Stavanger, Norway

Coat of Arms

Nickname: The Oil Capital

Origin of Coat of Arms: Hallvard Trtteberg (18981987), a leading specialist in heraldry,

was commissioned to design the official coat of arms of Stavanger, a work that lasted from the
end of the 1920s until approved in 1939. His design is also used as the city's arms, flag and seal.
The coat of arms is based upon a seal which dated 1591. It shows a branch of vine (Vitis
vinifera). Which leaves and branch type that is depicted on the coat of arms has been hotly
debated. The original meaning and representation of the vine remains unknown.

Origin of the name: The Old Norse form of the name was Stafangr. The origin of the name
has been discussed for decades, and the most used interpretation is that it originally was the
name of the inlet now called Vgen, which was the original site of the city, on the east shore of
the bay. The first element of the name is stafr meaning 'staff, branch'. This could refer to the
form of the inlet, but also to the form of the mountain Valberget (Staven meaning 'the staff,' is a
common name of high and steep mountains in Norway). The last element is angr meaning 'inlet,
bay'. Facing the North Sea, Stavanger has always been economically dependent on its access to
the sea.
Stavanger is a city and municipality in Norway. The city is the third-largest urban zone[1] and
metropolitan area[2] in Norway (through conurbation with neighbouring Sandnes) and the
administrative centre of Rogaland county. The municipality is the fourth most populous in
Norway. Located on the Stavanger Peninsula in Southwest Norway, Stavanger counts its official
founding year as 1125, the year Stavanger cathedral was completed. Stavanger's core is to a
large degree 18th- and 19th-century wooden houses[3] that are protected and considered part of
the city's cultural heritage. This has caused the town centre and inner city to retain a small-town
character with an unusually high ratio of detached houses, and has contributed significantly to
spreading the city's population growth to outlying parts of Greater Stavanger.
Stavanger is today considered the center of the oil industry in Norway and is one of Europe's
energy capitals and is often called the oil capital. Forus Business Park, located on the municipal
boundary between Stavanger, Sandnes and Sola, is one of the largest business parks with 2,500

companies and nearly 40,000 jobs. Scandinavia's largest company, Statoil, has its headquarters
at Forus in Stavanger, and in addition, several international oil and gas companies have their
Norwegian office in the city. As a result, the city is considered to be very international, with an
immigrant share of 20.2%. Several state actors such as Petoro, NPD and PSA also have their
head offices in Stavanger. Stavanger is also home to several institutions of higher education,
where the University of Stavanger (UiS) is the largest. The University offers several PhD
programs, including petroleum engineering and offshore technology. The town is also the
residence of the city to Stavanger University Hospital (SUS), Western, Norwegian Petroleum
Museum, International Research Institute, Rogaland Theatre, the Culinary Institute and boot
camp KNM Harald.
The city's rapid population growth in the late 1900s was primarily a result of Norway's booming
offshore oil industry. Today the oil industry is a key industry in the Stavanger region and the city
is widely referred to as the Oil Capital of Norway. The largest company in the Nordic region,
Norwegian energy company Statoil is headquartered in Stavanger. Multiple educational
institutions for higher education are located in Stavanger. The largest of these is the University of
Stavanger.
Domestic and international military installations are located in Stavanger, among these is the
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's Joint Warfare Center. Other international establishments, and
especially local branches of foreign oil and gas companies, contribute further to a significant
foreign population in the city. Immigrants make up 11.3% of Stavanger's population. Stavanger
has since the early 2000s consistently had an unemployment rate significantly lower than the
Norwegian and European average. In 2011, the unemployment rate was less than 2%. The city is
also among those that frequent various lists of expensive cities in the world, and Stavanger has
even been ranked as the world's most expensive city by certain indexes.
Every two years, Stavanger organizes the Offshore Northern Seas (ONS), which is the second
largest exhibition and conference for the energy sector. Gladmat food festival is also held each
year and is considered to be one of Scandinavia's leading food festivals. The city is also known
for being one of the nation's premier culinary clusters. Stavanger 2008 European Capital of
Culture.

History:

The first traces of settlement in the Stavanger region come from the days when the
ice retreated after the last ice age c. 10,000 years ago. A number of historians have argued
convincingly that North-Jren was an economic and military centre as far back as the 9th and
10th centuries with the consolidation of the nation at the Battle of Hafrsfjord around 872.
Stavanger grew into a centre of church administration and an important south-west coast market
town around 11001300.

Stavanger domkirke, the oldest cathedral in Norway.

Stavanger fulfilled an urban role prior to its status as city (1125), from around the time the
Stavanger bishopric was established in the 1120s. Bishop Reinald, who may have come from
Winchester, England, is said to have started construction of Stavanger Cathedral (Stavanger
domkirke) around 1100.[14] It was finished around 1125, and the city of Stavanger counts 1125
as its year of foundation.
With the Protestant Reformation in 1536, Stavanger's role as a religious centre declined, and the
establishment of Kristiansand in the early 17th century led to the relocation of the bishopric.
However, rich herring fisheries in the 19th century gave the city new life. Stavanger was
established as a municipality 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The then rural
municipalities of Hetland and Madla merged with Stavanger 1 January 1965.
The city's history is a continuous alternation between economic booms and recessions. [16] For
long periods of time its most important industries have been shipping, shipbuilding, the fish
canning industry and associated subcontractors.
In 1969, a new boom started as oil was first discovered in the North Sea. After much discussion,
Stavanger was chosen to be the on-shore center for the oil industry on the Norwegian sector of
the North Sea, and a period of hectic growth followed.

City development: Stavanger is one of Norway's oldest cities. It emerged in the 1100s during
a period of population growth and increasing urbanization throughout northern Europe. The
archaeological and historical sources about the first city development are sparse. Therefore,
there is much we do not know about the first city development. It stands out as an important
area from early times, as a desirable foothold for the monarchy and the church, as both needed a
strong foothold in the South West coast area. In North Jren, rich archaeological material
suggests that the chiefs held considerable power from the early Iron Age. Stavanger had a
natural harbor and was, with Jren in the south, strategically important to the county of the East
as well as to the shipping route along the western coast and the fertile Ryfylke Islands in the
north.
The earliest Christian impulses in Norway came to Stavanger region through contact with the rich
Christian, European culture. This flourished during the Viking era. In the mid 900s, traditional
Norse burial customs ceased in the Stavanger area, at the same time as the first Christian priests
began their work. Big stone crosses are visible memorials of this early Christian age (including
the Tjora and Kvitsy). On the overland approach to Stavanger, a memorial cross of HERS and
lenderman Erling Skjalgsson was erected after his fall in 1028. Erling controlled power over the
South West coast, and the location of the cross indicates that he had a special connection to
Stavanger. The inscription on the cross shows a priest was responsible for the inscription, and he
may have performed an early service at a church on site.
Archaeological investigations in the current downtown and in the crypt of the Cathedral show
that the great fire of 1272 probably left large parts of the city and the cathedral in ruins,
including the Romanesque chancel of the cathedral. The reconstruction after the fire led to the
cathedral's Western Front being replaced with a vestibule, as well as to the construction (or
reconstruction) of St. Mary's Church, Bishop's Chapel, the Gothic cathedral and the expansion of
the stone cellar at Kongsberg.

Stavanger has a long history of education in Western Europe. It was the monastery here that first
saw the need to train new employees through education. The first organized teaching in the city
probably took place at a Benedictine monastery in the town, either Olav's Monastery or
Monastery of people from the mid-1100s.
One of the most important events in Stavanger's city history was the gift letter that King Magnus
Erlingsson gave to Stavanger Bishop Eirik Ivarsson in the second half of 1100. Exactly when the
king made this gift letter, and under what circumstances it happened is unknown. It may have
been in 1163-1164, in connection with the King Magnus's coronation, but could also have been
around 1181-1184, in connection with the support Stavanger Bishop Erik gave King Magnus at
the end of the king's fight against the late King Sverre.
It is undoubtedly correct to characterize Stavanger as a church city throughout the Middle Ages,
up to the Reformation. The Reformation, however, dealt a hard blow to the Church in specific and
Stavanger in general. The cathedral, the bishop and canons of the monastery had been large
landowners. Recession of the city began with the loss of people in rural areas, as a result of
which the revenues of the cathedral and the bishop fell dramatically due to reduced rental
income. In 1537 the bishop's and the monastery's estate and property was confiscated by the
king. Kongsberg was plundered by Christoffer Trondsen in 1539, at which time St. Swithun's
casket disappeared and Bishop Hoskuld Hoskuldsson may have been executed.

World War 2:
In a prelude to the invasion, on 8 April, the German freighter "Roda" (6780 grt.) anchored by
Ulsnes. "Roda" was reportedly loaded with coke, but customs officials and police authorities
become suspicious about other cargo when they observed that the ship was lying deep in the
water. The ship was taken under arrest/praise and was ordered to move to Riska. However,
"Roda" did not move, and the captain of the "Aeger," Nils Bruun, decided on his own initiative to
sink the ship. After sending the crew off in lifeboats, "Aeger" used 25 shots with 10 cm Bofors
guns to sink "Roda".
Early on the morning of 9 April 1940, explosions and bomb blasts from Sola-edge and news
bulletins on radio announced the German attack on Norway. Sola Airport was the Germans' first
target on North Jren. The airport was attacked by six German Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters
around 8 am. The airport had been built in 1937, and in April 1940 fortifications round the airport
were not yet complete. Fortifications consisted of a concrete bunker still under construction and
several open shooting positions. Armament consisted of three luftvernmitraljser, three
bakkemitraljser, and some machine guns at the disposal of the approximately 80 soldiers who
defended the airport. The Bomb Wing aircraft had been transferred to the Sun in 1939, but the
planes, a total of six Fokker and three Caproni aircraft, were old and outdated. Shortly after the
attack began, however, they took off.
The German air attack increased in intensity, and the Norwegian aircraft were eventually
destroyed. The bombardment lasted for about an hour before ten slow Ju 52 transport aircraft
arrived over the airport. They had taken off from the airport at Hamburg a few hours earlier. In a
parachute assault, the transport planes first dropped yellow containers containing weapons and
equipment, then between ten and twelve paratroopers from each plane. This was only the
second ever wartime parachute assault; the first had occurred only three hours earlier, when a
bridge south of Denmark had been captured in the same way. At the Sola airport, the concrete
bunker held out longest, but was eventually put out of action with a hand grenade. While

Norwegian soldiers were badly injured in the attempted defence, there were no fatalities; in
contrast; the Germans lost several. Lieutenant Thor Tang, who led the Norwegian defense of the
airport, capitulated at 10:00, and the Germans immediately began landing troops, fuel and other
supplies. In all, 200 to 300 transport aircraft arrived in Sola during invasion day, and by evening
several hundred soldiers and large quantities of materiel had been moved from Germany to the
Sun.
By around 12:30 on April 9, the first German troops advanced into Stavanger without resistance.
The police station, telephone office, telegraph center, post office, port office, customs house and
the gas company were the most important places, and now came under control of the Germans.
The city was conquered peacefully, but the first sparks of resistance had been ignited, and
several men left the city and made their way to the Norwegian troops inside Gjesdal, there to join
the armed struggle against the enemy.

A German POW clearing mines in Stavanger in August 1945

The Germans had placed a high priority to have a good railway connection between the air base
at Sola - Stavanger district, and the rest of the country. However, it was not until April 29, 1944,
that the Southern Railway was completed to Stavanger. In 1940, the Germans had envisioned it
to be completed no later than 1 November 1941.
After Hitler's death in 1945, Grand Admiral Karl Dnitz took over leadership of the German forces,
and on 9 May 1945, gave the head of the German armed forces in Norway, General Franz Bhme,
orders that "Reichskommissar" in Norway, Josef Terboven, was deposed and that all his duties
were transferred to Bhme. To Bhme, in turn, he gave the task of how the capitulation of
Festung Norwegen was to be implemented. There were around 15,000 German soldiers in
Rogaland in 1945, and it was there where the commander of 274 Infantry Division, General
Weckman, gave the formal German surrender.
Before repatriation, the Germans were required to remain and clean up after five years of
occupation. There were 180 German minefields in Rogaland, with a total of 480,000 mines, all of
which the German Wehrmacht were required to clear. 62 Germans were killed and 94 were
injured during mine clearance in Rogaland.

Oil capital: The oil industry is the backbone of Stavanger's economy. In 1969, a new boom
started as oil was first discovered in the North Sea. After much discussion, Stavanger was chosen
to be the on-shore center for the oil industry on the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, and a
period of hectic growth followed. In March 1965 an agreement was signed between Norway and
the United Kingdom on the sharing of the continental shelf by the median line principle. That
same year a similar agreement was signed between Norway and Denmark. It was designed as a
legal regime for oil exploration. The first licensing round on the Norwegian shelf was announced
on April 13, 1965, and in August of that same year the government granted 22 licenses for 78

blocks for oil companies or groups of companies. The production license gave oil companies
exclusive rights to exploration, drilling and production in a defined geographical area for a given
period at an annual fee. Esso was the first oil company to start drilling for oil off the coast of
Norway. The semi-submersible drilling vessel Ocean Traveler was towed from New Orleans to
Norway, and the vessel began drilling on July 19, 1966, at block 8/3, about 180 km southwest of
Stavanger.

Geography: The municipality of Stavanger is located in a coastal landscape, bordering the sea
to the west and Boknafjorden in the northeast. It is part of the Low-Jren, a flat area of land
consisting mostly of marsh, sand, and stone aur, that ranges from Ogna River in the south to
Tungenes in the north; it is the northernmost part that includes Stavanger. The majority of the
municipality lies between 0 and 50m elevation. The landscape has a distinctive appearance with
rocks and hills where there is no settlement or agriculture. The city of Stavanger is closely linked
to the sea and water, with five lakes and three fjords (Hafrsfjord, Byfjorden and Gandsfjorden);
sea and water form the landscape, providing a shoreline rich with vegetation and wildlife.
The city has developed on both sides of a hollow that runs right through the terrain, with steep
slopes up from the bottom. An extension of Boknafjorden and Byfjorden intersects the harbor
into the hollow from the northwest, while Hillevg lake intrudes from Gandsfjorden in the
southeast. Breiavatnet is located between the two fjordtarmene.

Parks: There are several parks and green spots in Stavanger municipality, both in the city and
beyond. Central to the town is the city lake which is in turn surrounded by the city park, built as
the city's first urban park in 1866-1868. Between the city park and the bay is located Kielland
garden, which got its name because the poet Alexander Kielland's house at the time was here.
Kielland Park went through a major renovation in 2007 as part of the Millennium in Stavanger
municipality. At the opposite end of the city lake there is a small park outside the station; here
there is Emigration, a gift from the Norwegian emigrants in the United States, commemorating
the men and women of Norwegian ancestry who built America.
Bjergstedparken, a park north of Old Stavanger, is the location of Bjergsted Music Center,
including Stavanger Concert Hall, and its outdoor areas are often used for festivals and outdoor
concerts. The Missing park, built in honor of Lars Missing, is located up the hill on the west side of
the harbor, and forms the entrance from the south towards the Old Town. Canon park forms the
border between Stavanger and the exit from the E39. Northward go Lkkeveien against Bjergsted
westward go Madlaveien the theater and Bergelandstunnelen, east towards E39. The park is
located next to old Stavanger Hospital, which also has a large park area around the main
building. Through the park runs Kannik creek, which comes to the surface at the statue of the
Little Mermaid and runs into Breiavannet. Kannikkbekken runs mostly underground, in pipes,
before it reaches Kannik park.
Outside the city center, the park southerly in relation to the large inland lakes such as Mosvatnet,
Large and Small Stokkavatnet and Water Assen. Mosvatnet is 0.46 km2 making it the third
largest in Stavanger after Hlandsvatnet and Store Stokkavatn. The lake supplied the city's
drinking water from 1863 to 1931, and is now by far the most used recreation area in Stavanger.
The path around the lake is 3.2 km long, and much used by cyclist and joggers; sampling
conducted in 1995 showed that an estimated 560,000 people used the walking trail around
Mosvatnet. At the south end is Mosvangen Camping, Stavanger Svmmestadion old man and
Vlandskogen, and to the west is Rogaland Kunstmuseum. Store Stokkavatnet is 2.19 km2 - the
largest in Stavanger. Right at Stora Stokkavatnet is Litla Stokkavatnet (0.15 km2). The hiking trail

around the lakes is 8.2 km long. In the lake is a small island, Storeholmen. Store Stokkavatnet
supplied Stavanger's drinking water from 1931 to 1959, and was later demoted to the reserve
drinking water. In 2009 it was relegated once more, and it is now legal to swim in the water.

Economy: In the early 1900s, Stavanger's industry was mainly related to fisheries and
shipping. In the first half of the century it was known for canning, and in the 1950s there were
over 50 canneries in town. The town was even called Norway "canned capital", and included
Christian Bjelland, who founded Chr Bjelland & Co. A/S. The last of these factories were closed
down in 2002.

Canning factories in the early 1900s

Around 1950, over half of the working population in the city employed in industry. Structural
changes in industry and the strong development of the service industry has radically changed
the city's economic base, and the service industry now represents over 11 percent of
employment. However, the city still has 29 percent of the county's industrial employment.
Engineering is now the main industry with 59 percent of manufacturing employment. This is
mostly related to the offshore petroleum industry, and production of oil platforms alone account
for 40 percent. Other important industries are publishing especially high printing and the major
daily newspapers in town, Stavanger and Rogaland Avis Aftenblad and food and beverage,
which includes the processing of local agricultural products from Jren, including Gilde Vest with
one of the largest slaughterhouses.
Shipbuilding and shipping has also traditionally been of great importance to the city's economic
growth, and Rosenberg Shipyard, established in 1896, is located on Hundvg. Today Stavanger is
also among the country's most important maritime cities, coming in fourth for registered fleets
after the cities of Oslo, Bergen and lesund.
For the fourth consecutive year, Stavanger Region was in 2007 ranked best business region.
Telemarksforsking Bo worked with Ministry NM to rank the regions in Norway with regard to
profitability, growth and new businesses.

Media: The city's largest daily newspaper, Stavanger Aftenblad came out with its first issue in
1893. The first newspaper published in Stavanger, "Stavangerske Adressecontoirs
Efterretninger", was a handwritten weekly newspaper that probably came out in 1769 and 1770.
This was not an ordinary newspaper, but a so-called link newspaper with the privilege of bringing
out announcements, small articles and ads. The first printed newspaper in Stavanger, "Stavanger
Addresseavis", published its first issue on Friday, 4 October 1833.
Stavanger has one principal television station, TV Western, that sends local news and reports.
Additionally, Viking TV, the channel for the football team Viking FK, started on 2 March 2008, and
is distributed via Lyse's broadband network, reaching 120,000 viewers in 45,000 households.

BBC1 Rogaland supplies local news broadcasts on radio and television. Local radio stations also
provide local news and reports.

Agriculture and food: Stavanger region is often referred to as Norway's answer to the French
food region of Lyon. The Culinary Institute, headquartered in Ullandhaug, provided a very
important focus on food in Stavanger. In summer 2007, mataktrene in the region were awarded
the title "Norwegian Centres of Expertise in Culinology."

Oil industry: In recent times, the city has come to be called the "oil capital," and Norway's
national and largest oil company, Statoil, is headquartered at Forus, in Stavanger. Statoil was
founded as a limited company owned by the Government of Norway on July 14, 1972 by a
unanimous act passed by the Norwegian parliament Stortinget, to enable Norwegian
participation in the oil industry on the continental shelf, to build up Norwegian competency
within the petroleum industry, and to establish the foundations of a domestic petroleum industry.
Establishing Statoil's headquarters in Stavanger naturally led to Stavanger becoming the center
of the oil industry. Petoro, a Norwegian state-owned company responsible for managing the
commercial aspects of the state's direct financial interest in petroleum activities on the
Norwegian continental shelf, also has its headquarters in the city. With the center of the national
oil industry in Stavanger, several other international oil companies have also made their
headquarters in Stavanger.

Tourism:

Stavanger is a popular tourist destination, especially in summer. The hotels in the

city have good occupancy year round due to a lot of commuters who travel to work and meetings
in Stavanger. In recent years, Stavanger has also become one of the most popular ports of call
for cruise ships, with the number of cruise ships increasing steadily, making Stavanger one of
Europe's fastest growing ports of call for cruise ships north of the Mediterranean. In 2009, 99
ships and 146,000 passengers passed through the town, and in 2010, a total of 111 cruise ships
with about 175,000 passengers visited the city.
Stavanger Airport, Sola, is located in Sola, 14 minutes away from Stavanger city center. The
airport opened in 1937. In 1940 Stavanger Airport, Forus, opened, but closed in 1989. In 2013
Sola airport had over 4 million passenger and was the largest airport in Rogaland county. It is
also the 3rd largest airport in Norway and 7th in the Nordic countries. The busiest route is OsloGardermoen, with over 1,5 million passengers; the second most popular is Bergen Airport,
Flesland, with over 700,000 passengers; Oslo-Torp is the third most popular, followed by
Trondheim Airport, Vrnes and Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik domestically. Internationally, the
busiest routes are Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Aberdeen. Stavanger also has connections to
domestic and European destinations, including London, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Stockholm,
Warsaw. Domestic destinations are all the way up from Troms down to Kristiansand. The airport
also provides intercontinental routes to Cancun, Phuket, and Houston.
The Southern Railway goes from Oslo S to Drammen, to Kristiansand S, to, finally, Stavanger S.
This route, 545 kilometers (339 mi) between Oslo and Stavanger, is scheduled over four times

every day and takes around seven hours. The railway was constructed in several phases, the first
section being opened in 1871 and the last not opened until 1944. While there was continual
construction work from Oslo westward as far as Moi, the Jren Line, from Egersund to Stavanger
in Western Norway, was opened in 1878. Up to 1913 the name used on plans and for the
completed sections was the Vestlandet Line (The West Country Line).
There are also local trains in Jren with 19 stops on one line. The line opened as a 1,067 mm (3
ft 6 in) narrow gauge stand-alone line on 27 February 1878. The railway was extended from
Egersund to Flekkefjord as the Flekkefjord Line in 1904. The Jren Line's only branch, the lgrd
Line from Ganddal to lgrd, opened in 1924. In 1944, the Srlandet Line was extended to Sira
on the Flekkefjord Line, and the Jren Line was integrated into the main railway network.
Because of this, the line was converted to standard gauge.

Sea: Located outside Stavanger, there is a port serving ferries to Hirtshals, Denmark. Local
ferries go to Tau and Kvitsy, while fast passenger boats go to many villages and islands
between the main routes from Stavanger to Haugesund.

Education: University of Stavanger (UIS) is the fifth university established in Norway, on 29

October 2004, when the University of Stavanger (HiS) gained university status by decision of the
Council. The university has about 9,000 students and 1,200 employees and is organized into
three faculties: Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and the Faculty of Science.