Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bryggen's History
Pretty as Bryggen is today, it has a rough-and-tumble history. A horrific
plague decimated the population and economy of Norway in 1350, killing
about half of its people. A decade later, German merchants arrived and
established a Hanseatic trading post, bringing order to that rustic society.
For the next four centuries, the port of Bergen was German territory.
Bergen's old German trading center was called “the German wharf”
until World War II (and is now just called “the wharf,” or “Bryggen”).
From1370to1754,GermanmerchantscontrolledBergen'strade.In1550,
it was a Germanic city of 1,000 workaholic merchants—surrounded and
supported by some 5,000 Norwegians.
The German merchants were very strict and lived in a harsh, all-male
world (except for Norwegian prostitutes). This wasn't a military occu-
pation, but a mutually beneficial economic partnership. The Norwegian
cod fishermen of the far north shipped their dried cod to Bergen, where
the Hanseatic merchants marketed it to Europe. Norwegian cod provided
much of Europe with food (a source of easy-to-preserve protein) and cod
oil (which lit the lamps until about 1850).
While the city dates from 1070, little survives from before the last
big fire in 1702. In its earlier heyday, Bergen was one of the largest
wooden cities in Europe. Congested wooden buildings, combined with
lots of small fires (to provide heat and light in this cold and dark corner of
Europe), spelled disaster for Bergen. Over the centuries, the city suffered
countless fires, including 10 devastating blazes. Each time the warehouses
burned, the merchants would toss the refuse into the bay and rebuild.
Gradually, the land crept out, and so did the buildings. (Looking at the
Hanseatic Quarter from the harborfront, you can see how the buildings
have settled. The foundations, composed of debris from the many fires,
settle as they rot.)
