-History:Prior to 1972, Fana was an independent municipality which territory also included today's boroughs of Ytrebygda, Fyllingsdalen, and the southernmost part of Årstad.-Geography:...
, Bygdanytt in Arna, and the
ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
newspaper Dagen (circulation of 8,936).
Football
Bergen has two professional football teams, Brann and
Løv-HamLøv-Ham Fotball is a football club from Fyllingsdalen in Bergen, Norway. Its origin are two local sports teams in Fyllingsdalen called Løvåsen and Hamre. On 29 December 1975 those clubs were merged, choosing the name Løv-Ham...
. Brann plays in
TippeligaenTippeligaen is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. The league is also unofficially known under its neutral name Eliteserien , although the name has never been official...
, Norway's top football division, while Løv-Ham plays in the
first divisionThe Norwegian First Division is the second highest division of the Norwegian football league system. Since 2005, the official name of the league has been Adeccoligaen....
. Despite Løv-Ham playing in the 2nd highest level in Norwegian football, Brann is the only club to draw any considerable interest from the public. The first Løv-Ham supporter group, Selskapsløvene (The Party Lions) was created as recently as December 2005. Brann play their matches at
Brann StadionBrann Stadion is a football stadium in Bergen, Norway. It was constructed in 1919, and has been the home of the football club Brann ever since. The stadium lies south of the centre of the city, at the foot of Mount Ulriken....
, with a capacity of 17,824 as of June 2007, while Løv-Ham played their matches at
Krohnsminde kunstgressbaneKrohnsminde kunstgressbane is a municipality-owned sports ground and football stadium located in the city of Bergen, Norway, near Danmarks plass in the borough of Årstad. It was the home of the football club Løv-Ham until 2008...
until 2008, with a capacity of 3000, but an attendance record of 1051 in the league. They now play their games at
Varden AmfiVarden Amfi is a football venue in Bergen, Norway. It is used by Løv-Ham who play in the Norwegian First Division and Fyllingen Fotball in the Second Division....
in Fyllingsdalen.
Although Brann is one of the largest teams in Norway, the team has had limited success in the Premier League and the
cupThe Norwegian Football Cup is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football tournament in the country. The tournament is commonly known as Cupen or NM, an acronym formed...
. They have won the cup six times, most recently in
2004The Norwegian men's football cup 2004 started on May 5. It was contested by 128 teams, going through 7 rounds before a winner could be declared. The final match was played on November 7....
. Brann won the Premier League in 1961/62 and then in 1963. The 1963 title was directly followed by the relegation of the team into the Second Division (today known as
AdeccoligaenThe Norwegian First Division is the second highest division of the Norwegian football league system. Since 2005, the official name of the league has been Adeccoligaen....
, the second highest level of Norwegian football). The team has won several silver and bronze medals since, but did not win the league again until the 2007 season.
Dialect
Bergensk, or the Bergen dialect, is the dialect of Norwegian spoken in Bergen. It is easy for Norwegians to recognise, as it is very easily distinguished from the other dialects in Hordaland. Like almost all
Norwegian dialectsThe Norwegian dialects are commonly divided into 4 main groups, North Norwegian , Trøndelag Norwegian , West Norwegian , and East Norwegian...
, Bergensk cannot be said to be either Bokmål or Nynorsk. While the vocabulary shows many traits of both Bokmål and Nynorsk, it has many characteristics that are not covered by either of the two official written languages.
Foreigners, such as the
Low GermanLow German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
speaking merchants of the
Hanseatic LeagueThe Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
who lived in Bergen in the period from about 1350 to 1750, have had a profound impact on the dialect. Bergen being the major Norwegian city during the
Dano-Norwegian unionDenmark–Norway is the historiographical name for a former political entity consisting of the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, including the originally Norwegian dependencies of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands...
from 1536 to 1814 led to Bergensk absorbing more of the
DanishDanish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
than other Norwegian dialects. Many, but not all, influences from these languages since spread from Bergen to parts of or the whole of Norway.
The female
grammatical genderGrammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
disappeared from Bergensk in the 16th century, probably as a result of influences from Danish, making the city's dialect one of the very few in Norway with only two grammatical genders. All others, excepting
sociolectIn sociolinguistics, a sociolect or social dialect is a variety of language associated with a social group such as a socioeconomic class, an ethnic group, an age group, etc....
s in other Norwegian cities, have three. The Rs are
uvular trillThe uvular trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a small capital R...
s, as in French, which probably spread to Bergen (and
Kristiansand-History:As indicated by archeological findings in the city, the Kristiansand area has been settled at least since 400 AD. A royal farm is known to have been situated on Oddernes as early as 800, and the first church was built around 1040...
) some time in the 18th century, overtaking the
alveolar trillThe alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar trills is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r. It is commonly called the rolled R, rolling R, or trilled R...
in the time span of 2 to 3 generations. Owing to an improved literacy rate, Bergensk was influenced by riksmål and bokmål in the 19th and 20th centuries. This led to large parts of the German-inspired
vocabularyA person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
disappearing and pronunciations shifting slightly towards East Norwegian.
International relations
Each year Bergen donates the
Christmas TreeThe Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
seen in Newcastle's Haymarket as a sign of the ongoing friendship between the sister cities. The Nordic friendship cities of Bergen,
GothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
,
TurkuTurku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...
and
AarhusAarhus or Århus is the second-largest city in Denmark. The principal port of Denmark, Aarhus is on the east side of the peninsula of Jutland in the geographical center of Denmark...
arranges inter Nordic camp schools each year by inviting school classes, 10 grade level from each of the other cities on school camps. Bergen received a
totem poleTotem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, mostly Western Red Cedar, by cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America...
as a gift of friendship from the city of Seattle on the city's 900 anniversary in 1970. It is now placed in the
NordnesNordnes is a peninsula and neighbourhood in the city centre of Bergen, Norway. Bergen Aquarium is located at the tip of the peninsula. The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research and Fredriksberg Fortress are also located on Nordnes....
park and gazes out over the sea towards the friendship city far to the west.
Sister Cities
AsmaraAsmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people...
,
EritreaEritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
GothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
LübeckThe Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(since 1996 - Friendship Treaty) MálagaMálaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
NewcastleNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
,
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(since 1968) Quebec CityQuebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
,
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
RostockRostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(since 1965) Seattle,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(since 1967) TurkuTurku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
(since 1946) AarhusAarhus or Århus is the second-largest city in Denmark. The principal port of Denmark, Aarhus is on the east side of the peninsula of Jutland in the geographical center of Denmark...
,
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
External links