About Bergen

As one of the offices of the Hanseatic League, Bergen was for several hundred years the centre of prosperous trade between Norway and the rest of Europe. The main strengths to life in Bergen today are a wide variety of cultural activities, the surrounding sea, international connections and academic activities.

City of Culture

Bergen is an international town with small-town charm and atmosphere. The inhabitants love to show off their beautiful and many-sided city. They are proud of Bergen’s shipping, trading and cultural traditions.

The city is like a spectacular amphitheatre clambering up the mountainsides, overlooking the sea, embracing you. You can roam through living history in this modern city, the gateway to the wildest and loveliest fjords of Norway. Tradition, initiative and drive have made Bergen one of Norway’s most vigorous cultural cities. It is not merely by chance that Norway’s biggest cultural event, the Bergen International Festival, is held here each year, or that the town was chosen to be one of the European Cities of Culture in the year 2000.

The old parts of town are living history, and the museums and galleries keep both art and the ancestral heritage alive. The Hanseatic wharf Bryggen, the Fish Market, the composer Edvard Grieg’s home at Troldhaugen, Rasmus Meyer’s art collection, the Aquarium and Old Bergen are just a few of the many attractions worth visiting.

Industry

Bergen is the centre of Western Norway, a region that has a leading position within all the major Norwegian exports; energy, seafood and maritime sectors.

Research and education

Bergen is one of the most popular student cities in Scandinavia with 30.000 students in many different educational institutions. The City of Bergen stimulates business development, and offers support in the process. Unique to Bergen are well-established networks between industry, research and development, and the public sector.