| Kongsberg kommune | |||
| — Municipality — | |||
|
|||
 |
|||
| Coordinates: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Norway | ||
| County | Buskerud | ||
| Municipality ID | NO-0604 | ||
| Administrative centre | Kongsberg | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor (2005) | Vidar Lande (Ap) | ||
| Area (Nr. ||} Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions called counties ( fylker, singular fylke) and 430 municipalities ( kommuner, cf Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional ||-||} Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties ( Norwegian: singular fylke, plural fylker ( Bokmål is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and ISO 3166-2NO is an ISO standard which defines Geocodes it is the subset of ISO 3166-2 which applies to Norway. The Norwegian Labour Party ( Norwegian: Det norske arbeiderparti ( DNA) or Arbeiderpartiet ( AP) is a Social democratic Area is a Quantity expressing the two- Dimensional size of a defined part of a Surface, typically a region bounded by a closed Curve. 138 in Norway) | |||
| - Total | 792 km² (305. Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of 8 sq mi) | ||
| - Land | 753 km² (290. The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. 7 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2004) | |||
| - Total | 23,154 | ||
| - Density | 30/km² (77. Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume 7/sq mi) | ||
| - Change (10 years) | 8. 9 % | ||
| - Rank in Norway | 39 | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Official language form | Bokmål | ||
| Demonym | Kongsbergenser[1] | ||
|
|
|||
| Website: www.kongsberg.kommune.no | |||
- This article is about the Norwegian town. Central European Time ( CET) is one of the names of the Time zone that is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. UTC+1 is used in the following locations Central European Time West Africa Time Western European Summer Time Daylight saving time ( DST Central European Summer Time ( CEST) is one of the names of UTC+2 Time zone, 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. UTC+2 corresponds to the following Time zones Eastern European Time Egypt Standard Time Central Africa Time Norwegian ( norsk) is a North Germanic Language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other A demonym or gentilic is a word that denotes the members of a People or the inhabitants of a place For the industrial corporation named Kongsberg, see Kongsberg Gruppen (with links to subsidiary firms). Kongsberg Gruppen ( (lit "The Kongsberg Group" is Norway 's major defence contractor and maritime automation supplier located in and named after former mining
Kongsberg is a municipality and town at the southern end of the Numedal valley, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. ||} Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions called counties ( fylker, singular fylke) and 430 municipalities ( kommuner, cf Numedal is a Traditional district in south-eastern Norway. Numedal running mainly north-to-south extends from Kongsberg in the south to Rødberg ||-||} Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties ( Norwegian: singular fylke, plural fylker ( Bokmål is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional
The town was founded in 1624 under the name Konings Bierg[2] by Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV as a mining community (see below), and was granted its royal charter of trade—amounting to official township—in 1802. Denmark–Norway ( Danish: Danmark-Norge Norwegian: Danmark-Norge or Danmark-Noreg is the historiographical name for a former political entity union Christian IV ( 12 April, 1577 &ndash 28 February, 1648) was the king of Denmark and Norway from 1588 until his death Mining is the extraction of valuable Minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually (but not always from an Ore body Kongsberg was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Formannskaps-distrikt was the name for a Norwegian local self-government districts put into force in 1838. The rural municipalities of Ytre Sandsvær and Øvre Sandsvær were merged with Kongsberg January 1, 1964. Ytre Sandsvær is a former municipality in Buskerud county Norway Øvre Sandsvær is a former municipality in Buskerud county Norway New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar.
Today, Kongsberg is perhaps best known for being the home of Norway's major defence contractor, The Kongsberg Group, formerly Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk. Kongsberg Gruppen ( (lit "The Kongsberg Group" is Norway 's major defence contractor and maritime automation supplier located in and named after former mining One of its products was the Kongsberg Colt. The Kongsberg Colt (Also Kongsberg Colten) is a name used for Colt M1911 Pistols produced under license by the Norwegian factory Kongsberg
Contents |
Geography and transport
The neighbouring municipalities of Kongsberg are Flesberg to the north, Øvre Eiker and Hof to the east, Lardal, Siljan and Skien to the south, and Sauherad and Notodden to the west. Flesberg is a municipality in the county of Buskerud, Norway Flesberg was established as a municipality January 1 1838 (see Formannskapsdistrikt) Øvre Eiker is a municipality in the county of Buskerud, Norway Lardal is a municipality in the county of Vestfold Norway. It is divided into the parishes Svarstad, Styrvoll and Hem. Siljan is a municipality in the county of Telemark Norway. The parish of Slemdal was established as a municipality January 1 1838 (see Formannskapsdistrikt is a city and municipality in the county of Telemark, Norway and administrative centre of Telemark County Sauherad is a municipality in the county of Telemark Norway. The parish of Søfde was established as a municipality January 1 1838 (see Formannskapsdistrikt is a city and municipality in the county of Telemark, Norway. Of these, the two first lie in Buskerud county like Kongsberg, while Hof and Lardal lie in Vestfold, and the others lie in Telemark. is a county in Norway, bordering Buskerud and Telemark. The county administration is in Tønsberg. is a county in Norway, bordering Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. The town is divided by the river Numedalslågen, which has three waterfalls in the town itself. Numedalslågen is a river located in southeastern Norway. It stretches for over 250 kilometres through the counties of Vestfold and Buskerud, beginning
Main highways are the E134, crossing Kongsberg east-west (and connected to the E18 to Oslo), and National Highway No. European highway E134 goes through Norway, westwards from Haugesund, over the Hardangervidda mountain plateau European route E18 begins at Northern Ireland, then through Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden, and Finland to end at (called Christiania from 1624 to 1878 and Kristiania from 1878 to 1924 is the Capital and largest city of Norway. 40 (Riksvei 40), going north-south. Sørlandsbanen railway line stops at Kongsberg station, with connection to local and regional bus lines.
History
Kongsberg is particularly known for its old silver mines, from which roughly 1,350 tonnes of silver was extracted between the discovery of silver ore seams in 1623, and the last year of mining, in 1957. Silver (ˈsɪlvɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol " Ag " (argentum from the Ancient Greek: ἀργήντος - argēntos gen This article is about the tonne or metric ton For other tons see Ton. An ore is a volume of rock containing components or Minerals in a mode of occurrence that renders it valuable for mining In 1770, the mines employed ca 4,000 workers, and the town was the second largest in Norway, after Bergen (and thus larger than today's capital, Oslo). is the second largest city in Norway. It is located on the south-western coast of Norway in the county of Hordaland in between a group of mountains known as De syv fjell (called Christiania from 1624 to 1878 and Kristiania from 1878 to 1924 is the Capital and largest city of Norway.
Following several hard years with reduced silver output from the mines, the war of 1807–1814, and a severe town fire in 1810 where 56 houses on the west side were destroyed, mining was complemented by the Government establishing a defence industry in 1814. The defense industry, also called the military industry, is comprised of Government and commercial Industry involved in research development During peaceful times, the defence industry gradually evolved into many other kinds of high-tech activities as well, now dominating the town's employment.
In 1987, however, the state-owned Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk (KV) (lit. Kongsberg Gruppen ( (lit "The Kongsberg Group" is Norway 's major defence contractor and maritime automation supplier located in and named after former mining : "Kongsberg Weapons Factory") suffered a major financial crisis as well as accusations of breaching the CoCom rules by selling sensitive technology to the Soviet bloc. Cocom is a Cable modems company based in the United States. It was acquired by Cisco Systems on September 15 1999 The Warsaw Pact (see Nomenclature) was an organization of Communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. As a result the company was split into several smaller units and partly sold to private investors. Today, the separate firms thrive as one of Norway's main high-tech industrial clusters, centering on the defence and maritime company Kongsberg Gruppen which is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Kongsberg Gruppen ( (lit "The Kongsberg Group" is Norway 's major defence contractor and maritime automation supplier located in and named after former mining The Oslo Stock Exchange ( Oslo Børs) serves as the main market for trading in the shares of Norwegian companies.
Kongsberg is also home to the Mint of Norway (Det Norske Myntverket), which exclusively makes Norwegian coins. A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures Coins for Currency. It was established in 1686, and was renamed from the Royal Norwegian Mint (Den Kongelige Mynt) in 2004 after having been sold to private investors (the Mint of Finland and Norwegian company Samlerhuset) in 2003.
Coat of arms
Kongsberg's coat of arms from 1972, based upon the old seal for the city from 1689, shows the Roman god Janus dressed as an emperor (to represent the king); the sword and the pair of scales represents justice. A coat of arms or armorial bearings (often just arms for short in European tradition is a design belonging to a particular person (or group of people Roman mythology, or more appropriately Latin mythology, refers to the mythological beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its In Roman mythology, Janus (or Ianus was the god of Gates Doors doorways beginnings and endings The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period (starting at about 27 BC
Culture
With the population increase during the town's silver mining heyday of the mid-sixteenth century came the need for a new church, which was built over a period 21 years and inaugurated in 1761. It has an austere red brick exterior, but a richly decorated baroque interior including one-of-a-kind chandeliers made at Nøstetangen Glass Works in neighbouring Hokksund. A brick is a block of Ceramic material used in Masonry construction laid using mortar. Baroque art redirects here Please disambiguate such links to Baroque painting, Baroque sculpture, etc A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights Hokksund is a town in the municipality of Øvre Eiker in the county of Buskerud in Norway. Kongsberg Church remains one of the largest in Norway with a seating capacity of 2,400. Seating capacity refers to the number
The church's original baroque-era pipe organ, made by renowned German organ builder Gottfried Heinrich Gloger in 1760–65, was fully restored by Jürgen Ahrend in 1999–2000 and reopened to great fanfare in January 2001. The pipe organ is a Musical instrument that produces sound when pressurized air (wind is driven through a series of pipes, controlled by a keyboard With its 42 voices it is the largest baroque organ in Scandinavia. Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well At the end of January each year, the Gloger Music Festival now draws a select crowd of artists and music lovers from all over the world.
Since 1964, Kongsberg has hosted Kongsberg Jazzfestival, an annual international jazz festival. Kongsberg Jazzfestival is an international jazz festival held annually in Kongsberg, Norway since 1964 Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States Heavily sponsored by the local industry, prominent world acts such as BB King, Diana Krall, Ornette Coleman, Joshua Redman and John Scofield have played at the festival in recent years. B B King (born Riley B King, September 16 1925 is an American Blues Guitarist and Singer-songwriter. Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian Jazz Pianist and Singer. Ornette Coleman (born March 9, 1930) is an American saxophonist Violinist Trumpeter and Composer. Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is an American Jazz saxophonist who records for Nonesuch Records. John Scofield (born December 26 1951 in Dayton Ohio) is an American Jazz Guitarist and Composer, who has played and collaborated
Kongsberg's most famous son is a-ha singer, Morten Harket born in 1959. Morten Harket (born 14 September 1959 in Kongsberg) is the lead singer of the Norwegian synthpop band A-ha, who have released Morten partly grew up here. Kongsberg is also the hometown of composers and pianists Christian Sinding and Halfdan Cleve, as well as pianist Håkon Austbø, jazz pianist Morten Qvenild and jazz guitarist Ivar Grydeland. Christian August Sinding ( January 11, 1856 &ndash December 3, 1941) was a Norwegian Composer and the brother of the Halfdan Cleve ( October 5, 1879 &ndash April 6, 1951) was a Norwegian Composer, born and raised in Kongsberg Håkon Austbø is a Norwegian classical Pianist, born in Kongsberg.
Sports
The town is known for many great ski jumpers. Ski jumping is a Sport in which skiers go down an "inrun" with a take-off ramp (the jump attempting to go as far as possible Birger Ruud and his two brothers, as well as many other townsmen, such as Petter Hugsted, won numerous medals in Winter Olympics and other international championships in the 1930s and 40s. Birger Ruud ( August 23, 1911 – June 13, 1998) was a Norwegian Ski jumper. Petter Hugsted ( July 11, 1921 &ndash May 19, 2000) was a champion Norwegian ski jumper. Their medals and equipment can be seen at the Kongsberg Skiing Museum (Kongsberg Skimuseum) which is co-located with the Norwegian Mining Museum (Norsk Bergverksmuseum) in central Kongsberg. Kongsberg Skiing Museum (Kongsberg Skimuseum is a Museum of Skiing, located in Kongsberg, Norway. Inventor of the modern ski binding, Norwegian-American skier and Olympic skiing coach Hjalmar Hvam, was born in Kongsberg in 1902. In Skiing, a ski binding is an attachment which anchors the ski boot to the Ski. Norwegian Americans (norskamerikanere are Americans of Norwegian descent Hjalmar P Hvam (1902 &ndash March 30 1996) was a competitive Norwegian - American nordic skier and inventor of the first safety
Recent winter sports athletes of the Kongsberg region include Olympic snowboarders Stine Brun Kjeldaas and Halvor Lunn; cross-country ski sprinter Børre Næss of the village Efteløt; and ski jumper Sigurd Pettersen of nearby municipality Rollag (60 km/37 mi north of Kongsberg). Stine Brun Kjeldaas (born April 23, 1975) is a Snowboarder from Kongsberg, Norway, now living in Oslo. Cross-country skiing (also known as XC skiing) is a Winter sport popular in many countries with large snowfields primarily Northern Europe, Sigurd Pettersen (born 28 February 1980 is a Norwegian Ski jumper. Rollag is a municipality in the county of Buskerud, Norway Rollag was established as a municipality January 1 1838 (see Formannskapsdistrikt) A large ski center for alpine skiing and snowboarding, with several lifts and ca 320 m of height difference has been in operation and gradually expanding since 1965. Alpine skiing (or downhill skiing) is a recreational activity and Sport involving sliding down Snow -covered hills with long Skis attached A snowboard is a thin hourglass shaped board ridden down a sloped section of earth covered in snow The term ski lift can refer to many different types of uphill transport in three main classes Lift systems and networks The network lifts at a Ski Kongsberg hosted the cross-country skiing parts of the 2006 Nordic skiing National Championships. Nordic skiing is a Winter sport that encompasses all types of Skiing where the heel of the boot cannot be fixed to the ski The arranging sportsclub was IL Skrim, the ski tracks being located at former military camp Heistadmoen.
References
- ^ Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg (Norwegian)
- ^ The name Konings Bierg, modern form Kongsberg, is based on the following two elements: the genitive case of konge m. king (referring to king Christian IV), and berg n. A king is a male Monarch, or a Head of state, who may or may not depending on the style of government of a nation exercise monarchal powers over a territory usually Christian IV ( 12 April, 1577 &ndash 28 February, 1648) was the king of Denmark and Norway from 1588 until his death mountain. A mountain is a Landform that extends above the surrounding Terrain in a limited area with a peak
External links
- Kongsberg Tourist Office – Comprehensive information about the town and surrounding landscape, including photos and webcams
- KONGSBERG Travel Guide – From VirtualTourist. com; contains tourist-submitted photos and articles
- Kongsberg Jazz Festival – Official website, with lists of artists and concert dates
- The Gloger Academy – History of the Gloger Organ (in English), and information on upcoming concerts and the Gloger Music Festival
- Laagendalsposten – The local newspaper covering Kongsberg and Numedal. Numedal is a Traditional district in south-eastern Norway. Numedal running mainly north-to-south extends from Kongsberg in the south to Rødberg
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic