Bergen: Norway's year 2000 City of Culture

Scandinavian Review, Spring 2000 by Backenheimer, Margaret

Bergen, a salty seaport on Norway's west coast, is relatively small in size with a compact, strollable downtown. Its location between the North Sea and an arc of seven scenic mountains is often likened to the seven hills of ancient Rome. The sea juts far into the heart of Bergen to form Vagen, a narrow harbor bustling in summer with fishing boats, pleasure craft, little ferries, an occasional Norwegian navy vessel, and a tall-masted sailing ship called the Statsraad Lehmkuhl. Lining the harbor are the 13th century Hakon's Hall, the 16th century Rosenkrantz Tower, and the tiny wooden buildings of the Bryggen, the wharf created during Bergen's period as a heavyweight trading member of the Hanseatic League. At the head of the harbor is a busy fish market selling salmon, shrimp, and other briny treasures, and just two blocks uphill is Floibanen, the funicular to the top of Floyen, one of the city's seven mountains. Adding to the appeal are Bergen's fourhundred-year-old cobblestone streets, its ubiquitous children's marching bands, and bakeries offering more kinds of bread than anywhere else in the country, or so it is said. If this sounds Like a dream, it is, except for Bergen's infamous weather, which all too often delivers a soppy slap of reality. Bergen is at sea level and sheltered by an offshore island, meaning snow seldom falls right in town; rather, it rains and rains, almost all the time, enough so that a Rain Festival is slated for every October, with rain guaranteed. Like Seattle, Bergen's drizzly sister city, however, the area glows on the occasional fine day, and Bergensers know how to make the most of it, especially during the long, light evenings of summer.

Commerce and Culture

Bergen's role as a trading center has brought it prosperity for most of its 900-year history. Importing grains and exporting dried fish, it was the largest city in Scandinavia by 1600. After the Hanseads left around 1754, trade and industry continued, and Bergen remained the largest city in Norway until Oslo overtook it in 1830. Over its history, Bergen has been plagued by conflagrations, most notably the great town fire of 1702 (laying 90% of the city in ruins), but each time Bergen rebuilt and prospered. In the 1960s Bergen was home to the largest cod liver oil factory in the world, and today it is the site of the country's largest repair shipyard and largest floating dry dock. Development of deep sea rescue and diving equipment for the North Sea oil platforms contributes to its economy today, as do the 200 cruise liners that call at its harbor each summer, docking near Ha.kon's Hall. Independent travelers are also essential to tourism here, since the city is "the gateway to the fjords," with boats like the White Lady and Bruvik leaving the harbor daily for tours of Sognefjord, Hardangerfjord, and Osterfjord. Although Bergensers generally hop a short flight to Oslo, tourists often choose a spectacular Bergen-Oslo train, bus, and boat combination that takes in Aurlandsfjord and Naeroyfjord, as well as mountains, glaciers, forests, and lakes, giving the trip the name "Norway in a Nutshell."

With so much commerce over the centuries, the city could have developed as a hard-nosed business center, but instead its citizens established outlets for culture and education early on. The oldest school in Scandinavia was built here in 1740, remaining in use until two years ago. In 1765 Harmonien, the Bergen Musical Society, gave its first concert, with native son Edvard Grieg becoming its artistic director in 1880. The drama society was founded in 1794, and violin virtuoso Ole Bull started his Norwegian Theater in 1850. Bergen's first public library opened in 1872, followed by the Bergen Technical College in 1875 and the Bergen Art Gallery in 1878. Bergen's first cinema opened its doors in 1903, two years before the first full-fledged movie house in the United States. Bergen's art nouveau theater, Den Nationale Scene, was completed in 1909. Clearly, Bergen was already a cultural city for centuries before it became a City of Culture.

Bergen has divided its City of Culture year into three seasons: Dreams (Feb. 17 - June 4), Roaming (June 8 - Sept. 3), and Spaces (Sept. 7 - Dec. 3). During the spring and autumn the focus is on Bergen itself, but during the summer, it is on the western fjord region as a whole.

Summer Roaming

The Roaming season turns the spotlight on the region around Bergen with 2000 Naust, a project in which boathouses up and down the coast will remain open to the public all year, in conjunction with ArtNaust, matching up artists with boathouses, and FoodArt, bringing together boathouses with culinary artists. Back in the city, the Norwegian Armed Forces staged a musical "invasion" of Bergen in June with the professional military bands filling the streets, and the Bergensiaden was likewise a massive band gathering with competitions and parades. July's calendar seemed a bit fishy, with fishery exhibitions in museums and buildings all throughout the region, as well as the ship Brodrene and other traditional boats sailing along the coast laden with stockfish, as in the fish trading days of yore. The importance of boats and the sea continues to be emphasized in Nordsteam 2000, billed as the "Nordic Veteran Steamship and Transport Festival" in Bergen (Aug. 3 - 6). The bustling harbor scene of the early postwar period will be recreated in Vagen, Bergen's historic harbor, with vintage passenger steamers, coasters, and tugs in the water, and 1950s cars, buses, trucks, and railcars ashore.