Stavern is a small water-side town in

Larvik Larvik () is a town and municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. The municipality of Larvik has about 46,364 inhabitants. The municipality has a 110&nbs ...

municipality in Vestfold County, Norway. It is south of the city of Larvik. Currently there are around 3,000 inhabitants in Stavern. It is a small town where tourism is one of the most important sources of income. During summer, the population increases to around 30,000-40,000 people, due to camping sites and cottages around the town centre as well as boats visiting the harbour. Stavern experiences 200 days of sunshine per year. Consequentially, Stavern's population more than doubles during summers. From the mid 1750s until 1864, Stavern was home to the nation's main naval base located in a shipyard in Fredriksvern. A gunpowder tower and commandant's house remain on Citadel Island, a current refuge for artists. The town is also home of Hall of Remembrance, a monument dedicated to seamen killed during World Wars I and II.

History

Stavern has probably been a harbour since ancient times. The name is found in written sources from the 11th century and the 12th century where it is referred to as a good fishing harbour. Stavern in the 17th and 18th century was an important port for civil ship traffic from Norway to Denmark and Sweden. The port and naval base of Staverns Fortress (until 1930 named Fredriksvern) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 Janua ...

). Even though it was an important port it was first given its status as a town (''kjøpstad'') 1 July 1942. The small town and municipality of Stavern was merged with the larger town of

1 January 1988. Its former and current name is Stavern, but from 1799 to 1930 even the civilian part of the town was titled Fredriksværn as its only function was as the site of that naval base. From 1942 the town was Norway's smallest until it merged with

in 1988 and lost its town status. In 1996 Stavern was again elevated to town status. During the 20th century, Stavern became a popular site for artists and craftsmen. The poet Herman Wildenvey, the writer Jonas Lie as well as the painters Hans Gude and Christian Krohg all lived in Stavern at some point in their lives. Today, the town is well known in southern Norway for its many exhibitions and art galleries. Stavern also is the site of Minnehallen, the national memorial to fallen sailors of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and a statue of the 18th century naval hero Peder Tordenskjold.

The name

The

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

form of the name was ''Staferni''. The first element is ''stafr'' 'staff, stick', the last element is the suffix ''-erni'' (often used in names of islands). What the word ''stafr'' is referring to here is unknown (see for instance under

Stavanger Stavanger (, , US usually , ) is a city and municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the administrative center of Rogaland county. T ...

Notable residents

* Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, Norwegian-American author, was born at Fredriksvern.

References

External links

Short history of Stavern
{{Coord, 59, 00, N, 10, 02, E, display=title, region:NO_type:city(5514)_source:dewiki Cities and towns in Norway Populated coastal places in Norway Populated places in Vestfold og Telemark Former municipalities of Norway Larvik