Torgallmenningen

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Torgallmenningen, view from the south, 2019
Place in front of the city fire, around 1905
before 1959

The Torgallmenningen is a square in the Norwegian city ​​of Bergen .

location

It is located in the center of the city center of Bergen and extends over more than 150 meters, with a width between 38 and 48 meters, from southwest to northeast. In the south, the square turns into Kong Olav Vs plass , and in the north of the square is Torgallmenningen Street , which in turn joins Torget Street .

The streets Markeveien , Valkendorfsgaten and Strandgaten flow from south to north on the west side of the square, and on the east side the streets Starvhusgaten , Rådhusgaten and Småstrandgaten .

Architecture and history

The square was laid out in 1582 after a city ​​fire . It served as a wide lane in the development for fire protection and was intended to protect against the spread of city fires. The current name, written Torgallmenning until 1993 , has been in use since 1702 and is derived from Torg (market) and Allmenning (an area in Bergen that serves fire protection and is used by the entire population ( all men ). However, the city ​​fires of 1702 and 1916 were so severe that they overcame the Torgallmenningen and caused great damage in the city center. From the 1870s onwards, five- to six-storey large city houses were built around the square, but they were largely destroyed by the fire of January 15-16, 1916.

In the 1920s there was a new building. The plan for the reconstruction of the area came from Albert Lillienberg , Karl Samuelson and Georg Greve . A conversion using columns and canopies was planned, but this was only partially implemented on the corner development. A separate competition had been announced for the square itself, which Nils W. Grimnes and Egil Haanshus won. However, they met with rejection from the property owners. Along the square, the architect Finn Berner commissioned in 1920, based on a design submitted in 1923, built buildings in the neoclassical style . The facades of the upper four storeys of the six-storey buildings are simply designed and smoothly plastered. In 1938, the Sundt department store was built on the southeast corner of the square .

In 1999 the buildings were restored for 40 million Norwegian kroner . Transparent canopies were erected in front of most of the buildings surrounding the square to enable strolling even when it rains. For this purpose, 24 six meter high pillars made of Swedish granite were erected by the sculptor Bård Breivik . This design was controversial. In some cases, building owners initially refused to allow their buildings to be converted. The granite used then turned out to be problematic as it cracked in the Bergen climate and larger pieces of granite broke off and fell down.

At the northern end of the square is the Sjømannsmonumentet, inaugurated in 1950, and in the south, on Kong Olav Vs plass, the monument Den blå stein , built in 1993 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Torgallmenningen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Torgallmenningen in the store norske leksikon (Norwegian)
  2. ↑ Torgallmenningen in the store norske leksikon (Norwegian)

Coordinates: 60 ° 23 ′ 34.8 "  N , 5 ° 19 ′ 26.5"  E