Hop On Guide Bergen 2020

1. Welcome on board Hop On! We will now be starting the tour from Bergen’s cruise docks, Bontelabo and Skolten.

2. The history of Bontelabo is the history of Bergen, of the sea, the city and the people. For hundreds of years,
Bergan has exported the world’s best fish to the whole world, put food on the table in Rio and Rome, London
and Tokyo. Many of these millions of meals have been packed, hoisted, frozen, sold and exported by the people
in Bontelabo.

3. From 1640 until 2011, Bontelabo was a place of contrasts. This is where the salty, damp sea air met the ice
cold and dry air from Europe’s largest freezer. International trade has made Bergen famous all over the world.

4. Where does the name ‘Bontelabo’ come from? There are many theories about the name, which come from the
time of the Hanseatic league or even earlier. One possibility is that it comes from ‘broken bottle’ in Dutch or
German, or a slang word for a scruffy pub. This makes sense, when Bontelabo was also a place for the
entertainment of seafarers, with brothels and other undesirable enjoyments in the centre of the city.

5. Today, Bontelabo is an urban destination for Bergen’s people and visitors from all over the world. There is still
a maritime atmosphere at Bontelabo, and revitalisation of the entire area has begun. The old freezer was turned
off in 2011 and will be turned into a hotel with more than 200 rooms and suites. The streets are being organised
as open avenues with various service offerings such as galleries, restaurants, stores and recreation areas with
a park and play areas, for the use of all the city’s residents. In addition, there will be space for hundreds of
workplaces in other buildings. Even if the fishing industry is becoming history, we are taking inspiration from
what was with us into what shall be.

6. The next stop is Skolten, one of the city’s cruise docks. In the season from May to September, Bergen is visited
by around 350 cruise ships. This is more than any other Norwegian city. Immediately to the right is Bergen’s
export dock for fish. Fish is exported from here all over the world. Up to 10,000 tonnes of fish can be stored
here in the warehouse to the right. Norway is one of the world’s leading fishing nations, and around 3.4 million
tonnes of seafood is exported annually, at a value of about 50 billion Norwegian kroner. In addition there is the
rapidly growing aquaculture industry, which many believe will take over when the export values from oil and gas
are reduced. Since long ago, Bergen has been the most important trade centre in Norway, and is still today the
country’s capital with regard to revenue and exports of fish and fish products. Commented [T1]: This seems to be identical to point 7.
Commented [RØ2R1]: You are right, Silvija! Leave out.
7. Immediately to the right is Bergen’s export dock for fish. Fish is exported from here all over the world. Up to
10,000 tonnes of fish can be stored here in the warehouse to the right. Norway is one of the world’s leading
fishing nations, and around 3.4 million tonnes of seafood is exported annually, at a value of about 50 billion
Norwegian kroner. In addition there is the rapidly growing aquaculture industry, which many believe will take
over when the export values from oil and gas are reduced. Since long ago, Bergen has been the most important
trade centre in Norway, and is still today the country’s capital with regard to revenue and exports of fish and fish
products.

8. Bergenhus Festning (meaning Fortress) to the left, is situated here on the approach to Vågen in Bergen. It is
one of the oldest and best-preserved fortresses in Norway. The most correct description of Bergenhus is actually
 Bergenhus Palace, as it was a royal residence and administrative centre when Bergen was Norway’s capital
city. In these cases, the ‘-hus’ portion of the name means ‘fortified palace’.

9. The area which today makes up the core part of Bergenhus Festning was called Holmen during the Middle
Ages. The area between Holmen and the medieval city Sverresborg, founded in the 1180s, was swampy
marshland, then called Veisan, now called Koengen (or Cow Meadow).

10. King Øystein Magnusson moved his royal residence here to Holmen in the 1100s and built a royal estate. When
the civil unrest began to ebb out in the first half of King Håkon Håkonsson’s long reign from 1217 until 1263,
and Norway became more united, a stone wall was erected around Holmen. This would protect the wooden
structure of the palace against fire and enemies. Bergen then became the capital city of Norway, and Holmen
its political centre.

11. Bergenhus Festning fell into disrepair in the Late Middle Ages but became a military area again in 1514. The
restoration was led by Jørgen Hanssøn, who also built a wall around it with a moat and drawbridge east of the
castle in around 1520.

12. When the monarchy was moved out of the country during the union with Denmark in the Late Middle Ages,
Bergen stopped being a city of royal residence. But the Bergenhus royal estate was still the political and
administrative centre for western and northern Norway. Only with the introduction of an absolute monarchy in
1660 did Bergenhus become a true fortress. During the 1600s the fortress was extended and strengthened and
was at its most developed in around 1700, with Bergenhus and Sverresborg as a united fortress. In 1897 a
large part of the fortress’ grounds were allocated for the building of Festningskaien (the Fortress Dock).

13. During the Second World War, Bergenhus was put to use by the Germans as a military base and local
headquarters, and soviet prisoners of war were used to build a concrete bunker. An explosion on the other side
of the fjord at Vågen on the 20th of April 1944, in which the Dutch ship Voorbode (which was loaded with
dynamite and ammunition) blew up, led to a lot of damage to the buildings at Bergenhus.

14. From 1945 to 1995, Bergenhus fortress was under Norwegian command until the regiment was disbanded on
the 30th of September 2002. Since 2002, the Naval Academy command has been located here, and there have
been many military functions at the fortress, among other things the army’s administration and the Army
Museums. Bergenhus’ district home guard has its head office at the fortress, which means that even today the
fortress has an operative military for the defence of the country. This, in addition to other administration, means
that there are around 150 military personnel working in the fortress daily.

15. Håkonshallen to the left is a medieval stone hall. It was first constructed as a royal residence and feast hall
under Håkon Håkonsson, while he reigned from 1217 to 1263. The first time we know for sure that the hall was
used was during Håkon’s son Magnus’ (later known as Magnus Lagabøte) wedding on the 11th of September
1261.

16. Håkonshallen fell into disrepair during the Middle Ages and from 1683 the building was used as a corn silo. In
1841 an initiative to restore Håkonshallen was undertaken. By royal decree in 1873, the organisation Norske
 Fortidsmindesmerkers Bevaring (Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments) was given the
restoration of Håkonshallen as its first main task.

17. Commissioned by the building director J. C. Dahl, the architect Franz Wilhelm Schiertz carried out survey
drawings of Håkonshallen, and in 1873 the restoration work was begun by architect Christian Christie. The
architects Peter Blix and Adolph Fischer completed the restoration in the years 1880-1895. The staircase was
reversed on the basis of the oldest picture of Håkonshallen, ‘Scholeusstikket’ from around 1580. The hall was
decorated inside with frescoes, tapestries and furniture according to Gerhard Munthe’s drawings.

18. A large explosion in April 1944 on board a Dutch ship on the other side of the Vågen fjord led to extensive
damage to Håkonshallen. After new archaeological investigations by architect Gerhard Fischer, Håkonshallen
was rebuilt by the architects Johan Lindstrøm, Claus Lindstrøm, Jon Lindstrøm and Peter Helland-Hansen in
the years 1955-1961.

19. Håkonshallen is managed today by Bymuseet i Bergen (Bergen City Museum), which also manages
Rosenkrantztårnet (Rosenkrantz Tower) right next to Håkonshallen. Håkonshallen is used today for events and
concerts, especially choral and chamber music.

20. Now on our left side we are coming to Bryggen i Bergen (The Wharf in Bergen), also known as Tyskebryggen
(The German Wharf) and Hansabryggen (The Hanseatic Wharf). The wharf is comprised of old wooden
buildings and fire-safe stone cellars in the historical centre of Bergen. The wharf was constructed in around
1070, and from 1360 until 1754 was the seat of German trade in the city and the central meeting point for
Hanseatic trade in Norway. The Hanseatic company was also the Nordic country’s first trading company. The
wharf covers around 13 acres with 61 protected buildings and is on UNESCO’s list of world cultural heritage
sites. The wharf is the third most visited tourist attraction in Norway.

21. The wharf includes Mariakirken (St Mary’s Church) from the 1100s, The Wharf Museum and Gustav Vigeland’s
statue of Snorre Sturlason. In this area there are old wooden house clusters and more modern apartment
buildings with hotels and business buildings, as well as the Vikinghallen sports hall. The old wooden Hanseatic
trade yards and Schøtstuene are eye-catching, as well as the brick building Kjøttbasaren. From the wharf the
small city ferry Beffen shuttles over from the city dock Vågen, and over to Munkebryggen on Strandsiden.

22. Late in the Middle Ages, when the wharf was established as a Hanseatic trading post, the name Tyskebryggen
(The German Wharf) began to pop up, and Mariakirken (St Mary’s Church) began to be referred to as ‘the
German church’ because German services were held there up until 1868. In the 1600s and 1700s it was also
common to call the area Garpebryggen. In Old Norse, ‘garp’ meant a tough guy, but it is possible that this was
used ironically to reference the German merchants. The term Tyskebryggen was most prominent up until the
25th of May, when Bergen’s city council agreed that from then on, the name would be just ‘Bryggen’. The name
has been discussed because many have argued that the name Tyskebryggen is most historically correct.

23. The business premises at Bryggen were used as storage warehouses for items for export and import. Corn
from Central Europe was imported and dried fish from northern Norway was exported. During spring and autumn,
the warehouses were full of dried fish which was to be exported. Dried fish was an important export for Catholic
countries, who used the dried fish during periods of fasting.
24. When the dried fish from the north came to Bergen, it was unloaded and collected in the warehouses for storage.
The fish weren’t made ready for export before the spring or autumn was over, because these were very busy
periods. It was the premises’ servants who were responsible for preparing the fish for sale by way of cutting the
heads and tails at their own workstation. Quality checking and sorting of the dried fish was left to the merchant’s
second in command, the ‘Geselle’, who had the responsibility of evaluating the value of the fish by size and
quality.

25. The trading culture at Bryggen had a strict class system, both in the Hanseatic period and later. Young men
came into the company as cabin boys, or ‘Stabenjungen’, who were given tasks related to daily life in the cabins.
After 3-4 years they advanced to being ships’ boys (or ‘schutenjungen’), who were tasked with (among other
things) loading and unloading the cargo boats from the north. After a few more years they could advance to be
a Geselle (a second-in-command or foreman) after having passed a test in trading, knowledge of cargo and
billing. The area also had its own jurisdiction, as well as its own schooling system where the apprentices went
to learn. They were strict living conditions, where it was forbidden for the members to socialise with those living
in Bergen, and especially the women in the city. The Hanseatics were not permitted to marry.

26. The front buildings at Bryggen have been decorated as sea cabins. These sea cabins were usually divided into
packing warehouses and a yard on the ground level, an outer room, main room, inner room and packing room
on the first floor. The rooms on the second floor were as a rule made up of the householder’s quarters, the
Geselle’s quarters, the servants’ quarters, sitting rooms and storage rooms.

27. Bryggen was previously the centre of the city’s worldly power. The Maria Gildeskåle building was mentioned for
the first time in Magnus Lagabøte’s city law from 1276. The building was situated at the churchyard of St Mary’s
church and functioned as the city’s first ‘court’. The building is a ruin today, placed between Bryggen Museum
and St Mary’s Church. The new court was constructed in around 1300-1315 and was situated in the middle of
Bryggen. The court was in use until the 1560s.

28. In the period from 1556 to 1560, Christoffer Valkendorf was the feudal lord on Bergenhus. At the beginning of
Valkendorf’s time in office, several unexplained murders took place in some of the city’s many brothels.
Valkendorf tore down a number of these establishments and afterwards largely reduced the Hanseatics’
privileges and monopoly in Bergen. The German craftsmen were forced to comply with Norwegian law and were
given the choice to swear fealty to the king or leave. In 1559, 59 German craftsmen were forced to leave Bergen.
In the 1560s Bergen’s centre of power was gradually moved from Tyskebryggen to its current place, at
Christoffer Valkendorf’s earlier home on Rådstuplass, the building today known as Det Gamle Rådhus (The Old
Courthouse).

29. We have arrived at the stop for The Hanseatic Museum, Bryggen and Fisketorget (The Fish Market) in Bergen.
This is a great starting point to explore the centre of Bergen and in front of us to the left is Kjøttbasaren, with its
many exciting delicatessens, and a short walk beyond that, Fløibanen, the famous funicular railway which runs
up to the top of Mount Fløyen.

30. Now we have Vågen on our right side, an arm of Byfjorden. Here in the deepest point of the fjord’s arm lies
Vågsbunnen and Torget, known as Fisketorget (The Fish Market). The breadth of the bay here today is 115 m,
but originally it was around double based on historical maritime finds. Vågen was a prerequisite for Bergen’s
 emergence as an important European staple location. It was central on the Norwegian coast, was seldom frozen
over, and was well suited for the handling of goods. The core of the city’s development was Bryggen with its
approximately thirty wharfside sheds. Bryggen was already established when the city law came into force in
1276.

31. Torget, often called Fisketorget (The Fish Market), is a trading centre with stalls for the sale of fish, shellfish,
berries, fruit, flowers and souvenirs. We recommend a bread roll with some smoked salmon as a quick and
delicious bite to eat here. The fish traders here have live fish and shellfish in their tanks.

32. Right in front of us we will see the two most popular shopping centres in Bergen: Galleriet and Sundt. Many
well-known stores, cafés and restaurants can be found here. It is also a nice place for a stroll around the area,
with pedestrian streets and benches to soak up the street life.

33. Now we are coming to Tourist Information in Bergen. Here you can find all the information you would like about
Bergen and its surroundings, and the information centre is open every day. It is also a good starting point for a
walk here in the compact city centre around the wharf area with the market. If you leave the bus here, please
remember to take all of your personal belongings with you.

34. The coastal road we’re now driving along on the eastern side of the Nordnes peninsula along Vågens’ western
edge is known as Strandkaien, with stores and a ferry terminal. The street goes from Fisketorget to
Murallmenningen, where we will shortly be arriving. In front of us we can see Blaauwgården, which was
designed by architect Leif Grung in 1936. Grung interpreted the traditional sea warehouses with a functional
design. Originally, the estate was built as an office and warehouse building. The office section was given a
vertical articulation, while the warehouse was characterised by its horizontality. Today the property is furnished
as offices. In 1949, Leif Grund posthumously received the Houen Foundation Award for Blaauwgården.

35. When we now turn to our left, we will arrive on Murallmenningen, where the old city gate and wall from 1561 is
situated right in front of us. Today the city gate contains the museum for the famous and beloved Buekorps
groups in Bergen.

36. There are many Buekorps (literally ‘Archery Brigade’) in Bergen, of which the most famous is probably the
Sandviken Battalion. The Buekorps was founded on the 17th of May in 1857 purely as a boys’ marching band.
The Buekorps is a Sunday band brigade, which means that it was a band brigade for common people who did
exercises on Sundays, but nowadays they take place on Saturday. 9 year-old Julius Olsen had seen Dreggen’s
Buekorps marching and wanted to create a brigade in Sandviken too. He got together with some friends and
set up Sandviken’s brigade in 1857. The leader was Søren Stoltz, who was 14 years old and had the most
credibility within the group.

37. The area here around Murallmenningen is surrounded by shops and many picturesque wooden houses and
lanes. The entirety of this district is known as Strandsiden (the beach side), referencing which side of Vågen it
is situated on.

38. We are now turning right into Chr. Michelsen’s Gate, which has many hotels on both sides of the street. The
street got its name in 1917, after the ship owner and prime minister Christian Michelsen (1857-1925), who was
from Bergen. It was regulated to the way it is now after a great fire in 1916, stretching through many fire-ravaged
quarters.
39. We will soon be arriving at a dock area on the right side called Holbergskaien. This was Bergen’s first steam
ship dock from 1874.

40. Bergen is a city and municipality in Vestland County; and an earlier county, surrounded by ‘the seven mountains’
and known as ‘the capital of Vestland’. Traditionally, Bergen is said to have been founded by Olav Kyrre in 1070
with the name Bjørgvin, which means ‘the green meadow between the mountains’. Throughout its history,
Bergen has been a leading city for international trade and seafaring, and was Norway’s capital throughout its
golden age, now referred to as the Old Kingdom of Norway.

41. Bergen Municipality passed 275,000 inhabitants at the end of 2014. The greater Bergen area and its
surroundings have around 420,000 inhabitants, which makes up 81% of the inhabitants of Hordaland and 31%
of the inhabitants of Vestland. Bergen is the residence of a lot of major players and institutions within the realm
of culture, finance, health, research and education. The city was the administrative centre of Hordaland County,
the Gulating legislative assembly and Bjørgvin Diocese. When it comes to national government agencies, the
Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, Competition Authority, International Ship Register and Royal Navy all have
their headquarters in Bergen.

42. Bryggen in Bergen is listed on Unesco’s list of world heritage sites and reminds us of the city’s historic link to
the Hanseatic League. Bergen’s coat of arms with the three-towered castle in silver, standing against seven
mountains in gold, builds on the city’s old seal, which is considered to be the oldest in Norway. Bergen’s city
song is called ‘Views from Ulrikken’.

43. We’re making a stop here for those of you who wish to visit Bergen’s Aquarium. It is about 5 minutes’ walk up
to the left and then follow the sign on to the Aquarium to the right. This is also a good stop for those of you who
want to take pictures up towards Bergen Brygge and its wooden buildings with Byfjorden in the foreground and
Fløibanen in the background. If you are leaving the bus here, please remember to take your personal belongings
with you.

44. In front of us to the right when we turn to the left is Tollboden (the customs building), a late baroque building in
polished quarried stone with a dominating central gable towards Vågen. The stone building was constructed in
1759-1761 after the old customs building was lost in 1756 in the fire which nearly destroyed the entire area here
from Torget all the way out to Nordnes. Tollboden was designed by the architect Joachim Reichborn from
Hamburg, who was called to Bergen in 1757 to construct churches and other public buildings after the fire.

45. Tollboden and the surrounding area were badly damaged on the 20th of April 1944, after a Dutch ammunition
ship ‘Voorbode’ exploded at Festningkaien. It was approved by Stortinget (the Norwegian Parliament) that
Tollboden should be rebuilt in its original form. In 1954 Tollboden’s exterior was finished by the architect Johan
Lindstrøm and in 1960 was turned into offices.

46. Bergen was the seat of Gulatinget (an early legislative assembly) from the year 1300. From around 1360, the
Hanseatic League had one of its own main offices here in Bergen, a trading company which continued on
Bryggen all the way up until 1899. Bergen was the administrative centre of Bergenhus Municipality and later
Bergen Municipality. Bergen became its own county in 1831 and was incorporated into Hordaland County in
1972. Bergen was the largest city in Scandinavia up until the 1600s and Norway’s largest city into the 1830s,
and has since been the second biggest city in Norway.
47. To the left, Nykirken (The New Church) from 1763. This is the youngest of Bergen’s parish churches for the
residents here on Stranden. The church was first built on the remains of the old archbishop’s estate which was
situated here. The church was rebuilt after the great fire in 1756. Then the church was both larger and different
to the original, simple rectangular building from 1621. The current tower’s top and spire were built after the
explosion in 1944. There have been old writings from the 1690s which tell of how the churchyard on which
Nykirken stood was made purely of Dutch sand that the dead were buried in. Such imported sand was found in
excavations and the sand had been ballast in ships. In a regulation from 1735 it was stated: If ballast was made
up of stone or sand, which could serve ‘for the betterment of the canals and harbours, His Majesty’s fortresses
and the city’s official buildings, the ballast should be emptied onto the land as directed. Under the floor of
Nykirken there are still the ruins of the old Archbishop’s estate from the end of the 1200s. The old stone walls
are partially intact.

48. In front of us, when we turn down to the left, we will see the part of Strandgaten which is pedestrianised with
cosy shops, which leads up to the old city tower, called Muren.

49. Bergen is a centre for marine, maritime and petroleum-related research and industry clusters which are among
the most robust and advanced in the world. Bergen has a strong and multi-faceted business sector, especially
in banking and insurance, building and construction, trade and the service industry, high-technology, mass
media, the food industry, tourism and travel. Bergen has one of the Nordic countries’ busiest airports and one
of Europe’s largest and busiest harbours, and is the point of origin for Hurtigruten cruises along the Norwegian
coast and Bergensbanen (the Bergen Line) to Norway’s capital, Oslo.

50. To the right here on Murallmenningen we can see the old city gate, Muren, from 1561. One of the two original
city gates from the middle of the 1500s. Today this is the home one of the most famous and beloved Buekorps
marching bands in Bergen.

51. We will soon be stopping here on Strandgaten, and are in Bergen’s central shopping stretch. The pink and
yellow building right in front of us is where the two largest shopping centres are located, on each side of
Torgalmenningen: Galleriet and Sundt. There is also the large Sjømannsmonument (Seafarer’s Monument)
which is worth taking a closer look at. From here it is only a couple of minutes’ walk down to the left to reach
the tourist information office and Fisketorget, as well as Bryggen.

52. The granite building in front of us to the left is the old Børsen (Stock Exchange) in Bergen. Completed and
opened in 1837. The stock exchange wasn’t run with support from the public, and its operations were reliant on
tonnage taxes on ships declared abroad, and membership fees. After Bergens Privatbank took over the building
in 1967, the stock operations were moved to Handelens & Sjøfartens Hus. The Bergen stock exchange was
merged with the Oslo stock exchange in 1991, as the Bergen department of the Oslo stock exchange. The
building has had many uses, and since 2017 has been the Børsen Hotel.

53. To the right we have the large Sjømannsmonument in the square at Torgalmenningen. The nautical monument
is a national monument dedicated to Norwegian seamen’s efforts at sea, from the Viking Age until the 20th
Century, financed with collected funds and unveiled on the 7th of June 1950. It was sculpted by the artist Dyre
Vaa in the years 1939-1945 and unveiled in 1950. The monument is made up of twelve figures and reliefs at
two different heights, cast in bronze, and mounted on a large square granite plinth. The monument was financed
with collected funds and has later been supplemented with a pool of water at the foot of the plinth.
54. In a maritime city like Bergen, it was obvious that a memorial dedicated to precisely this important and
honourable profession should be provided with a central location in the city. This requirement was fully met
when the municipality allowed Dyre Vaa’s towering, seven metre tall sculptural tribute to seafarers to dominate
the eastern end of the city’s main street, Torgallmenningen.

55. Many people reacted to the fact that the Sjømannsmonument here would be far removed from the seamen’s
proper element, the sea. In 1999, almost 50 years after the unveiling, some progress was made to putting these
objections to rest. As part of the comprehensive renovations of Torgallmenningen, a large pool of water was
constructed around the monument. After this the twelve tough sailors, cast in bronze, could see their reflections
in the water. It is however only the criticism of the monument’s location and the artistic form that made waves
around it.

56. Right in front of us, in the middle of the street, we can see the old Bergen city hall. Earlier the feudal lord
Christoffer Valkendorf’s private residence, rebuilt and gradually put into use as the city hall in 1561-68. The
building was fire damaged in 1588, 1623, 1640 and 1702. The main floor originally had a council chamber, a
court, and police office as well as a department for clerks. The lower floor had jail cells and a room for the jail
steward, and also a ‘madhouse’ for the mentally ill.

57. We have arrived at the Xhibition shopping centre. Opened in 2004, after a total renovation and situated in the
old building for Bergen’s main post office. The building was constructed in 1956. The building now covers 20,000
square metres, divided into six floors, with over 40 stores and businesses of different types. There is even a
hotel on the 5th and 6th floors called Magic Hotel.

58. The old city hall in front of us managed the city archive from 1568, but only the book of the law and the book
of citizens avoided the fire in 1702. An annex to the north from 1632 was used as a court until 1735, and then
later as a fire station. The city court was repaired in 1737. A remodel in 1789 was marked with, among other
things, the then King Christian VII’s monogram being mounted on the northern gable. The building was
reconditioned in the 1820s. The police station was moved out in 1846, but the jail cells were in use until 1867.
The central window on the 2nd floor was painted on from the time when glass was too expensive.

59. Now we’re driving along a stretch called Vågsbunnen, which belongs to the Bergenhus district. Vågsbunnen
was the name of one of the four quarters the city was divided into in the Late Middle Ages and in the 1500s.
Here there would have been apartment blocks before the city fire in 1248. In 1330, German cobblers entered
into a contract with the king to rent Vågsbunnen farm. It is known that cobblers throughout the Middle Ages kept
themselves to certain areas of Vågsbunnen, and from the end of the 1400s there were also Dutchmen here
with stalls, among others. The city law of 1276 regulated the area for small-scale trade. The streets in
Vågsbunnen mostly follow the path of the medieval streets.

60. Vågsbunnen, where we currently find ourselves, was a shallow bay which ended in a marsh. Instead of
anchoring, the ships were landed at high tide, and loading and unloading took place when it lowered. In 1184,
one of Magnus Erlingsson’s ships ran aground in Bergen, so it could only leave the city by night. It is difficult to
walk in damp low-tide sand, and the workers must have been extremely relieved when a large part of the area
was strewn with pebbles. This ‘paving’ made loading and unloading in Vågsbunnen easier. The stream Hugaå
ran through Vågsbunnen, which was named in the city bylaws of 1282, which forbade the cobblers to ‘carry
bark’ into Hugaå, so that ‘rubbish and dirt from the farms wasn’t carried out to the wharves’.
61. It was said in 1746 that earlier here at the end of the Vågsbunnen area, small boats could row all the way up to
the walls of the cathedral and moor in rings there. The wetland area was gradually filled in with natural
sedimentation and illegal trash dumping, not least from the cobblers who got rid of large amounts of waste from
tanning. Real wharves came first after the city fire in 1702, when the area was regulated. The dock was moved
farther out in 1730, when Triangelbryggen (The Triangle Wharf) was constructed. At the time of Christian VI’s
visit in 1733, an honorary wharf was constructed in the form of a pier. The Triangle was a fishermen’s wharf,
where trade took place from the fishing boats. Today there are three flagpoles, each guarded by their own lion,
which symbolises the disappearing Triangelbryggen within Fisketorget.

62. The area up on the hill that we are looking towards is called Fjellet Sør, with the Skansen district. The top of the
hill is 182 metres above sea level and Fløibanen has Skansen station on the hillside.

63. A little bit ahead, we will come to an old, white, wooden building on our right side that looks like a church. This
is the Leprosy Museum, St Jørgen’s Hospital, which is today run by the Bergen City Museum. In recent years
the museum has been subject to increasing attention and nominated for many national and international awards.
St Jørgen’s Hospital is Norway’s oldest organisation and one of Scandinavia’s oldest healthcare institutions.
The hospital has had its place in the Bergen cityscape since the early 1400s.

64. St Jørgen’s Hospital on the right side has lived through centuries as an institution with society around it, in a
way as part of it, and in other ways as its own city within the city. St Jørgen’s Hospital has experienced both
prosperity and decline, being both famous and forgotten.

65. The Leprosy Museum at St Jørgen’s Hospital on our right side is a preserved hospital from the 1700s and
among the few preserved leprosy hospitals in Northern Europe. Famous parts of scientific history are linked to
this piece of cultural heritage that was dedicated to St. Jørgen as the patron of lepers. The best-known part of
this is Armauer Hansen’s discovery of the leprosy bacterium in 1873, which represented a breakthrough for the
leprosy research of the 1800s, and the Norwegian work against leprosy which also had a huge significance
internationally in other fields.

66. When we turn to the right, we will see a granite building right opposite us. This is Bergen’s railway station and
the terminus for the Bergen Line between Oslo and Bergen. It was opened in 1913, four years after the Bergen
Line was completed.

67. Bergen station replaced the earlier railway station, which was built for the Voss Line. Voss is a small city around
75 miles north west of Bergen. The station was designed by Jens Zetlitz Monrad Kielland, after an architectural Commented [T3]: Original said ’12 mil’, but I assume this is
Scandinavian miles, which is around 75 miles or 120km.
competition was advertised in 1900. In 2003, Bergen station was protected.
Commented [RØ4R3]: That is correctly understood. Thank
you.
68. On our right side after we come to the crossing is a small lake. This is Lille Lungegårdsvannet (Little Lungegård’s
Water), or in Bergenese, Smålungeren. A characteristic lake with fountains situated centrally in the cityscape of
Bergen. Today’s Lille Lungegårdsvann is 600 metres around, and isn’t an artificial lake as one might believe.
Originally it was part of a fjord arm connected with Puddefjord named Alrekstadvågen, which bordered the
peninsula made up of Nordnes and Nygårdshøyden to the north east. What later became called Lille
Lungegårdvann stretched from Torgallmenningen to Nonneseter and was connected to Store
Lungegårdsvannet (Big Lungegård’s Water) by a sound. The stream was called Lillestrømmen, and the water
was salty and brackish.
69. The name Lille Lungegårdsvannet comes from Lungegården, a manor which was formed with the core of
Nonneseter’s monastery’s estate after it was handed over to councillor Vincens Lunge after secularisation in
1528.

70. Two fillings of the lakes at Lungegård in the first half of the 1800s meant that the water was demarcated towards
the north west, and both Olav Kyrresgate and Christies Gate were laid over where the lake had once been,
which got its characteristic 8-sided shape at the end of the 1800s. The filled-in areas have given space to
important functions and infrastructure for the city centre, which otherwise could have meant major interventions
and reconstruction of the historical city centre. The sound to Store Lungegårdsvan was filled in in 1926, but to
ensure the quality of the water there is an underground channel to Store Lungegårdsvann where the earlier
stream had been. Since the beginning of the 1980s, the water is cut off from the sea with a return valve, which
prevents the entry of saltwater at high tide. The water level is kept at 40 cm above tide level in Store
Lungegårdsvann, and it is a challenge to keep the lake supplied with fresh water, especially in periods of low
rainfall.

71. The modern brown building we can see at the crossing is the Grieghallen concert hall. Grieghallen was
completed in May 1979 and was named after the Norwegian composer, Edvard Grieg. The hall has a number
of concert and banquet halls, totalling 3500 square metres. Grieg hall, with its 1610 seats, is the largest.
Grieghallen was begun in 1967 and completed in 1978. The hall was designed by the Danish architect Knud
Munk and cost 93 million kroner altogether to build in 1978. The Eurovision Song Contest was held in the hall
in 1986. Since 1989 there has also been a talk every year about traffic safety and the consequences of not
being careful in traffic for the Russ (high school graduates) of Bergen. Police, the State Highways Authority,
ambulance personnel, witnesses and survivors usually talk about their experiences of traffic accidents. The
reason behind these talks is to reduce the number of traffic accidents, and is especially geared towards the
young who are particularly vulnerable.

72. Grieghallen to the right is the home arena for the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Grieg had a plan to build a
concert hall in Bergen out of wood in 1894, but at the same time Christian Michelsen was interested in building
a new theatre, and Den Nationale Scene was built on the plot that was decided on instead. In 1917, the
Philharmonic’s leaders asked Bergen Municipality to prepare a suitable plot for a concert hall. Before the Second
World War the Philharmonic’s committee asked the municipality to allocate the plot on Lars Hilles Gate for free,
where the Grieghallen is today, but they didn’t receive a response until 1941, as the German occupiers and
National Assembly wanted to celebrate Grieg’s centenary in 1943 with a newly built concert hall. During the war
there was a shortage of supplies and when Norway was liberated in 1945, all political decisions made during
the occupation were deemed invalid. With that, the plot returned to the ownership of the municipality. In an
agreement from 1949, the committee received the plot again, but in return Bergen Municipality disclaimed many
of the project’s expenses.

73. When we turn to the left at the end of the street, we will see a silver-coloured, spaceship-looking building directly
opposite us. This is Bygarasjen (The City Garage) which is Bergen’s largest car park, with 2205 spaces, which
is open and manned 24 hours a day every day. The car park shares premises with the city station and Bergen
bus station and shares a wall with Bergen Storsenter. You can leave cars here for an unlimited period. It is run
with direct payments or a subscription.

74. On top of the hill to the left we can see the TV tower on the mountain called Ulriken, one of the seven mountains
that surrounds Bergen. The TV tower stands 643 metres above sea level and there is a gondola line,
 Ulriksbanen, all the way to the top. Here you can enjoy a fantastic view in real mountain scenery. There is also
a restaurant on top, called Sky Skraperen (The Skyscraper). There are many opportunities for beautiful walks
up there and on the top of Ulriken there are activities for young and old, and not least, training facilities with one
of Norway’s most beautiful views over the city, framed by mountains, fjords and the coast.

75. Missing from original text. Commented [RØ5]: Number 75 to 79 is the same as we
have in Oslo text and no need to translate. That is one of
the reasons why the numbers are so important. THKS for
76. Missing from original text.
notice.

77. Missing from original text.

78. Missing from original text.

79. Missing from original text.

80. We are now entering the Møhlenpris district with the container port, Hurtigrute dock and Bergen’s other cruise
docks, and a lot more industry. The name Møhlenpris comes from Jørgen Thor Møhlen who was a founder of
industry in the area in the 1600s, here at Puddefjorden. Møhlen started a cod liver oil factory here in 1671, a
ropewalk in 1678 and a saltworks and soap factory in 1682, as well as an oil mill and a cooperage. The industry
led to the development of a suburb with 600-700 inhabitants. After Thor Møhlen’s bankruptcy in 1696 the
companies were each liquidated, except for the saltworks, which his son-in-law Claus (Lydersen) Fasting took
over in 1719. The area was previously part of the cathedral’s parish and was incorporated into Bergen in 1877.
In the Middle Ages, these were grazing fields belonging to Munkeliv Monastery.

81. When we turn to the left at the crossing onto Torborg Nedreaas’ Gate, we have the opportunity to tell you about
Torborg Nedreaas, whom this street along the dock is named after. Torborg Nedreaas was born on the 13th of
November 1906 here in Bergen, and died on the 30th of June 1987 in Nesodden outside Oslo. She was a
Norwegian writer who debuted with her short story collection ‘Bak Skåpet Står Øksen’ (or ‘Behind The Cupboard
Stands The Axe’) in 1945. Most of the short stories in the collection take motifs from events during the Second
World War; not what we would normally consider as war literature, but talking about situations that the war
created for those who weren’t directly involved in the war, but who still paid a high price for living in an occupied
country.

82. Torborg Nedreaas was actually trained as a music teacher, but wrote a series of novels, short stories, radio
plays and pieces for televised theatre. Many of her books have depictions of the environment and nature from
Leirvik, where she spent many summers during her childhood. The differences in class and poverty are a central
theme in all of her writing and she was awarded many prizes. In 1972 she was nominated for the Nordic
Council’s literature prize. She was clearly affected by the war and its consequences for Norwegian citizens.
Nedreaas was a radical communist and a prominent opponent of NATO. This can be clearly seen in the book
‘De Varme Hendene’ (or ‘The Warm Hands’) which warns against the formation of a military block and
emergency contingency laws. The book depicts a Norway with American military bases and suppression of the
political left.

83. To the left is the dock for Fjordline for ferry crossings to Denmark. Fjordline’s two modern environmentally
friendly ships, MS Stavangerfjord and MS Bergensfjord, travel the line between Stavanger, Bergen and Hirtshals
in North Jutland in Denmark. The Fjordline ships are the first two cruise ferries in the world which are powered
 exclusively on green gas, by running on LNG – a liquified natural gas, which provides benefits to the
environment thanks to technology.

84. We are now driving in a district of Bergen known as Nøstetangen with the bay and the Jekteviken wharf area
on the eastern side of Puddefjorden. This is where the Bergen gasworks was situated between 1907 and 1985.
The name Jekteviken, which was officially affirmed in 1877, comes from an earlier pavilion here, talked about
for the first time in 1690. The pavilion was constructed at the end of the 1700s by merchant Jacob ‘the Dutchman’
Blaauw. In 1877, Jekteviken was sold at auction to another merchant, C. Sundt, who in the same year sold it to
Bergen Municipality. In 1878, Casper Trumpy’s shipyards were started here. The old listed rich man’s building
from 1790 became the gasworks’ administrative office.

85. Rain hat maker Johannes Berg constructed a sea warehouse with a wharf here in Jekteviken in 1835, where
he had a corf, the city’s first fish bazaar. In the 1880s there was a short-lived attempt to sell fish from wells and
basins. A seawater pool was constructed in 1887. From 1926 comprehensive and varied industrial operations
have been here in Jekteviken, as we can see today.

86. When we turn to the left towards the yellow hall with graffiti on the wall, we will enter Baneveien, which takes
its name from the ropemaking business that characterised this area from the beginning of the 1600s to the
second half of the 1800s. The ropewalk here at Nøstet was the largest in the city. A royal letter from 1638
entailed the right to spin rope along the entire 400 m stretch, which was set aside for this purpose. The
ropemaking business was shut down in 1853. The area here was severely damaged by a bombing attack on
the night of the 29th of October 1944.

87. The reason that there is such variation between the old traditional Bergenese wooden houses and newer
business buildings in this area is because of the bombing on the 4th and 29th of October 1944. On the night of
the 29th of October 1944, large swathes of the buildings here were completely destroyed by a mistaken bombing
by allied planes. 43 people, among which 4 were firemen, lost their lives.

88. On the night of the 29th of October 1994, allied planes made a new attempt to bomb the submarine bunker on
Laksevåg, like they were trying to when Laksevåg was bombed just a few weeks earlier on the 4th of October.
Laksevåg was also hit that night, but many people here were evacuated, and the worst consequences were
caused by the raid on the area here at Nøstet. 237 Lancaster bombers came in over Bergensdalen towards
Laksevåg that night. Because of the weather, there were only a few who could drop their load of bombs over
the bunker on Laksevåg. More tried many times without success, before the raid was called off.

89. One of the planes that couldn’t drop their bombs in 1944, and therefore would likely have tried a new raid, was
damaged by an anti-aircraft gun on its way back to Bergen. All signs point to the pilot trying to perform an
emergency landing in Store Lungegårdsvann, where they crashed a short time after. On their way, they probably
tried to drop their cargo in the fjord. But the city was blacked out, and it was likely impossible to see where they
actually dropped the bombs. The plane had twelve bombs aboard, and ten of these struck the area here. While
some exploded on contact, others were timed and exploded up to an hour later. These timed bombs took the
lives of four emergency services personnel.

90. The next stop is Skolten, one of the city’s cruise docks. In the season from April to October, Bergen will be
visited by around 350 cruise ships, more than any other Norwegian city. The next stop is also for the ferry to
Hirtshals in Denmark. Make sure you have all of your personal belongings if you are leaving us here.
91. Missing from original text. Commented [RØ6]: Same as 75-79. We have that text from
Oslo.
92. We will now be turning up to the left, onto a street called Håkonsgaten. This was named in 1884 after Håkon IV
Håkonsson who was King of Norway from 1204 until 1263. The street was surrounded by many ropewalks at
the end of the 1800s. A little further along, at Sverre’s Gate, the street runs a little more crooked because the
town planner C. F. von der Lippe wanted to avoid cutting off part of his garden at Sukkerhuset.

93. Bergen is Norway’s second largest town and up until 1299, Bergen was considered Norway’s capital city.
Around the year 1600, Bergen was the largest city in the Nordic countries with 15,000 inhabitants. The last and
biggest municipal amalgamation happened to Bergen in 1972. At the same time, Bergen stopped being its own
county and has since then belonged to Hordaland. The official number for the city’s total area is 465.3 square
kilometres.

94. On the 15th of August 2008, at 1.04 am, Bergen reached a quarter of a million inhabitants. That is when August
Horstad came into the world as the 250,000th citizen of Bergen. The event was duly marked, and an enormous
banner was hung on the wall of the city hall with 250,000 portraits. The name of the city has its origin in a proto-
Scandinavian form: Bergawinjó. The first part means mountain or hill, the second meaning pasture or
meadowland. This was most likely the name of a farm that was situated on the plain under Ulriken.

95. In the 1200s-1300s, the name Bergen was written Bjorgvin. Later came the forms Bjargvin and Bergvin, which Commented [T7]: Bjørgvin?
before the end of the medieval period was changed to Bergen. In the 1920s, there was a movement to take Commented [RØ8R7]: Yes, with the Norwegian letter “ø”
but Bjorgvin is OK. THKS for observance.
back the form Bjørgvin, but this was opposed by a large number of the inhabitants. Throughout its history,
Bergen has had many different forms of government and varying degrees of self-government and government
from the national authority. In the High Middle Ages, the city courts, city council and city meetings had a specific
role; in the Late Middle Ages the councilmen got greater influence when it came to local matters. The German
merchants at Bryggen had considerable autonomy, and even though they didn’t have a direct role in the
governing of the city, they exerted an important influence through their economic power. The movement of the
court and market away from Bryggen in the 1550s was one of many measures which contributed to a shift in
power in favour of the Norwegians.

96. Let’s talk a little bit about the Church of Norway, which is a state church. In paragraph two of the constitution,
the Evangelical Lutheran religion was defined as the nation’s official religion. As a consequence of this, bishops
and priests in the Church of Norway are public officials. All Norwegian citizens have religious freedom, except
for the king. He is the head of the Church of Norway, and is duty bound by the fourth paragraph of the
constitution to belong to the Evangelical Lutheran religion.

97. The orange building we will soon see on our right side is Det Akademiske Kvarter (The Academic Quarter),
owned by the University of Bergen since 1991 and put into use in 1995 as a cultural hub for students with
different restaurants and an auditorium for concerts and meetings. Altogether, it has the capacity to fit 1400
people in the rooms. A popular TV show about the Norwegian language and dialects has been recorded here
since 2019.

98. The Academic Quarter’s building was constructed in 1855 as a summer pavilion for Jacob Blaauw Kooter.
Ownership was sold to a consortium in 1917. The Boulevard restaurant was run on the 1st floor of the building
in the 1920s. In the 1950s the restaurant was renamed Ugla. The Stjernesalen dance hall was on the 2nd floor
from the 1940s to the 1970s. The Odd Fellow lodges in Bergen were also situated here previously.
99. On the right side in front of us when we turn to the left, we will be able to see St Paul’s Church, the parish
church for the Catholic congregation in Bergen, Sogn og Fjordane and most municipalities in Hordaland. The
congregation was established in 1857 and today has 8000 members. This is first and foremost because of
considerable immigration from Catholic countries. Around 70 different nations are represented on the
congregation register. The church has 325 seats.

100. The first stone of St Paul’s Church was laid by father Johan Daniel Stub in 1871 and dedicated in 1876.
Stub was the son of a Bergenese merchant who, as a young boy, was sent to Italy to train to be a merchant.
His life took a completely different turn here when he came into contact with Catholicism. After a short time, he
not only converted to the Catholic faith, but also gave up his plan for a life in business. Instead he decided to
study theology and be trained as a priest at a Barnabite monastery. In 1870 he was called to be a parish priest
for the congregation in his home city. A gravestone has been erected behind the church where Stub was buried.

101. We are now driving on Christies Gate, regulated after the great city fire in 1855, and the street leads
down to what was once the city limit in the south. The street divides Byparken (The City Park), where we will
shortly be arriving, into two. The Festplassen (The Festival Ground) to the right and Ole Bull’s Plass with the
music pavilion to the left.

102. We will shortly be arriving at Byparken, where the street we are driving on divides into two, so look to
both your right and left. We will be making a stop at Festplassen, which is the right side of the park. The name
is not official, but in a councillor’s recommendation in 1930, it was stated that ‘at the northern end of
Lungegårdsvann a festival ground will be constructed’. The celebration of the 17th of May (Norway’s
Constitution Day) has taken place at Festplassen since 1929, even though it wasn’t fully finished until 1936.
The space has otherwise served various entertainment purposes, circuses, exhibitions and so on.

103. Byparken is counted as Bergen’s first public park. On the 30th of May 1855, 182 houses between Torget,
Vågsallmenningen, Hagerupgården and here at Lille Lungegårdsvann and Gråmuren behind us, burnt down.
After the fire there, a comprehensive regulation plan was made with straight streets and small quarters. This is
how ‘the big park’ was regulated and established in 1865. The park was originally symmetrically constructed
lengthwise, surrounded by picket fences and straight rows of trees. The park had a romantic design at that time,
with meandering gravel paths and irregular fields with lawns, bushes and flowerbeds.

104. We are making a stop at Festplassen! A final upgrade and renewal of the place was completed in the
autumn of 2009. The responsibility for the design of the ‘new’ Festplassen was given to landscape architect
Arne Sælen. 3000 square metres were paved with Chinese granite, designed with low ledges which break the
monotony of the large surface, and equipped with benches and new street lighting. It became possible to walk
all the way out into Lille Lungegårdsvann, or as the Bergenese say, Smålungeren, on fibre-optically lit stepping
stones, also made from Chinese granite.

105. The music pavilion we can see to the left was a gift to Bergen Municipality from the businessman and
consul G. Gade in 1888, and is placed in the centre of ‘The City Park’. Byparken is situated by Lille
Lungegårdsvann with Festplassen on its right side and Ole Bull’s Plass on its left side. Thus the park forms
the core of a central axis in the city. The Bergen light rail route also starts here at the Byparken terminal.

106. Behind the music pavilion on the left, standing on what is called Nedre Ole Bulls Plass, Stephan Sinding’s
statue of the composer Ole Bull was unveiled in 1901. Ole Bornemann Bull, who was born on the 5th of February
1810 and died on the 17th of August 1880, was a Norwegian violinist and composer in the romantic style. Bull
 was one of the biggest violin virtuosos at the time and left his audiences spellbound. Through his interest in
Norwegian theatre, Norwegian folk music and folk art, he played a central role when Norwegian culture was
being built up after the union with Denmark was dissolved in 1814. Ole Bull is to have composed more than 70
works, but there are only around 10 known today. His works include ‘Recuerdos De Habana’ (‘Memories Of
Havana’), ‘Et Sæterbesøg’ (‘A Dairy Visit’), ‘Sætergjentens Søndag’ (‘The Dairy Maid’s Sunday), ‘I Ensomme
Stunde’ (‘In Lonely Moments’) and ’Polacca Guerriera’ (‘Polish Warrior’). Commented [T9]: Please check the translation.
Commented [RØ10R9]: Polish Warrior is correct. (It comes
107. Here in Byparken by the music pavilion, there is a statue of Edvard Hagerup Grieg, who was born on the from Ole Bulls freedom fight for the immigrants in USA)
15th of June 1843 and died on the 4th of September 1904. Grief was a Norwegian national romantic composer.
He is the Norwegian composer who has received the most international attention, and like Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
and other artists from the late 1800s, he had a lot of significance in building national culture in the time up until
the dissolution of the union in 1905.

108. The first train station in Bergan was here at Festplassen and was demolished in 1976 to make space for
Stenersens Samling and the Bergen Billedgalleri. In 2008, children from the Bergen figure skating club opened
a 1000 square metre synthetic ice rink at Festplassen, with ice that doesn’t melt no matter what the temperature
and rainfall, and in addition to the climate-related advantages, it was shown to be significantly cheaper both to
construct and run than a traditional, artificially frozen rink. The ‘ice’ is made of a mirror-smooth plastic; so-called
High-Density Polyethylene Plastic. The rink is constructed every year in December and can be used up until
around Easter.

109. Now we’re crossing the route of Bergen Bybane (Bergen Light Rail) which starts here in Byparken and
ends at Bergen airport, Flesland. The stretch of track as it runs today was finished in 2017 and the final additional
tracks are being built and are planned to be finished in 2022. The rail system has been heavily discussed since
it was approved in 2000.

110. The red building with a tower and white window frames we can see on our right side is the old Bergen
main fire station. The New Gothic building was designed by architect Peter Andreas Blix in 1888. The building
barely escaped the city fire in 1916! The façade of the building is protected by the Norwegian Directorate for
Cultural Heritage. The Bergen fire department moved out of the station in 2007 and in 2016 it was decided to
turn the old fire station into a museum.

111. Immediately after the fire station, on our right side, we will see a chalk-white building which is the old
Bergen City Hall. Earlier the feudal lord Christoffer Valkendorf’s private residence, it was rebuilt and gradually
put into use as the city hall in 1561-68. The building was fire damaged in 1588, 1623, 1640 and 1702. The main
floor originally had a council chamber, a court, police office as well as a department for clerks. The lower floor
had jail cells and a room for the jail steward, and also a ‘madhouse’ for the mentally ill. A rebuild in 1789 was
marked with, among other things, the then King Christian VII’s monogram being mounted on the northern gable.
The building was repurposed in the 1820s. The central window on the second floor is painted on from the time
when glass was too expensive.

112. The building in green with the white and glass facade to the left is the Xhibtion shopping centre. Opened
in 2004, after a total renovation and localised in the old main post office building for Bergen. The building was
constructed in 1956. It now covers 20,000 square metres divided onto six floors, with over 40 shops and
businesses in various industries. There is even a hotel on the 5th and 6th floors, called the Magic Hotel. Hop
On has a stop here on the other side of the street.
113. We are now driving into Bergen’s absolute shopping district. The pink and yellow building to our left is
on each side of Torgalmenningen, where the two largest shopping centres are located: Galleriet and Sundt.
Here there is also the large maritime monument, which is worth taking a closer look at. From here it is just a
few minutes’ walk down to the right to get to the tourist information office and Fisketorget, as well as Bryggen.

114. The statue we are approaching on our right side is Ludvig Holberg. He was born on the 13th of December
1684 here in Bergen and died on the 28th of January 1754 in Copenhagen. Holbeg was a Norwegian-Danish
writer and historian who lived most of his adult life in Denmark. He was a philosopher and historian, but it was
his fictional work which looms largest. He wrote satire, among other things parodies of the heroes of the antique
and renaissance periods. Holberg is best known for his comedies. His works were soon to be translated into
many European languages.

115. We will soon be stopping here at Vågen on our left side, an arm of Byfjorden. Here in the deepest point
of the fjord’s arm lies Vågsbunnen and Torget, known as Fisketorget (The Fish Market). The breadth of the bay
here is today 115 m, but originally it was around double based on historical maritime finds. Vågen was a
prerequisite for Bergen’s emergence as an important European staple location. It was central on the Norwegian
coast, was seldom frozen over, and was well suited for the handling of goods. The core of the city’s development
was Bryggen with its approximately thirty wharfside sheds. Bryggen was already established when the city law
came into force in 1276. This stop is perfectly suited for a visit to the Hanseatic Museum.

116. Torget, often called Fisketorget (The Fish Market), is a trading centre with stalls for the sale of fish,
shellfish, berries, fruit, flowers and souvenirs. We recommend a bread roll with some smoked salmon as a quick
and delicious bite to eat here. The fish traders here have live fish and shellfish in their tanks. This is also a good
starting point for a walk along the wharf.

117. Right in front of us we will see a brick building with a white roofed gable. This is the old Kjøttbasaren
(Meat Bazaar), or as it was originally called, Byens Bazar (The City Bazaar). Designed by architect Conrad
Fredrik von der Lippe and constructed in 1874 to 1876 in the New Romantic style. The Kjøttbasar was built to
control the market’s trade and the sale of foodstuffs, in regard to cheating and hygiene.

118. After the city fire in 1703, the wharf was extended so the two southernmost wharf yards weren’t
reconstructed. The earlier meat huts were simple butchers’ sheds with tiled rooves and hooks for the hanging
of their wares. The building of Byens Bazar, or the Kjøttbasar was approved in 1874. To ensure good storage
conditions for the foodstuffs, the main body of the building was built into the terrain. The building was opened
on the 1st of July 1877 and was the only one of its kind in Norway. Byens Bazar had 44 sales stalls and 27
cellar stalls.

119. There was a fierce battle for Kjøttbasaren, when it was scheduled to be torn down in 1965. This was
prevented due to conservationists, among other things, appealing to the king about the demolition order. The
order was revoked, and the bazaar was allowed to remain. The building was officially protected in 1982. The
building was restored and put into use with restaurants and delicatessens in 1997.

120. We are now coming up to Fløibanen. A cable car on rails, or funicular railway, for passenger traffic
between the centre of Bergen and the viewing deck on Fløyen. Fløibanen and Fløyen are one of Bergen’s most
visited and largest tourist attractions, and in 2015 hit a record of 1,575,503 tourists. The railway has had regular
passenger traffic since the 15th of January 1918. It runs for 850 metres, and the difference in height is 300
 metres. A one-way trip usually takes five to eight minutes with one of the two modern panorama wagons
Rødhette (Red Riding Hood) and Blåmann (or ‘Blue Man’, another figure from Norwegian folklore) which can
each carry 100 passengers. We will stop a short distance after the station, and it is also a suitable stop for
walking the short distance to The Hanseatic Museum.

121. The idea of having motorised transport to Fløyen was brought up all the way back in 1895, but the licence
holder didn’t manage to raise sufficient capital, and thus the project was abandoned. The idea was brought up
again in 1907, and in the autumn of 1914, work to build Fløibanen was begun. The construction was estimated
to take between one and one and a half years, but because of the First World War and the following material
shortages, building continued all the way to 1918. Since then, Fløibanen has been in continuous use - with the
exception of the autumn of 2002 when the railway was closed for seven weeks to carry out the most
comprehensive repairs in the railway’s history.

122. When Fløibanen was opened in 1918, Waldemar Stoud Platou made the following speech: ‘Come one
Sunday to a morning service on the mountain, with a view of the snow-covered and rocky mountains, to fjords
and the sea, and you will learn the powers that create somebody from Bergen, boost his initiative and energy…,
but which also cling to his soul, so that he always longs to be home again with his great love for the city of his
birth.

123. In 1986, Bergen was the host city for the Eurovision Song Contest. The winner was Sandra Kim from
Belgium, who was only 13 years old at the time. Something happened when Sandra Kim and a group of people
from the press took a trip on Fløibanen a couple of days before the final. They didn’t get farther than the second
to last station before the top, because of a safety problem. The carriage moved a couple of metres backwards
before the passengers were forced to climb out of the carriage. No one was hurt, but the incident led to a lot of
press coverage in Norway the day after.

124. We are now driving along Øvregate, which is possibly the city and country’s oldest actual street. The
street was already named a ‘strede’ in 1135. In Magnus Lagabøte’s city law from 1276, it was referred to as
Øvre Langstretet. It was mentioned as Øvregate for the first time in 1527, or as it was at the time, ‘Øffregathenn’.
The district here had establishments such as inns and brothels up until the war with Sweden in 1643 until 1645.

125. We are now coming on our left side to the rear of Bergen Brygge where the trees are. This was
previously and during Hanseatic times the rear yard of the warehouses and inns of the Hanseatic community
on Bryggen. If you choose to take a stroll in the area, you will be able to see, smell and experience these times
close up, with many interesting monuments and ruins. It was restored and built up in 1989.

126. Right in front of us to the left are the so-called Schøtstuene. These cabins were the Hanseatic
community’s assembly rooms, and it was here that they met to share food and drink. To reduce the risk of fire
damage on the farms it was only at Schøtstuene and the associated kitchens that open flames were allowed.
Schøtstuene were therefore well used in the cold, dark and wintery half of the year. It was in addition used for
feasts, teaching and court hearings, when the Hanseatic community had their own laws which differed from
legislation in the city.

127. In the High Middle Ages, Øvregaten was the city’s grandest gate: here there were a number of relatively
large farms on both side of the street, as well as many of the city’s churches: Martinskirken Columbakirken,
Nikolaikirken, Peterskirken and Mariakirken with their churchyards. The many churches in the neighbourhood
did not, however, stop the city from becoming the city’s central pleasure quarter in the 1400s, with a multitude
 of taverns and brothels. There was, at the time, 29 houses for ‘loose’ women here in this district, until Christoffer
Valkendorf expelled most of them towards the end of the 1550s. Øvregaten regained its respectability after the
fire in 1702, when the street was preferred as an area to live by those who had some connection to Bryggen.

128. From here it is just a short walk to Bryggen, Bergenhus Festning (Fortress) and Rosenkrantztårnet
(Rosenkrantz Tower).

129. The next stop is to visit Bryggen and Mariakirken (St. Mary’s Church) ahead to the left, with the two
towers. Mariakirken is a nave church shaped like a basilica from 1180. The church was better known under the
name Tyskekirken (The German Church) for a long time, because the Germans, the Hanseatics on Bryggen,
belonged to the congregation of Mariakirken. The church has two western towers, which was unique for
medieval Norway. The nave is Romantic, and the chancel is Gothic. With 200 seats, it is the smallest of the
three medieval churches in Bergen. The church was restored in the period between 2010 and 2015.

130. Mariakirken is believed to be the oldest intact building in Bergen. Named in 1181 in Sverre’s saga.
Mariakirken has avoided fires since the Middle Ages and has been changed little since 1270. If you want to get
off here, please remember to take all of your personal belongings with you.

131. In the area in which we are now driving, between Mariakirken and Bontelabo, the buildings were
demolished during the war with Sweden in 1643-45, and in around 1650 the area was filled and paved, so that
the northernmost part of Øvregaten became Koengen. After the fire in 1702, it was forbidden to build east of
Bryggen. In the zone between the wharf yards and Øvregaten, the plots were put into use growing cabbages,
while trees were planted on the street itself in the 1700s. In 1989 the restricted zone between Øvregaten and
Bryggen was turned into a park, called Bryggehagene (The Wharf Gardens).

132. We are now arriving at the Sandviken district, an area which, geographically speaking, lies north east of
the city centre. The area was separated from Bergen by the feudal lord Erik Rosenkrantz in 1561 in an exchange
with the king, and Sandviken was incorporated back into Bergen in 1876. The district is mostly made up of
residential areas, with around 3,800 inhabitants. The local buekorps here is called Sandvikens Batiljon (The
Sandviken Batallion).

133. In the 1860s, a law was passed which said that all houses to be built in the city centre were to be built
out of stone. But since it was cheaper to build with wood, people continued to do it, but added a thin shell of
stone on the outside to satisfy the authorities. The result was the kind of house we can see in this street, which
looks like a stone house. We call them chimney houses and they are extremely vulnerable to fire, because if
the house begins to burn, the wooden house inside the stone shell burns like in a chimney.

134. In this part of the city, are the Måseskjæret and Christinegård pavilions from 1795 and 1763. Stoltz’
ropewalk from the 1690, the listed Sandviksboder warehouses from the 1600s, the Møllersalen guest house
and restaurant, the Sandviksbatteriet military facility and the steep hiking trail called Stoltzekleiven which leads
up to the peak of the Sandvik mountain. The district of Sandviken was developed early with water mills and
shipyards. The mill operation at Mulelven can possibly be traced back to the end of the Middle Ages, and
Storemøllen back to the 1300s. If you arrived in Bergen via cruise ship, then there are great opportunities for
pictures to the left when we drive down the other side of the hill a little further on.

135. The Sandviken district was an isolated suburb for a long time. The connection to the city by land went
over Rothaugen, Ladegården, Stølen and Steinkjelleren. Nye Sandviksvei (or The New Sandviken Road), which
 we are now driving on, was constructed to Rothaugen in the period between 1869 and 1873. In 1911 to 1914,
this new road was extended downwards so that it was moved into Rothaugen, and the street width was extended
to 15 m. In the middle of the 1920s, Sjøgaten was constructed along the coastline from Skuteviken to
Sandvikstorget. 23,000 cubic metres of stone were removed and most of it was used for the construction of
Skoltegrunnskaien, Bergen’s main dock for cruise ships.

136. It was when the infrastructure and roads were in place in the district of Sandviken that the development
of the northern district could really get underway. After the Second World War, it took time before Sandviken
was further developed, but in the period between 1952 and 1957, both Sjøgaten and Sandviksveien were
modernised.

137. Now we are coming to a beautiful open view towards Sandviksbukten and the fjord. Cruise ships can be
seen well from here if there are ships docked at Bontelabo. Get your camera ready for pictures! Sandviksbukten
was put to use as an unloading dock for Bergen from the end of the 1600s. Merchants from Bergen built landing
places and warehouses down here.

138. We are continuing our tour here in Sandviken and if you look to the front, you will see Sandvikskirken. It
is a three-naved church in the new gothic style from 1881. This was just five years after the Sandviken district
was incorporated into the city of Bergen. The church has a thinner, polygonal chancel in the east and a tower
in the west, which is placed on the church’s longitudinal axis. The church was constructed from gneiss with
external granite cladding. Sandviken Parish was established on the 29th of July 1874.

139. On the other side of Sandvikskirken, on the left side of the road we can see Sandviken fire station.
Constructed in 1903 and still in use by the district’s fire department. After the city fire on the 22nd of September
1901 it was decided that Bergen should have more fire stations as well as new, modern equipment. The fire
station here was completed in 1903 and had four horses and room for a tandem horse cart and a single horse
drawn ladder cart. In the 1930s, technology made horses and carts superfluous and the fire station was rebuilt.
Among other things, the hayloft was converted into sleeping quarters. The station was later rebuilt and altered
internally. The works are characterised by economic and practical considerations without regard for the
antiquarian. Externally, however, the fire station has maintained its original shape and colour.

140. We are nearing the last stop before we arrive at the cruise dock at Bontelabo. This is Rosesmauet with
Rosegrenden. From our stop it is possible to walk through Rosegrenden here from Sandviken to Sjøgaten.
Rosegrenden was named in 1881 after skipper Frederik D. Rose, who took Bergenese citizenship in 1821. He
built the house at Sandviksveien 16, and after his death his widow rented out rooms, for a bailiff’s office among
other things.

141. We are stopping here for those of you who want to take a walk through Rosegrenden to the left here in
Sandviken. Rosegrenden is a row of idyllic small homes in the area between Sandviksveien and Sjøgaten, with
well-maintained buildings from the 1800s. It is a walk of around 300 metres and if you just go through the small
hamlet you will catch us on Sjøgaten at the next Hop On stop. If you want to walk further to Bontelabo cruise
dock at Bryggen, then it will take around 15-20 minutes of gentle walking on Sjøgaten along the wharves. In
either case, please remember to take all of your personal belongings with you.

142. When we arrive at the next crossing, we will reach Sjøgaten and Sandviksbukten. Sjøgaten goes along
the sea from Skutevikstorget to Sandviksveien, which we are now coming down. The name Sjøgaten was
approved in 1898. The Skuteviksboder warehouses lie along the water’s edge the entire way we are going and
 continue to Byfjorden and Bontelabo cruise dock in the centre of Bergen. Straight ahead at the crossing we are
coming to is the seaplane dock on Kristiansholm islet.

143. We are now driving on Sandviksbukten and towards the cruise dock at Bontelabo. In 1776, there were
four ropewalks here in Sandviken along the harbour. There was more building on the ground in front of the port
facilities during the 1700s and 1800s, which created small streets. Among others the previously mentioned
Rosegrenden. As the residents became wealthier, some of the buildings were built on with dormer windows and
a second floor. In the 1700s, a number of pavilions were also built in Sandviken. To the left we can see examples
of these small streets and all the way on our right, the old and newer sea warehouses.

144. We will be making a short stop here at Johan Mohr’s Gate and Rosesmauet for those who want to walk
through Rosegrenden. Johan Mohr was a merchant who lived in the period between 1799 and 1882 and ran,
among other things, a small soap factory at his property, Møhlenpris. In 1850 to 1876 he owned the entire
greater Sandviken district, which he sold to Bergen Municipality.

145. To the right you can see the old wooden buildings in Sandviken. This is where you can find the Sandviken
coastal culture centre, where they restore old boats and engines. The large sea warehouses here were used
for the storage of dried fish, just like at Bryggen. But in this area, it was Norwegians who owned and worked in
them. These wooden buildings were spared from fires until 2008, when there were two large fires here.

146. Straight ahead at the top of the hill we can see the large pink building, Rothaugen School. This is a
municipal school which was opened in 1912 and has been a secondary school since 1961. The school has
space for 550 pupils. The school also has a department for student with special learning requirements. The
building was designed by city architect Kaspar Hassel (1877-1962). It sits nicely on a mountain crag and looks
out over Skuteviken, Byfjorden and Askøy. The word ‘Roth’ comes from German and also means ‘crag’. The
tunnel under the mountain that we will shortly see is a former railway tunnel here in Sandviken. The sea
warehouses on our side of the road have undergone constant renovations and appear today like modern
commercial buildings with a local historical character. Some of the warehouses have been subject to fires even
recently and were therefore rebuilt as closely to the original style as possible.

147. Right in front of us we can see Bergenhus Festning (meaning Fortress). It is one of the oldest and best-
preserved fortresses in Norway. The most correct description of Bergenhus is actually Bergenhus Palace, as it
was a royal residence and administrative centre when Bergen was Norway’s capital city. In these cases, the ‘-
hus’ portion of the name means ‘fortified palace’. King Øystein Magnusson moved his royal residence here to
Holmen in the 1100s and built a royal estate. When the civil unrest began to ebb out in the first half of King
Håkon Håkonsson’s long reign from 1217 until 1263 and Norway became more united, a stone wall was erected
around Holmen. This would protect the wooden structure of the palace against fire and enemies. Bergen then
became the capital city in Norway, and Holmen its political centre. Bergenhus Festning fell into disrepair in the
Late Middle Ages but became a military area again in 1514. The restoration was led by Jørgen Hanssøn, who
also built a wall around it with a moat and drawbridge east of the castle in around 1520.

148. We will shortly be arriving at Bontelabo cruise dock. For those of you who are finishing your tour here
and leaving us for now, we want to thank you for coming with us and remind you to take all of your personal
belongings with you. We hope to see you again and wish you an excellent stay in Norway.

*Edvard Grieg 2
Grieg’s most famous work is probably his ‘Piano concerto in A minor, opus 16’. Other famous orchestral works are the
Peer Gynt suite, as well as the suite ‘Fra Holbergs Tid’. Grieg had the greatest significance in his day with his 66 piano
miniatures, ‘Lyriske Stykker’. Whereas today, chamber music and songs are considered most valuable. As a composer,
Grieg is best known in Norway for the music he added to the poems of Aasmund Olavsson Vinje and Arne Garborg.
Abroad, the music he put to the words of Henrik Ibsen, H.C. Andersen and Heinrich Heine was most popular. Grieg
began to study at the conservatory in Leipzig when he was 15 years old. Later he spent some fundamental years of his
youth in Copenhagen. This is where he encountered the contemporary currents of national romanticism. A meeting with
Rikard Nordraak was crucial in the development of his personal style as a composer. Grieg consciously began to draw
from Norwegian vocal and instrumental folk music and allowed this to permeate a highly romantic tone. In 1866 he
moved to Christiania (an old name for Oslo) and took over the leadership of Det Philharmoniske Selskab (The
Philharmonic Company). After a couple of nomadic years, Grieg built a house on Hop I Fana outside Bergen. He called
the place Troldhaugen and lived there in the summer for the rest of his life. Grieg usually spent the darker part of the
year abroad, on concert trips as a guest conductor, piano soloist or accompanist for his wife, the soprano Nina Hagerup.

*The next stop is the natural history department of the Bergen Museum. In front of the museum there is a statue of
Storting’s president, Wilhelm Koren Christie, who was also one of the politicians who gave Norway its constitution in
1814. The Natural History Museum, Cultural History Museum and the Nautical Museum are also within walking distance.
The museum gardens are worth a visit. Bergen is also a central university and higher education city, with over 30,000
students. Around 10% of Bergen’s population are students at the high schools or university. The University of Bergen
was founded in 1946, but teaching has taken place at the Museum of Bergen since 1907.

*From here you can see over the fjord to Askøy, which is the largest island outside Bergen, with around 25,000
inhabitants. This island lies like a buffer between Bergen and the North Sea and means that we have a sheltered harbour.
Askøy is its own municipality, but many of the people who live there work in Bergen. Previously they would have had to
take a ferry to come to Bergen, which was the busiest ferry connection in Norway, but in 1992 the large suspension
bridge you can see in the distance was opened. There are also fast ferries from Askøy to Bergen city centre, which take
just 10 minutes.