Skien (Norway)

Skien is a city and municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Skien. Skien is also the administrative centre of Telemark county.

The municipality of Skien was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipalities of Gjerpen and Solum were merged into the municipality of Skien on 1 January 1964.

The conurbation of Skien and Porsgrunn is considered by Statistics Norway to be the seventh largest city in Norway straddling an area of three municipalities: Skien municipality (about 52% of the population), Porsgrunn (35%), and Bamble (11.5%). The area is home to more than 85,000 people.

Skien was historically Norway's most important port town for shipping timber. The city was the birthplace and boyhood home of playwright Henrik Ibsen, and many of his famous dramas are set in in places reminiscent of 19th century Skien.

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Skiða (from the word skiða which means "straight plank"), and the town is probably named after a brook (with a straight run) with this name.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms are derived from the oldest known seal of the city, dating back to 1609. The seal shows two skis and in the middle a cross, with a small star on the crosspoint. The skis are a semi-canting element (based on a misunderstanding of the meaning of the town's name) and the cross is a religious symbol. There have been several theories about the meaning of the cross, but its meaning is not clearly known. It has been suggested that it is a symbol for the main church in Skien, the Holy Cross church. The small star may be a symbol of St. Mary as the second medieval church of Skien was devoted to her. Besides the skis and cross, there are two meadow buttercups on each side.

In 1854, the arms were shown as two skis, but the cross was now made from ski poles, as another canting element. This remained so until the early half of the 20th century.

In the 1980s, the city officially adopted the current arms, which are identical to the oldest seal. The colours are the colours that have been used since the 19th century. The differences between the seal and the present arms are that in the arms the cross is placed on top of the skis and the star is changed from a four-pointed star to a six-pointed star, and that the cross is made of ski-poles.

History

Until 1979, it was believed that Skien was founded in the 14th century. However, the archaeological find of a carving of the Skien animal has established its founding to before 1000 A.D. The city was then a meeting place for inland farmers and sailing traders, and also as a shipping harbour for whetstones from Eidsborg (inland Telemark). The settlement can be traced back to the 11th century, and Gimsøy Abbey 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, and the city was the Kingdom's leading port town for shipping timber from the 16th century onwards. The oldest remaining building is Gjerpen church (built in approximately 1150).

From the 16th century, the city came to be dominated by a group of families known as patricians. In an 1882 letter to Rasmus B. Anderson, Henrik Ibsen mentions the families Paus, Plesner, von der Lippe, Cappelen and Blom as the most prominent patrician families when he grew up there.

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.

Transportation

RoadsThe main road into Skien is from the E18 road and through Porsgrunn, on either road 36 or 354 that runs up along Skienselva on each side. Another common route used by most buses coming from Oslo is road 32, that goes through Siljan, Steinsholt, Lågendalen, Hvittingfoss and Hof. Road 32 enters the E18 in Hof.

Water

Skien is the main terminus for the Telemark Canal (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 harbour is located at Vold havneterminal.

Railroads

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.

Air

The local airport is called Skien Airport, Geiteryggen and serves domestic flights to Bergen and Stavanger as well as flights to Trondheim by the airline Vildanden.

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