Bergenhus Fortress and Håkon’s Hall

Transcript

Håkon’s Hall at Bergenhus was built in the thirteenth century when Bergen was one of the principal centres of Norwegian royal government. Its great hall was used for royal ceremonies, including the wedding celebrations of King Magnus VI in 1261.

This matters because Hanseatic Bergen was not a foreign commercial colony floating outside Norway. Merchants negotiated with Norwegian kings, officials and urban interests.

Royal power, however, shifted over time. Political unions with Denmark changed Norway’s institutional landscape, while Bergen remained commercially important.

The fortress was also damaged in the Second World War when a munitions ship exploded in Vågen in 1944, after which Håkon’s Hall required major restoration.

Stone has a reputation for permanence mainly because wood has worse public relations.

Synthetic narration. Sources are linked below.

Sources

• UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Bryggen
• Museum Vest — The Hanseatic Museum and Schøtstuene
• University of Bergen — Medieval Bergen chronology and Black Death
• University of Bergen — Historical Bergen facts including 1349 plague arrival tradition