Kongsberg
Kongsberg Municipality
Kongsberg kommune | |
---|---|
Coat of arms | |
Nickname(s): Teknologibyen The City of Technology | |
Coordinates: 59°40′10″N 09°39′06″E / 59.66944°N 9.65167°E | |
Country | Norway |
County | Buskerud |
District | Lower Buskerud |
Administrative centre | Kongsberg |
Government | |
• Mayor (2015) | Kari Anne Sand (Sp) |
Area | |
• Total | 792 km2 (306 sq mi) |
• Land | 753 km2 (291 sq mi) |
• Rank | #138s in Norway |
Population (2011) | |
• Total | 25,090 |
• Rank | #27 in Norway |
• Density | 31.2/km2 (81/sq mi) |
• Change (10 years) | +8.9% |
Demonym(s) | Kongsbering/ Kongsbergenser Kongsbergensar[1] |
Official language | |
• Norwegian form | Bokmål |
Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
ISO 3166 code | NO-3303[3] |
Website | Official website |
Kongsberg (Norwegian pronunciation:
Kongsberg, formerly spelled Konningsberg (lit. "King's Mountain"), was developed as a mining city on the basis of the Kongsberg Silver Mines, founded by and named after King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway in 1624. The king invited German engineers and other specialists from Saxony and the Harz region to help build the mining company. As a mining city, Kongsberg had a distinct urban culture that contrasted with its surroundings, strongly influenced by the traditions of mining communities in Germany and where the German language was extensively used in mining business and for religious services. In the first years nearly half of the city's population were German immigrants, and the majority of the engineers and executives were German immigrants and their descendants well into the 19th century, becoming a distinct social class called mining families that formed the educated social elite of Kongsberg in contrast to the Norwegian farming population; the first Nobel laureate in economics Ragnar Frisch belonged to such a Kongsberg mining family. By the 18th century Kongsberg was Norway's second largest city, second only to Bergen. Kongsberg was one of Norway's two privileged mining cities and thus formed a special mining jurisdiction (Bergstad), and only became part of Buskerud county in 1760. On 1 January 1838, the new national law, creating local governments, made Kongsberg a municipality. The rural municipalities of Ytre Sandsvær and Øvre Sandsvær were merged into the municipality of Kongsberg in 1964. Kongsberg gradually lost importance to other cities in the 19th century, particularly to the rapidly growing capital of Christiania (Oslo).
The Kongsberg Silver Mines closed in 1958 after operating for 334 years and is today a museum and the city's main tourist attraction. Kongsberg remains the site of the
Both the University of South-Eastern Norway Kongsberg campus, and Tinius Olsen's school, a combined technical vocational college and secondary school, are located in Kongsberg.
Minorities
Ancestry | Number |
---|---|
Poland | 336 |
Lithuania | 282 |
India | 217 |
Sweden | 211 |
Denmark | 175 |
Afghanistan | 164 |
Iraq | 160 |
Iran | 136 |
UK | 127 |
Eritrea | 118 |
Philippines | 117 |
Germany | 110 |
History
Kongsberg was founded by
To develop the
Four years after the establishment of the Kongsberg Silver Mines, most of the 1,500 workers and officials were still German. Gradually, Norwegians entered the workforce and were hired as supervisors. In 1636, 1,370 Germans and 1,600 Norwegians were employed there. In 1648, there were 1,500 Germans and 2,400 Norwegians working in Kongsberg.
Gunpowder was officially introduced in mining in 1681. Mining in the particularly hard rock of Kongsberg Mountain was energy intensive, so the silver mine continued to develop new technology to reduce production costs. A large artificial dam powered the mine's hoists before electricity was introduced. In 1624, a road from Hokksund to Kongsberg was built to serve the Kongsberg Silver Mines, the most important road built in Norway in the 17th century. In 1665, the road was extended to Kristiansand and Larvik.
By 1683, the mining industry was an important industry of the state. The rapid development of Kongsberg meant that the number of workers in the city had increased significantly by the end of the 17th century. The proportion of Norwegians in the workforce increased, but for a long time, the main staff was dominated by Germans. Kongsberg was almost an outpost of Germany in Norway: the mine had a German name, and the official language was German, only later becoming bilingual (German and Danish). In Kongsberg, the German mountain justice system was also used. Legally, this means that the city was bound by independent regulations, partially separating the mining community from the country's legal system. The Germans brought with them the Knappschaft, a guild-like association of miners that provided including free medical assistance, a pension plan, worker sick leave and a Saturday break. The ring agriculture characteristic of Kongsberg may also have been inspired by the German pattern.
The proceeds from silver mining provided a valuable assistance to the tight finances of Denmark.
Kongsberg was particularly known for its Kongsberg Silver Mines and their high purity. Kongsberg's ore also contained a certain amount of gold and large amounts of copper, cobalt, lead-zinc and fluorite. Roughly 15,750 tonnes (34,720,000 lb) [6] of silver was extracted between the discovery of the silver ore seams in 1623 and the last year of mining in 1957. The workforce at the Kongsberg silver mine began to increase substantially at the end of the 17th century. In the 1769 census, the mines employed about 4,000 workers. With 8,000 inhabitants in all, the town was the second largest in Norway, after Bergen (and thus larger than today's capital, Oslo).[7]
In Norway's 1749
Kongsberg is home to the
During peaceful times, the defence industry gradually evolved into many other kinds of
On 13 October 2021,
Coat-of-arms
The
Geography
Kongsberg is located at the mouth of the valley Numedal; farther to the South the valley is called Lågendalen.
The neighbouring municipalities of Kongsberg are Flesberg to the north; Øvre Eiker and Hof to the east; Lardal, Siljan, and Skien to the south; and Sauherad and Notodden to the west. Of these, the two first lie in Buskerud county like Kongsberg, while Hof and Lardal lie in Vestfold, and the others lie in Telemark. The town is divided by the river Numedalslågen, which has three waterfalls in the town itself.
Climate
Kongsberg has a humid continental climate (Dfb), with late summer and autumn as the wettest season and February - April as the driest season. Kongsberg has warm summers by Norwegian standards; average daily highs in summer are comparable to Oslo. In winter Kongsberg is colder than Oslo, and snow cover on the ground is common. The largest snow depth recorded is 123 cm on 3 March 2006.The all-time high temperature 34.6 °C (94.3 °F) was recorded 19 June 1970, while 10 August 1975 recorded 34.5 °C (94.1 °F). The all-time low −32.5 °C (−26.5 °F) was recorded 3 January 1941. As pr January 2022, all monthly record lows are old, 11 from before 1950. All record highs are from after 1950, 5 of 12 from after 2000 (pr January 2022). Kongsberg has recorded 30 °C (86 °F) as early as 14 May (in 2000). The weather station Kongsberg brannstasjon has recorded since 2003, extremes includes data from Kongsberg II, III and IV.
Climate data for Kongsberg 1991-2020 (170 m, extremes 1915-2020 also includes earlier stations) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 14.2 (57.6) |
16.7 (62.1) |
20.5 (68.9) |
26.2 (79.2) |
30.1 (86.2) |
34.6 (94.3) |
32.9 (91.2) |
34.5 (94.1) |
28 (82) |
24.6 (76.3) |
15.9 (60.6) |
13.8 (56.8) |
34.6 (94.3) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | −4.2 (24.4) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
0.4 (32.7) |
5.1 (41.2) |
10.5 (50.9) |
14.5 (58.1) |
16.7 (62.1) |
15.2 (59.4) |
10.8 (51.4) |
5 (41) |
0.2 (32.4) |
−3.8 (25.2) |
5.6 (42.1) |
Record low °C (°F) | −32.5 (−26.5) |
−29.3 (−20.7) |
−25.3 (−13.5) |
−16.9 (1.6) |
−7.6 (18.3) |
−1.1 (30.0) |
2 (36) |
0.3 (32.5) |
−4.9 (23.2) |
−14.1 (6.6) |
−22 (−8) |
−31.1 (−24.0) |
−32.5 (−26.5) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 64.7 (2.55) |
40.8 (1.61) |
42.9 (1.69) |
46.3 (1.82) |
66.2 (2.61) |
79.4 (3.13) |
85.7 (3.37) |
96.1 (3.78) |
84.5 (3.33) |
95.4 (3.76) |
88.6 (3.49) |
59.1 (2.33) |
849.7 (33.47) |
Source 1: Norwegian Meteorological Institute/yr.no[13] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: Værogvind[14] |
Transportation
The main highways are the
Culture
With the population increase during the town's silver mining heyday of the mid-eighteenth century came the need for a new church, which was built over a 21-year period and inaugurated in 1761. It has an austere red brick exterior, but a richly decorated baroque interior including unique chandeliers made at Nøstetangen Glass Works in neighbouring Hokksund. Kongsberg Church remains one of the largest in Norway with a seating capacity of 2,400.
The church's original baroque-era pipe organ, made by renowned German organ builder Gottfried Heinrich Gloger in 1760–65, was fully restored by Jürgen Ahrend in 1999–2000 and reopened to great fanfare in January 2001. With its 42 voices, it is the largest baroque organ in Scandinavia. At the end of January each year, the Gloger Music Festival now draws a select crowd of artists and music lovers from all over the world.
Since 1964, Kongsberg has hosted
have played at the festival in recent years.Sport
The town is known for many great
The local basketball team Kongsberg Miners is regarded one of the best teams in the country.
The 1978 World Orienteering Championships were held in Kongsberg.[15]
Motorcycle speedway has been prominent in Kongsberg. The first track existed at the Kongsberg Idrettsparken and it held the final of the Norwegian Individual Speedway Championship in 1969.[16] More recently speedway practices have sporadically been run on an oval track (known as Basserudåsen Speedway) constructed by the NMK Kongsberg, adjacent to the Kongsberg Motorsenter Gokart.[17] This site also held the final of the Norwegian Championships in 1997, 1998 and 2003.
The crowns in Håvet
This attraction (Kronene i Håvet) is a site where Norwegian royal monograms have been carved into the mountainside overlooking Kongsberg to mark royal visits to the city. In June 1704 King
The first monogram on the hillside property belonged to
(1995).Kongsberg Technology Park
Kongsberg Technology Park is a part of Kongsberg that is located in Kirkegårdsveien 45 and the Arsenal on Kongsgårdsmoen. It has over 5.200 employees, spread across 60 nationalities and 48 countries and can trace its roots back to 1814. Among the tenants in Kongsberg Technology Park are Kongsberg Gruppen,
The park also manages properties in Stjørdal, Horten, Sandefjord, Skedsmo, Asker, Bærum, Oslo, Rygge, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Ulsteinvik and Brattvåg.
Notable residents
Public service & public thinking
- Johan Gerhard de Besche (1821–1875) - a physician, owned the Morgenbladet newspaper
- Christian Peder Bianco Boeck (1798–1877) - a doctor, zoologist, botanist and mountaineer
- Carl Wilhelm Boeck (1808–1875) - a Norwegian dermatologist
- Erik Brofoss (1908–1979) - Economist and jurist, politician for the Labour Party and central bank governor
- Constitutional Assembly
- Anders Bugge (1889–1955) - Norwegian theologist and art historian
- Morten Thrane Esmark (1801–1882) - a Norwegian priest and mineralogist
- Sverre Fehn (1924–2009) - Architect and professor at Oslo's School of Architecture from 1971 to 1995
- Roar Flåthen (born 1950) - Union leader and LO leader from 2007 to 2013.
- Bernt Hagtvet (born 1946) - Professor of political science at the University of Oslo
- Paul Ernst Wilhelm Hartmann (1878–1974) - Finance minister who served in the exile government of Johan Nygaardsvold during World War II
- Iver Heltzen (1785–1842) - Norwegian priest, naturalist, and author
- Gustava Kielland (1800–1889) - Writer and missionary
- Jens Landmark (1811–1880) - a Norwegian military officer and Mayor of Kongsberg
- inventor
- Ole Petter Ottersen (born 1955) - Professor of medicine and rector at the University of Oslo from 2009 to 2017
- Thoralf Skolem (1887–1963) - Professor of mathematics at the University of Oslo
- Constitutional Assembly
- Gunhild Stordalen (born 1979) - Physician and environmentalist, was married to the billionaire Petter Stordalen
- Jørgen Herman Vogt (1784–1862) - First Minister of Norway, 1855 to 1858
The Arts
- Tine Asmundsen (born 1963) - a Norwegian jazz bassist
- Ingri d'Aulaire (1904–1980) - American writer of children's books
- Håkon Austbø (born 1948) - a classical pianist and academic in the Netherlands
- Halfdan Cleve (1879–1951) - classical composer and music teacher
- Ivar Grydeland (born 1976) - jazz guitarist, raised in Kongsberg
- Maurits Hansen (1794-1842) - journalist and novelist, teacher in Kongsberg from 1826
- synthpop band a-ha
- Per Theodor Haugen (1932–2018) - actor and theater manager
- Morten Qvenild (born 1978) - jazz pianist, band leader and producer
- Otto Sinding (1842–1909) - painter, illustrator, poet and dramatist
- Christian Sinding (1856–1941) - composer and pianist
Sport
- Hans Beck (1911–1996) - ski jumper, silver medalist at the 1932 Winter Olympics
- Ailo Gaup (born 1979) - former Freestyle Motocross rider who invented the Underflip and won world title in FMX
- Petter Hugsted (1921–2000) - ski jumper, gold medalist in the 1948 Winter Olympics
- Hjalmar Hvam (1902–1996) - Nordic skier and invented the first safety ski binding
- Bryan King (born 1947) - British footballer with over 540 club caps and scout, lives in Kongsberg
- Roy Mikkelsen (1907-1967) - an American Olympic ski jumper and US Champion
- Winter X Games
- Birger Ruud (1911–1998) - ski jumper, gold medalist at the 1932 & 1936 Winter Olympics
- Sigmund Ruud (1907–1994) - ski jumper, silver medalist at the 1928 Winter Olympics
- Magnus Sylling Olsen (born 1983) - a retired Norwegian footballer with over 250 club caps
- Daniel-André Tande (born 1994) - ski jumper and team gold medalist at the 2018 Winter Olympics
Twin towns – sister cities
Kongsberg is twinned with:[19]
- Chitose, Japan
- Espoo, Finland
- Gouda, Netherlands
- Køge, Denmark
- Kristianstad, Sweden
- Skagafjörður, Iceland
Gallery
-
Kongsberg Rail Station
-
Kongsberg School of Mines
-
Norwegian Mining Museum
-
Tinius Olsens School
-
Kongsberg Bergskrivergaarden
-
University of South-Eastern Norway, campus Kongsberg
-
Kongsberg hospital
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
- ^ "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
- Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
- ^ "Kongsberg Gruppen ASA". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ "Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents". ssb.no. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
- ^ Kongsberg silver mining district at Mindat.org
- ^ Kongsberg Silver Mining District
- ^ "Det Norske Myntverkets historie". Det Norske Myntverkets. Archived from the original on July 4, 2017. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ "Kongsberg bergseminar". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ "Man kills several people in Norway in bow and arrow attacks, police say". Reuters. 13 October 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ Francis, Ellen; Cunningham, Erin; Pannett, Rachel; Noack, Rick (13 October 2021). "Norway bow-and-arrow attack that killed five people appears to be 'terrorist act,' police say". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ "Kommunevåpen" (in Norwegian). Kongsberg kommune. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
- ^ "yr.no". Norwegian Meteorological Institute.
- ^ "verogvind".
- ^ "World Orienteering Championships 1978". International Orienteering Federation. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ "Individual Speedway Norwegian Championship". Historia Sportu Zuzlowego. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
- ^ "Home". ongsberg Motorsenter. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
- ^ "Om Kongsberg Teknologipark". Kongsberg Teknologipark (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 2021-04-17. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
- ^ "Formannskapet: Myndighet og ansvarsområde" (PDF). kongsberg.kommune.no (in Norwegian). Kongsberg Kommune. 2019-11-06. p. 15. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
External links
- Buskerud travel guide from Wikivoyage
- Kongsberg travel guide from Wikivoyage
- Photos of the town - old and new
- Kongsberg Tourist Office - Comprehensive information about the town and surrounding landscape, including photos and webcams
- Kongsberg Travel Guide- From VirtualTourist.com; contains tourist-submitted photos and articles
- Kongsberg Jazz Festival - Official website, with lists of artists and concert dates (in Norwegian)
- The Gloger Academy - History of the Gloger Organ and information on upcoming concerts and the Gloger Music Festival (in Norwegian)
- Laagendalsposten Local newspaper covering Kongsberg and Numedal (in Norwegian)