The Whaling Monument
Sandefjord's most famous sculpture is a memorial to whaling, created by Knut Steen at the end of the 1950s.
The whaling monument shows whalers with oars in an open boat, with harpoons ready and water spraying.
This impressive monument near the harbour is made in the style of a compass rose, and it rotates slowly on its own axis. Sit down on one of the benches and watch!
Sandefjord's history is inextricably linked to whaling. It was at its peak in 1954 when as many as 2,800 men from the district were hired to whaling - on a whaling boat, a floating boiler in the Southern Ocean or at a whaling station on one of the Antarctic islands. By then, Sandefjord had long been the center of international whaling.
The adventure started as early as 1881, when the whaling boat "Haabet" was equipped for catching in Finnmark. In 1905, the first of many expeditions - with boilers and whaleboats - went to Antarctica. Sandefjord experienced great economic growth, and the whaling created positive ripple effects in business life in the town and the district.
Source: Visit Vestfold
The Whaling Monument