SKIEN

is a town and municipality in the county of Telemark, Norway and administrive centre of Telemark County.
Skien was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipalities of Gjerpen and Solum were merged with Skien January 1, 1964.
The conurbation of Skien and Porsgrunn is considered by Statistics Norway 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.

Contents

The name

Coat-of-arms

History

Transportation

Commerce and industry

Main sights

Famous people from Skien

External links

The name

The Old Norse form of the name was ''Skiða'' (from the word ''skiða'' f '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 is based upon a seal from 1609. It shows a pair of skis. (This is based upon a misunderstanding of the meaning of the name of the town - which has nothing to do with skis.)

History

Skien was probably founded in 1000 A.D. 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.

Transportation

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 and international flights to Stockholm by the airline Vildanden. Skien harbour is located at Vold havneterminal.

Commerce and industry

The largest industries are

★ ABB (electromechanical)

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

★ EFD Induction a.s (induction heating) (induction welding)
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.

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.

Famous people from Skien

★ Henrik Ibsen, playwright

★ Severin Løvenskiold, politician

★ Hjalmar Johansen, polar explorer

★ Gunnar Knudsen, prime minister

★ Jon Fredrik Baksaas, chief executive officer

★ B%C3%A5rd Tufte Johansen, comedian

★ Tor Åge Bringsværd, author

★ Rune Jarstein, football player

★ Torjus Hansén, football player

★ Tommy Svindal Larsen, football player

★ Frode Johnsen, football player

★ Aage Samuelsen, singer and composer

★ Bugge Wesseltoft, musician and composer

★ Bjørn Tore Godal, politician

★ Terje Riis Johansen, politician

External links

★ Municipality website in 'Norwegian' and 'English'