Bergen – A World Heritage City!
Bergen is the Gateway to the Fjords of Norway. As a UNESCO World Heritage City and a European City of Culture, the Bergen region has the ideal combination of nature, culture and exciting urban life all year around.
Consider staying in Bergen for the unique 17th May Norwegian Constitution Day celebrations. This is the Norwegian version of 4th July – it is a public holiday, cities and towns/villages all across Norway are closed down for traffic to give way for street parades. Read more about the celebrations here, do not miss out! Rooms are available for extending your stay.
A World Heritage City
Bergen is today Norway’s most international city, packed with history and tradition. Ever since King Olav Kyrre sailed into the charming harbor and founded the city in the year of 1070, Bergen has attracted people from all over the world. Bergen became an important European city of trade in the 13th century, as the Hansas opened one of their four offices on the wharf, making Bergen a European hub of commerce, seafaring and craftsmanship. Today Bryggen is a reminder of the city’s importance as a part of the Hanseatic League and has a place on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. A stroll through the back streets of Bryggen brings you back to the Middle Ages, as a lot of the architecture is preserved or rebuilt as it was built. Several museums, like the Hanseatic Museum, Bryggens Museum and the Theta Museum provides a deeper sense of the history of Bryggen, what is has meant for the people of Bergen and Norway as a nation.
A European City of Culture
Bergen is a proud European City of Culture, and the city has had a strong cultural identity ever since the merchants brought life to the harbor around Bryggen at the 1300s. Today Bergen is a cultural melting pot, with a wide range of concerts, international festivals and museums of all kinds. Culture plays an important role of everyday life in Bergen – an important expression of Bergen’s variety of life.
Bergen has fostered several world-famous artists who have achieved worldwide fame, such as the composer Edvard Grieg and violinist Ole Bull. Grieg’s home at Troldhaugen and Ole Bulls summer paradise at Lysøen are both popular attractions today, where you can experience their homes preserved just as they were built, and concerts to the scenery that once inspired the two world famous composers.
The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s oldest symphony orchestras, and the city has the country’s first national theatre. The comic writer Ludvig Holberg, Norway’s first major landscape painter Johan Christian Dahl are also world-renowned artist who have influenced the cultural history in Bergen. The city has carried its proud cultural heritage throughout history and has become a city of great cultural venues.
You can find a whole range of museums and institutions in and around the center of Bergen with exhibitions and performances throughout the year. Bergen is today known for its wide range of music, boasting innovative and trendy music and design scenes with a large variety of festivals. It has one of Norway’s best choirs, jazz musicians and operatic singers.
Bergen has in recent years become known as an international culinary city, and in 2016 Bergen earned the UNESCO title City of Gastronomy.
The Gateway to the Fjords of Norway
With its ideal location right in the heart of the Fjord Norway region, between the Hardangerfjord and the Sognefjord, it is the perfect starting point for day trips to one of the world’s biggest scenic attractions – the fjords. From Bergen you are real close to the spectacular fjord experiences, either you want to go on a fjord cruise or dive into the experience with mountain and glacier hiking in the majestic mountain landscape, skiing in some of Norway’s best terrains, biking along the beautiful fjord arms or explore the wet element with white water rafting or fishing in the ocean along the beautiful coast line.
The Norwegian fjords was formed through several ice ages as the sea carved itself through and across the coastline, leaving a beautiful landscape with snow-clad mountains, blue glaciers, deep gorges, cascading waterfalls and tiny fertile villages strung like glowing green pearls along the fjord line. This extraordinary landscape is today inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, and professional activity organizers are ready to take you into the fjord region all year around – as close to the nature as you can get!
Learn more about the Bergen region at Visit Bergen!