Altenburg House (Norwegian: ''Altenburggården'') was a large townhouse in central

Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, known as the childhood home of the playwright

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

and his mother

Marichen Altenburg Marichen Cornelia Martine Altenburg (24 April 1799 – 3 June 1869) was the mother of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and is known as the model for several characters in some of Ibsen's most famous plays, including Åse in ''Peer Gynt''.Robe ...

. It burned down during the great fire of 1886. It was located at the address Skistredet 20.

History

The house is named for the wealthy Skien merchant Johan Andreas Altenburg (1763–1824), Henrik Ibsen's maternal grandfather, who was most likely its first owner. J mesBorchsenius (1934). ''Skien før branden 1886''. Oslo: Fabritius & sønners forlag. He was a shipowner, timber merchant and owned a liquor distillery at Lundetangen. Altenburggården had no garden, but the Altenburg family owned a farm outside the city, Århus. Johan Andreas Altenburg was married to Hedevig Christine Paus (1763–1848), and after her husband's death she became the owner of the house in 1824. Their daughter

(1799–1869)—Henrik Ibsen's mother—grew up in Altenburggården. Hedevig's father Cornelius Paus (civil servant) moved into the house in the late 18th century and died there in 1799. In the same year, Johan Andreas Altenburg's sister Kristine Cathrine Ploug (née Altenburg), called «aunt Ploug» in the Altenburg and later Ibsen family, moved in with them. Marichen's maternal first cousin Henrik Johan Paus (1799–1893)—who was also the half-brother of Marichen's later husband

Knud Ibsen Knud Plesner Ibsen (3 October 1797, in Skien – 24 October 1877, in Skien) was a Norwegian merchant from the city of Skien and the father of the playwright Henrik Ibsen. He is widely considered the model for many central characters in hi ...

—lived in Altenburggården as a foster child with his uncle and aunt from the age of five; Marichen's paternal cousin Marichen Bomboff (b. 1806) also lived in the home. Hedevig Altenburg transferred the building to her son-in-law

in 1830, and the Ibsen family moved in during 1831. Henrik Ibsen lived there from 1831 until 1836. In 1835 Knud Ibsen sold Altenburggården to the merchant Teleph Stub Plesner (1811–1852), and the Ibsen family moved to their country house the following year.

References

{{Paus family Skien Henrik Ibsen