Four eras in one monument
Each side represents an age of Norwegian seafaring — walking around it is part of reading it.
Unknown authorUnknown author — Public domain · William Murphy from Dublin, Ireland — CC BY-SA 2.0 · U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Joseph Mcdonald — Public domain · U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Joseph Mcdonald — Public domain
Bergen was for centuries Norway's most important trading port and a Hanseatic League centre, and its economy rested on dried fish and shipping. Norway generally has a long coast and a mountainous interior, so the sea was the only link between its towns for centuries. That explains how present the sea is in its monuments and museums.
The fish market and the UNESCO-listed timber quarter of Bryggen are minutes away on foot, and the Fløibanen funicular up the mountain is close too. The four together make a half day on foot in central Bergen.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.
A bronze monument on Torgallmenningen square in central Bergen, raised in 1950 in tribute to Norwegian seafarers through history. The composition is four sculptural groups on a stone base, each representing an era of Norwegian seafaring: the Viking age, the age of sail, the age of steam, and the modern period. Reading the monument means walking around it rather than looking from one side. The context explains its local weight: Norway is a maritime country above all, its merchant fleet was among the largest in the world, and its losses at sea during the Second World War were severe. The monument went up immediately after that war, which is no coincidence. The square itself is Bergen's commercial heart, between the fish market and the timber quarter of Bryggen, so the monument is seen on a walk rather than as a destination. The visit is a few minutes and it stands free in the public street.
Each side represents an age of Norwegian seafaring — walking around it is part of reading it.
Norway's losses at sea in the war were severe, and the monument dates from 1950.
A few minutes within the walk between the fish market and Bryggen.
Torgallmenningen square, central Bergen