Haugesund

Haugesund is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway. The town is situated at a strategically important sound through which ships could pass without heavy sea. Haugesund’s metropolitan region has a population of 31 738 inhabitants.

1 The City
2 Events in Haugesund
3 Communications
4 Twinned with
5 History
6 External links

[edit] The City

Haugesund is a small municipality, only 73 km². The city has a coastline with the North Sea, however, the island of Karmøy and the small islands of Røvær shelteres a great part of the rough waters. Between Karmøy and Haugesund is a fairway, the sound of Karmsund. Downtown Haugesund has a distinctive layout of its streets, also found in Kristiansand and Oslo.

Haugesund has a variety of cafés, bars and restaurants, which acts as a place of gathering for the entire Haugaland region.

Haugesund is one of Norways busiest points of trade. The city has during the last 20 years confirmed its position as a trading centre for Haugaland and southern parts of Hordaland. It has several relatively large shopping centres, considering the size of the coastal city.

Haugesund with bridge

Haugesund from the Risøy bridge

[edit] Events in Haugesund

[edit] Jazz festival

Traditionally the people of Haugesund have mostly been fishermen. The second weekend of August each year the herring is celebrated in the jazz-festival sildajazz. (Sild is Norwegian for herring.) The "Sildajazz" presents local, national and international jazz musicians.

[edit] International Film Festival

The Norwegian International Film Festival has since 1973 been held in Haugesund each year, showing films for the cinema representing a wide geographical and cultural selection.

[edit] Amanda Award

The Amanda Award, Norway's most honoured film award, has been held in Haugesund since 1985 in concurrence with the film festival.

[edit] Haugesund in August

August may be the best month for a visit to Haugesund. In addition to pleasant summer temperatures, the two major festivals, one for Jazz and one for Film, ensures that the town is pleasantly crowded at that time, including the Smedasund harbour area.

[edit] Communications

Haugesund is a port city, and there is a catamaran service to Stavanger and Bergen. Haugesund Airport, Karmøy is located on the island of Karmøy southwest of Haugesund. Ryanair operates daily flights between Haugesund and Stansted Airport, London. Local bus transport is provided by Haugaland Buss. Coast Air is a Norwegian airline based in Haugesund.

[edit] Twinned with

[edit] History

Haugesund was founded in 1854 when it was divided from Torvastad, a former neighbouring municipal. The municipal consequently celebrated its 150-year anniversary in 2004. In the early years the coastal waters of Haugesund was a huge source of herring, and the city grew accordingly. Despite being a fairly young city, the Haugesund areas were land of power during the age of Vikings. Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, had his home on Avaldsnes, very close to the city. Fairhair was buried on Haug lying by Karmsund, an area that later would name the city and municipal “Haugesund”. The national monument "Haraldstøtten" is raised on the grounds Harald is believed buried.

The protective sounds of Smedasund and Karmsund, gave the city a possibility to grow in both fishing and shipping. Even to this day, Karmsund is one of Norways busiest fairways. The city is still growing geographically even though the population has increased only moderately the last decade.

Today the herring is long gone, and the city is turning more and more towards the petroleum industry, like its neighbour Stavanger.

[edit] External links

Municipalities of Rogaland
Bjerkreim \| Bokn \| Eigersund \| Finnøy \| Forsand \| Gjesdal \| Haugesund \| Hjelmeland \| Hå \| Karmøy \| Klepp \| Kvitsøy \| Lund \| Randaberg \| Rennesøy \| Sandnes \| Sauda \| Sokndal \| Sola \| Stavanger \| Strand \| Suldal \| Time \| Tysvær \| Utsira \| Vindafjord