Skien

Skien kommune
—  Municipality  —
Skien church
Coat of arms Telemark within Norway
Skien within Telemark
Coordinates:
Country	Norway
County	Telemark
District	Grenland
Administrative centre	Skien
Government
- Mayor (2003)	Rolf Erling Andersen (Ap)
Area
- Total	779 km2 (300.8 sq mi)
- Land	719 km2 (277.6 sq mi)
Area rank	140 in Norway
Population (2007)
- Total	50,595
- Rank	12 in Norway
- Density	70/km2 (181.3/sq mi)
- Change (10 years)	4.6 %
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0806
Official language form	Neutral
Website	skien.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Skien is a city and municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Skien. Skien is also the administrative centre of Telemark county.

The municipality of Skien was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipalities of Gjerpen and Solum were merged into the municipality of Skien on 1 January 1964.

The conurbation of Skien and Porsgrunn is considered by Statistics Norway to be 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.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Skiða (from the word skiða which means "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 are derived from the oldest known seal of the city, dating back to 1609. The seal shows two skis and in the middle a cross, with a small star on the crosspoint. The skis are a semi-canting element (based on a misunderstanding of the meaning of the town's name) and the cross is a religious symbol. There have been several theories about the meaning of the cross, but its meaning is not clearly known. It has been suggested that it is a symbol for the main church in Skien, the Holy Cross church. The small star may be a symbol of St. Mary as the second medieval church of Skien was devoted to her. Besides the skis and cross, there are two meadow buttercups on each side.

In 1854, the arms were shown as two skis, but the cross was now made from ski poles, as another canting element. This remained so until the early half of the 20th century.

In the 1980s, the city officially adopted the current arms, which are identical to the oldest seal. The colours are the colours that have been used since the 19th century. The differences between the seal and the present arms are that in the arms the cross is placed on top of the skis and the star is changed from a four-pointed star to a six-pointed star, and that the cross is made of ski-poles.^[1]

History

Until 1979, it was believed that Skien was founded in the 14th century. However, the archaeological find of a carving of the Skien animal has established its founding to before 1000 A.D. The city was then a meeting place for inland farmers and sailing traders, and also as a shipping harbour for whetstones from Eidsborg (inland Telemark). The settlement can be traced back to the 11th century, and Gimsøy Abbey 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 in 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

Roads

The main road into Skien is from the E18 road and through Porsgrunn, on either road 36 or 354 that runs up along Skienselva on each side. Another common route used by most buses coming from Oslo is road 32, that goes through Siljan, Steinsholt, Lågendalen, Hvittingfoss and Hof. Road 32 enters the E18 in Hof.

Water

Skien is one terminus for the Telemark Canal (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 harbour is located at Vold havneterminal.

Railroads

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.

Air

The local airport is called Skien Airport, Geiteryggen and serves domestic flights to Bergen and Stavanger as well as international flights to Stockholm by the airline Vildanden.

Culture and recreation

Lupine in Skien municipality, September 2009

Museums

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.

Music and entertainment

Ibsenhuset is the local culture and conference center in Skien, It also houses concerts from international and national artists, opera, theatre and other cultural events. Skien kunstforening has a department in Ibsenhuset, and the local culture school and library are also located in the building.

Teater Ibsen is the city theatre, and is still used for small productions.

In the summer of 2009 Elton John held a concert at the new Skagerak Arena, the soccer pitch for the local soccer team Odd Grenland. Next to Skagerak Arena is Stevneplassen, where car shows, concerts, flea markets and the annual "Handelstevne" – a trade fair with entertainment and a small amusement park – are held.

In Skotfoss, a small suburb of Skien further up the Telemarks Canal, concerts are held at Løveid Sluser.

There are plans to hold cultural events and concerts at Klosterøya.

Amusement parks

There are no local amusement parks in Skien. Lekeland was a small amusement park for children just outside the town, but it closed in 2008. Every year there is a travelling carnival with rides and merry-go-arounds for a week, in "Stevneplassen".

Norway's biggest outside climbing park, Himalaya Park, is located in Skien ^[2].

There's an indoor waterpark in Skien Fritidspark ^[3].

Media

The daily newspapers Varden and Telemarksavisa are published in Skien. The local television for Telemark, TVTelemark, is located in Skien.

Sports

Economy

Commerce and industry

The largest industries are ABB Asea Brown Boveri (engineering firm), Norske Skog Union (a paper mill which was closed down in the spring of 2006), and EFD Induction (induction heating and induction welding).

Other important places of work are the Sykehuset Telemark (hospital) and the Fylkesmannen (local Norwegian State Administration).

Shopping

Skien has three shopping malls:

• Handelsbyen Herkules (110 stores and services)
• Arkaden Skien Storsenter (47 stores and services)
• Lietorvet Senter (28 stores and services)

Notable residents

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Skien:^[4]

References

External links

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
• Telemark travel guide from Wikitravel
• Skien travel guide from Wikitravel
• Municipal website (Norwegian)
• Municipal website (English)

Municipalities of Telemark Bamble · Bø · Drangedal · Fyresdal · Hjartdal · Kragerø · Kviteseid · Nissedal · Nome · Notodden · Porsgrunn · Sauherad · Seljord · Siljan · Skien · Tinn · Tokke · Vinje