Drammen

Drammen kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Buskerud within Norway
Drammen within Buskerud
Coordinates:
Country	Norway
County	Buskerud
Administrative centre	Drammen
Government
- Mayor (2003)	Tore Opdal Hansen (H)
Area
- Total	137 km2 (52.9 sq mi)
- Land	135 km2 (52.1 sq mi)
Area rank	366 in Norway
Population (2008)
- Total	62,566
- Rank	9 in Norway
- Density	421/km2 (1,090.4/sq mi)
- Change (10 years)	8.2 %
Demonym	Drammenser Drammensar[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0602
Official language form	Neutral
Website	drammen.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Drammen is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Drammen.

The municipality of Drammen was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality of Skoger was merged with the municipality of Drammen on 1 January 1964 (it was transferred from Vestfold county to Buskerud county at the same time).

The city has 62566 inhabitants, which makes it Norway's 7th largest city.

General information

Name

The Norse form of the city's name was Drafn, and this was originally the name of the inner part of Drammensfjord. The fjord is, however, probably named after the river Dramselva (Norse Drǫfn), and this again is derived from drǫfn f 'wave'.^[2]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 17 November 1960. The arms are blue with a gray/silver column on top of a foundation of rocks. A key and a sword are crossed in the middle forming an x. It is based upon the old seal dating from 1723 for Bragernes, one of the central parts of Drammen. The motto for Bragernes (in Latin) was In Fide Et Justitia Fortitudo (English: in faith and justice is strength), and the items in the seal are referring to this: key = faith, sword = justice, column on rocks = strength.^[3]

The railway station in Drammen

History

Rock carvings at Åskollen and Skogerveien are 6000 to 7000 years old, and are the first signs of human activity in the area. The largest rock carving at Åskollen depicts a moose.

Drammen originally consisted of three small seaports: Bragernes (on the northern side of the Drammenselva river) and Strømsø and Tangen (both on the southern side of the river). For trade purposes, small seaports were placed under market towns. Despite their geographical proximity, Bragernes was placed under Christiania and Strømsø under Tønsberg. For this reason, cooperation between the adjacent seaport towns was almost impossible. In 1662, a merger was proposed to unite Strømsø and Bragernes to form a market town with the name Frederiksstrøm. The proposal was rejected by Frederick III of Denmark. Bragernes received limited market town rights in 1715, and merged with Strømsø to gain status as a single city on 19 June 1811.^[4]

Its unique geographical location made the city a centre for seafaring, ship building, log driving, timber trade, and (since the 19th century) paper and pulp industries. During the 1960s most of the pulp and paper factories along the Drammenselva were closed down.

Large parts of the city were ruined in the great fire of 12-13 July 1866, which led to the reconstruction of the city centre, including the characteristic town square and Bragernes church.^[5]

In 1909, Drammen got the first trolleybus system in Scandinavia, the Drammen trolleybus. The lines ran until 1967. For many years the centre of Drammen suffered from heavy traffic, but in 1970 the European route E18 bridge helped somewhat, and in 1999 the opening of the Bragernes tunnel diverted much of the traffic away from the centre of the city. In recent years, the city centre has seen significant regeneration, with the introduction of new housing, shopping facilities, restaurants, cafes and bars, as well as a public pathway along the Drammenselva river.

Geography

Map of Drammensfjorden

Drammen is one of the larger cities in Norway, and lies about 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the capital of Norway, Oslo. The city centre lies at the end of a valley, on both sides of the Drammenselva river, and where the river meets the Drammensfjord. Drammen is also the main harbor for car and fruit import in Norway.

As of 1 January 2007, the population of the urban area of Drammen is 93,006. Drammen is the sixth largest urban area of Norway and occupies territory in five municipalities: Drammen (with about 61% of the population), Nedre Eiker (23%), Øvre Eiker (8%), Lier (5%), and Røyken (3%).^[6]

The boroughs of Drammen are Austad/Fjell, Bragernes, Gulskogen, Konnerud, Skoger, Strømsø/Danvik, Tangen/Åskollen and Åssiden.^[7]

The Øvre Sund area, situated along Drammenselva, will be regulated by the municipality in order to restore this area's character. The buildings there are from the 18th and 19th century, and contribute, as well as the river and the brewery, to give the city a special identity.^[8] In 2008 Drammen won the prestigious prize for the best city development in Europe.

Attractions

Aass Brewery

Brewery

Aass Brewery is the oldest surviving brewery in Norway, and has won acclaim for both its beer and its conservative building. Founded in 1834, the brewery's primary products are beer and aquavit.

Bridges

• Ypsilon bridge (Ypsilon bru) is a cable-stayed bridge over Drammenselva
• Drammen Bridge (Drammensbrua) is a motorway box girder bridge that crosses Drammenselva

Sport clubs

• Drammen FK. Founded 23 August 2008.
• Drammen golfklubb. Founded in 1988. Golf club with 18-hole course situated in the southern part of Drammen, on the border to Sande in Vestfold. The course gives both the beginner and the experienced player relevant challenges. The view from tee on hole 7 gives a beautiful view of the region.
• Drammen HK Handball club competing in Men's European Champions League (07/08)
• IF Hellas
• IF Sturla
• Konnerud IL Sport club most famous for its cross-country skiing facilities.
• SBK Drafn Founded Sept. 15, 1910, 21 Norwegian Championships in bandy, 1 lost cup final in football (1927).
• SBK Skiold
• Strømsgodset IF. Founded 10 February 1907. Four Norwegian championships in football (1969, 1970, 1973, 1991). Winner of the Norwegian football league in 1970. Won 6 Norwegian championships in bandy.
• Drammen Bandy plays in the highest division.

Sports events

The Bandy World Championships for women will be played in the city 2010.

Notable residents

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Drammen:^[9]

• - Kolding, Region Syddanmark, Denmark
• - Lappeenranta, Etelä-Suomen lääni, Finland
• - Stykkishólmur, Iceland
• - Örebro, Örebro County, Sweden

References

External links

Municipalities of Buskerud Ål · Drammen · Flå · Flesberg · Gol · Hemsedal · Hol · Hole · Hurum · Kongsberg · Krødsherad · Lier · Modum · Nedre Eiker · Nes · Nore og Uvdal · Øvre Eiker · Ringerike · Rollag · Røyken · Sigdal