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Skien (ˈʂêːən) is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Skien. Skien is also the capital of Vestfold og Telemark county. Skien is one of Norway's oldest cities, with an urban history dating back to the Middle Ages, and received privileges as a market town in 1358. From the 15th century, the city was governed by a 12-member council. The modern municipality of Skien was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipalities of Gjerpen and Solum were merged into the municipality of Skien on 1 January 1964. The conurbation of Porsgrunn/Skien is reckoned by Statistics Norway to be the seventh largest urban area in Norway, straddling an area of three municipalities: Skien municipality (about 62% of the population), Porsgrunn (30%), and Bamble (8%). This area is home to more than 100,000 people. Skien was historically a centre of seafaring, timber exports and early industrialization, and was one of Norway's two or three largest cities between the 16th and 19th centuries. It was also one of Norway's most internationally oriented cities, with extensive contact with its export markets in the Low Countries, the United Kingdom and Denmark. It retained its position as Eastern Norway's leading commercial city until the 19th century, when it gradually started to lose importance to the emerging capital of Christiania following the Napoleonic Wars. The city was the birthplace of playwright Henrik Ibsen, and many of his famous dramas are set in places reminiscent of early 19th-century Skien. The Old Norse form of the name was Skiða (from the word skiða which means "straight plank", and which is also the origin of the word ski), and the town is probably named after a brook (with a straight run) with this name.

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Related concepts (3)

Telemark

Telemark (ˈtêːləmɑrk) is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional regions and former counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. The name Telemark means the "mark of the Thelir", the ancient North Germanic tribe that inhabited what is now known as Upper Telemark in the Migration Period and the Viking Age.

Kongsberg

Kongsberg (ˈkɔ̂ŋːsbær(ɡ)) is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production and forestry for centuries, and is the site of high technology industry including the headquarters of Norway's largest defence contractor Kongsberg Gruppen.

Stavanger

Stavanger (stəˈvæŋər, UKalsostæˈ-, US usually stɑːˈvɑːŋər,_stəˈ-, stɑˈvɑ̀ŋːər) is a city and municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the administrative center of Rogaland county. The municipality is the fourth most populous in Norway. Located on the Stavanger Peninsula in southwest Norway, Stavanger counts its official founding year as 1125, the year the Stavanger Cathedral was completed.