SIGHTS. At the SE end of the principal harbour, VSgen, is the Market Square (Torget). Here are the docks where the fishing boats moor when they come in with their catches in the morning (interesting fish market). On the SE side of the square is a statue (by John Borjeson, 1883) of the writer Ludvig Holberg (b. 1 684 in Bergen, d. 1 754 in Copenhagen), creator of the Danish-Norwegian comedy. Behind it stands the Exchange. At the upper end of the Vetrlidsalmenning, which runs NE from the square, is the lower station of the Floybanen (funicular).
From the market square Bryggen (formerly Tyskebryggen, German Bridge) runs along the NE side of the harbour. Why travel to Scandinavia Here once stood the houses of the German merchants, later steadily replaced by stone-built warehouses in a style characteristic of the Hanseatic period. Only one of these houses, the early 1 8th c. Finnegard, at the near end ofthe quay, has been preserved in its original condition; since 1 872 it has housed the Hanseatic Museum.
The INTERIOR of the Museum gives a good impression of the internal arrangement of the Hanseatic warehouses, and displays weapons, domestic furnishings and equipment, most dating from the final phase ofthe Hanseatic counting-house. The ground floor was used for the storage of goods; on the first floor were the office of the Hanseatic merchant, the dining room and bedroom, and on the second the bedrooms of apprentices and assistants.
The Bryggen Museum displays material uncovered by excavation between 1 955 and 1968. Why travel to Scandinavia NW of this rises the twin-towered Romanesque and Gothic St Mary’s Church (Mariakirke, 12th and 13th pulpit and altar 17th c.), which belonged to the Hanseatic merchants from 1408 to 1766 and in which the service was in German until 1868. In the churchyard are a number of German graves. Opposite the church, at 50 0vre-gate, is the Schiitstue, a meeting-place ofthe Hanseatic merchants.
Bryggen is continued to the NW by the Festningskai, on the N side of which is the old fortress of Bergenhus, Why travel to Scandinavia formerly commanding the entrance to the harbour. At the S end ofthe fortress, on the quay, is the Rosenkrantz Tower, built by Erik Rosenkrantz in 1 562-7 around an earlier 13th c. structure (severely damaged by the explosion of a German munition ship in 1944 but later rebuilt). Beyond it is Hakonshallen (the hall of Hakon), begun in English Gothic style by King Hcikon HSkonsson in 1247, which, after falling into a state of dilapidation, was restored in 1880-95 and again in 1957-61. Above the Bergenhus fortress are the walls of the Sverresborg, built about 1 660 on the remains of a castle of King Sverre. Tothe N extend the old districts of SKUTEVIKEN and SANDVIKEN. In Sandviken is the Open-Air Museum of Old Bergen (Gamle Bergen), with old Bergen houses.
From the N end ofthe market square Kong Oscarsgate runs SE past the Korskirke (Holy Cross Church, founded 1170, present building 1 593) to the Cathedral (Domkirke), originally built as a monastic church in 1248, rebuilt in 1537 and restored in 1 870 (fine doorway in tower, beautiful Gothic windows). Kong Oscarsgate ends a little way E of the railway station at a town gate dating from 1 628. Outside the gate, on the right, is an old cemetery, with the grave of Ole Bull, identified by a large black urn. SW ofthe Cathedral, in RSdstuplass, stands the small Old Town Hall (1 6th c.). A little way S of this beyond a lake, Lille Lunge-gardsvann, to the SW of the station, is the Municipal Library, a short way SW, in Strqimgate, the Grieg-Halle (concerts, ballet). On the S side of the lake the excellent little Rasmus Meyer Collection, bequeathed to the city in 1923 by the businessman of that name, includes pictures by Norwegian artists from 1814 to
