Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Behind the church is the back wall of the Hanseatic Quarter and the
entrance to the communal
Hanseatic Assembly Rooms
(Schøtstuene)—not
worth visiting on your own, but well explained by the Bryggen Walking Tour.
The red house straight ahead marks the corner of the...
Bergen Hanseatic Quarter (Bryggen):
Bergen's fragile wooden old town
is its iconic front door. The long “tenements” (rows of warehouses) hide at-
mospheric lanes that creak and groan with history.
• To get your bearings, first read the “Bryggen's History” sidebar; if it's nice
out, stand in the people zone in front of all the colorful buildings, or cross the
street to the wharf and look back for a fine overview of this area. But let me
guess—it's raining, right? In that case, huddle under an awning.
Remember that while we think of Bergen as “Norwegian,” Bryggen was
German—the territory of
Deutsch
-speaking merchants and traders. From the
front of Bryggen, look down at the Rosenkrantz Tower. The little red holes at
its top mark where cannons were once pointed at the German quarter by Nor-
wegian royalty. The threat was never taken seriously, however, because every-
one knew that without German grain, the Norwegians would starve.
Now enter the woody guts of Bryggen. You can't get inside the lanes in
the first stretch of houses, so proceed to the second stretch and explore some
alleys. Strolling through Bryggen, you feel swallowed up by history. Long
rows of planky buildings (medieval-style double tenements) lean haphazardly
