Puddefjorden, often anglicized as Pudde Fjord,
[Koop, Gerhard, Klaus-Peter Schmolke. 2014. ''German Light Cruisers of World War II: Warships of the Kriegsmarine''. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth, p. 83.] is an inlet or
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...
in the central part of the city of
Bergen
Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo.
By May 20 ...
in
Vestland
Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...
county,
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 ...
. An arm off of the main
Byfjorden, the Puddefjorden is long and stretches from the tip of the
Nordnes peninsula to the
Solheimsviken bay at the entrance to the
Store Lungegårdsvannet bay. The fjord is at its widest,
between Nordnes and the inner part of the borough of
Laksevåg. The innermost part of the fjord, known as Damsgårdssundet, is much narrower, scarcely wide at its narrowest. The fjord is located next to some of Bergen's most important industrial areas, and has played a significant part in the city's development and industrialisation.
History
Despite being situated in the central part of the present-day city of Bergen, the Puddefjorden did not play a major role in the city's early history. The fjord experiences strong currents and has numerous small
islet
An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...
s, rendering boat passage dangerous. Furthermore, its innermost parts used to lightly freeze over during winters. Because of that, the nearby
VÃ¥gen bay was the preferred entrance to the city for nearly all water-craft traffic.
The ice, islets, and strong current caused the kings of
Alrekstad (today known as
Ã…rstad) to avoid using Puddefjorden. The ice also stopped an invasion attempt by
Kristoffer Throndsen in 1536, when Puddefjorden went all the way in to what is now known as
Lille Lungegårdsvann.
Puddefjorden was originally not considered a part of the city of Bergen, but rather a nearby area. This view held until the mid-1800s. The fjord's northeastern side belonged to the city, however, and scattered habitations appeared there at the end of the 17th century, later becoming the neighbourhoods of
Møhlenpris and Nøstet.
The original Puddefjorden was both longer and broader than it is today, but after extensive industrialisation of the nearby areas in the 19th century, the fjord's form was altered. Formerly, the Puddefjord was wrapped around the city, ending only a few blocks away from Vågen. Following the final filling of the strait between Lille Lungegårdsvannet and Store Lungegårdsvannet in 1926, the fjord now stops in the Store Lungegårdsvannet bay.
;Changes to the fjord over the centuries
Bergen-13ème.jpg, Map from the 13th century
Bergen 1768-map.jpg, Map from 1768
Bergenskart 1877.jpg, Map from 1877
Bergen-1907.png, Map from 1907
Bergen OSM.JPG, Map from 2008
Bridges
The first bridge across Puddefjorden was the first
Nygård Bridge, opened in 1851.
Since that time, three additional bridges have been built across the fjord; the
New Nygård Bridge (1978),
the
Second New Nygård Bridge (2008),
and the
Puddefjord Bridge (1956).
The former three cross the entrance to Store Lungegårdsvann, while the fourth spans the fjord between
Møhlenpris and
Gyldenpris.
Environment
Industry has had an environmental effect on the fjord, and its
sediment
Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...
has become polluted with
PCB and
mercury. There has never been a thorough record of the poisons released into Puddefjorden, and both smaller businesses and locals have used Store Lungegårdsvann as a disposal area. As a result, Puddefjorden is now divided into five sub-areas and the rinsing process is estimated to cost around .
[Statens Forurensningstilsyn]
/ref>
See also
* List of Norwegian fjords
References
{{authority control
Geography of Bergen
Fjords of Vestland