Skien

The conurbation of Skien is the seventh largest city in Norway and straddles an area of three municipalities: Skien municipality (about 52% of the population), Porsgrunn (35%) and Bamble (11.5%). The urban area in turn is part of a larger cluster of cities and towns called Grenland, which is home to more than 100,000 people. The highest mountain is Skårrafjellet (814 m asl)

1 History
2 Transport
3 Commerce and industry
4 Main sights
5 Famous people from Skien

[edit] History

Skien was probably founded as a meeting place for inland farmers and sailing traders, and also as a shipping harbour for whetstones from Eidsborg (inland Telemark). Settlement can be traced back to the 11th century, and the Gimsøy Convent was founded in the 12th century. Skien was given formal commercial town rights by the Danish crown in 1358. Timber has historically been the most dominant export product from Skien. The oldest remaining building is Gjerpen church (built approximately 1150)

The current town layout was fixed after the last town fire in 1886. In 1964, the rural municipalities Solum and Gjerpen were merged together with Skien town, forming the Skien municipality.

There have been several name and spelling changes for Skien. The city's first known name is Skida, and in 1359 it changed to Skyde. In 1468 it once again changed, this time to Skydebye, and to Scheen in 1662. But the name is now Skien (pronounced locally as "SHEH-en", and by outsiders often as "SHI-en").

[edit] Transport

Skien is one terminus for the Telemark canal (in Norwegian, Telemarkskanalen), which consists of two canals. In Europe canals were commonly built in the pre-railroad period to transport goods, timber and passengers.

The “Norsjø-Skienskanalen”, with one terminus at Skien and the other at Løveid, was built in 1854–1861, and is the oldest of the two canals.
The “Bandak-Nordsjøkanalene” continued the canal beyond Løveid – it was opened in 1892.

Skien was connected to the Norwegian railway network (Vestfoldbanen) in 1882. In 1919 Bratsbergbanen opened between Skien and Notodden. Norges Statsbaner still operates regular train services on both railways. The local airport is called Skien Lufthavn Geiteryggen and serves domestic flights to Bergen,Stavanger and Molde by the airline Vildanden. Skien harbour is located at Vold havneterminal.

[edit] Commerce and industry

The largest industries are

ABB (electromechanical)
Norske Skog Union (paper mill) (2006)(Mill Shut down in Spring '06)

Other important places of work are

Sykehuset Telemark (hospital)
Fylkesmannen (The local Norwegian State Administration)

The daily newspapers Varden and Telemarksavisa are published in Skien.

[edit] Main sights

Telemark Museum is located in Skien. Skien was the birthplace of the author and playwright, Henrik Ibsen. At Venstøp in Skien you can find the Venstøp Farm, established as the Ibsen Museum in 1958.

Not far away from Venstøp one can also find Fossum Hovedgård. This light red/pink Empire Style, castle-like building dates back to 1818 and was built for Severin Løvenskiold, the head of the once so powerful Løvenskiold family. The beauty of this castle startles tourists and locals alike.

[edit] Famous people from Skien

Municipalities of Telemark
Bamble \| Bø \| Drangedal \| Fyresdal \| Hjartdal \| Kragerø \| Kviteseid \| Nissedal \| Nome \| Notodden \| Porsgrunn \| Sauherad \| Seljord \| Siljan \| Skien \| Tinn \| Tokke \| Vinje

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25 most populous municipalities of Norway (with number of inhabitants according to Statistics Norway)

Oslo (538,500) · Bergen (242,000) · Trondheim (158,613) · Stavanger (115,157) · Bærum (105,928) · Kristiansand (76,917) · Fredrikstad (70,791) · Tromsø (63,596) · Sandnes (58,947) · Drammen (57,759) · Asker (51,484) · Skien (50,761) · Sarpsborg (50,115) · Bodø (44,992) · Skedsmo (43,201) · Sandefjord (41,555) · Larvik (41,211) · Ålesund (40,801) · Arendal (39,826) · Karmøy (37,928) · Tønsberg (36,919) · Porsgrunn (33,550) · Ringsaker (31,923) · Haugesund (31,738) · Lørenskog (30,929)