Bergen

Category

Library Item

Item no

24781

Title

Bergen

Artist / maker

Ballantyne, R M

Date

1864

Size

7.0 x 10.5 cm

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

The second highest populated city in Norway, Bergen is situated between the longest fjord Sognefjord, north of Bergen, and the beautiful Hardangerfjord in the south. These fjords are deep and narrow, confined by high, steep mountains with snow-covered tops and waterfalls. With the surrounding mountains and sea, Bergen is the perfect place to go skiing in the winter, hiking and swimming in the summer and fishing all year round.

Ballantyne describes it in his book 'Chasing the Sun', as follows:-
'Bergen, this ancient stronghold of the Vikings, is a famous and a strange old place.
It is built at the foot of a steep mountain-range which is so close to the margin of the sea that the city has barely room to stand. The houses are all built of wood; all are painted white, and all have red-tiled roofs. They are peaked and gable-ended to an extraordinary degree, so that the general aspect of the city is confused and irregular - all the more interesting and picturesque on this account.'

In the 1865 Census the Population of Bergen was 31801, today it is 213000.

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Related subjects

Landscape > Land > Mountains

Landscape > Land > Urban

Landscape > Water > Harbours

Places > Europe > Norway

Religion > Religious facilities > Churches

Transport > Water > Boats

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