Skansen (Tromso)

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The medieval Skansen fortress in Tromsø city center. In the background you can see a ship in the Tromsø shipyard.
Customs House
coffee shop
Cannon with a view over Tromsøysund and the Arctic Cathedral in the background

Skansen , also known as Rundellen , is a fortress in the Norwegian city ​​of Tromsø in the Fylke Troms og Finnmark . The ensemble of buildings is the oldest in the city and the ramparts are the only visible structures that have survived from the Middle Ages . Skansen and part of the bay in the Tromsøysund strait have been a listed building since 1978 . In addition, Skansen was chosen as Tusenårssted by the municipality of Tromsø and represents the visual transition into the 21st century.

location

Skansen is located on the east side of the island of Tromsøya , south of the Tromsøbrua . The fortress was built on a headland, strategically placed at the narrowest point of the Tromsøysund strait. Due to a land uplift , Skansen is now inland, but it used to be surrounded by the sea in the north, east and south. A stream ran west of the fortress and fed the former moat. The moat was filled in at the beginning of the 19th century and was located where Nordre Tollbodgate is today. With the demarcation by the moat, Skansen was on an artificially created island.

The attachment

Skansen is a round fortress on an artificial plateau with a diameter of about 50 meters. The fortress wall is three to four meters high and only drops about one meter inward. Originally it was higher and it is believed that palisades on the wall protected the complex. However, this could not be proven beyond doubt. In 1808 four guns were mounted on the eastern wall. The mounts are exact copies of the mounts at Vardøhus Fortress . Today there are seven buildings within the wall that do not date from the same period as the fortress itself. They were built between 1789 and 1793. In his 1878 article, the geologist Karl Pettersen suspected, based on the name Borgåsen ( Eng .: castle hill), that a castle must have stood here earlier . In 1769, the Austrian Jesuit priest Hell described Skansen as an old royal castle.

Dating and History

Skansen was first mentioned in writing in 1743 by Major Peter Schnitler in the border protocol. In 1999, organic material was removed from the castle plateau for analysis using the C14 method . The research confirms human activities from the mid-13th century to the beginning of the 14th century, but does not provide any direct information about when Skansen was created. The dates vary between the 11th and 14th centuries. The most important clue is a legend that tells that Skansen was built to protect against Russian attackers. Accordingly, the date is between the beginning of the 13th and the 14th century. Norway was currently in conflict with the Novgorod Republic , which ruled the Finnish- speaking part of the Karelia region . At the beginning of the 13th century, Vardøhus Fortress in the east of Finnmark Province was also built. Several stone castles, such as Tunsberghus and Akershus, are also known from this era. The historian Nils A. Ytreberg assumes that the construction of the Skansen Fortress is related to the construction of St. Mary's Church in Tromsø. The moat also indicates the time before the Reformation .

Skansen has been used in many ways throughout its history. In 1784 the customs office on Skansen was inaugurated, making trade with foreign countries possible. Before that, foreign ships were not allowed to sail in northern Norwegian waters. In 1848 the shipyard was built next to the fortress. It was in operation into the 21st century and has since moved. The yard is now to be developed by a property company. This jeopardizes eye contact with Tromsøysund, which the fortress was originally supposed to monitor. After the customs house on Skansen was given up, the complex was used for purely residential purposes until the Tromsø folkeskole (Tromsø elementary school) and later the Tromsø Tegneskole (Tromsø drawing school) moved into the building from 1873 to 1881 . It then served as an epidemic hospital and from 1944 to 1963 it was used as a retirement home. In 1976 Tromsø's City Museum was founded on Skansen, and in 2003 its collection was transferred to the Perspektivet Museum . Also in 2003 the fortress was hit by fire. All buildings were then completely restored taking into account old building techniques. The exhibits of the polar museum, which was housed there during this time, were not damaged.

Today Skansen is a place of culture and representation for Tromsø and its surroundings. The Skansen Gallery is currently located on the ground floor of the main house. It exhibits pictures by well-known local artists such as Idar Ingebrigtsen, Hans Haakø, Lorentz Nordberg and Sverre Mack. The festival center, which is responsible for the festivals Nordlysfestivalen, Barents Korsentrum, Insomnia and Ordkalotten Literature Festival, is located on the upper floor. The main task of the center is to develop Tromsø as a festival city.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Archive catalog of Tromsø City Archives (PDF; 434 kB) - accessed on May 11, 2013, Norwegian
  2. ↑ Tromsø City Museum in Store Norske Leksikon - accessed on May 11, 2013, Norwegian

literature

Web links

Commons : Skansen (Tromsø)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 69 ° 39 ′ 10.5 ″  N , 18 ° 57 ′ 51.1 ″  E