Interesting places
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| Sverresborg (15 m.a.s.l. - 49 ft.) Photo by Foggy Glasses (21 October 2007) |
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| Conquered by BH3 on runs #599 #765 #772 #931 |
Sverresborg, situated just to the northeast of Bergenhus Castle in the centre of Bergen, is a fortress and former castle built in the mid 1180's by king Sverre Sigurdsson (approx. 1150-1202). It is thought that Sverresborg originally had an outer wall of stone and inner buildings of wood. A saga mentions that 600 men and 40 noble women lived in the fortress in 1207. The castle has been damaged and subsequently rebuilt several times. The fortress participated in the Battle of Vågen in 1665 and much of the present day fortifications are from the 17th century. The last known expansions took place during the Napoleonic wars.
During World War II the Germans are said to have established two anti aircraft batteries in the fortress. According to most sources 8 people (5 Norwegians, 2 Germans and 1 Dane) were executed in Bergen for treason or war crimes after the war, 7 in Sverresborg and 1 in Kvarven fortress. Sverresborg has not fulfilled an operative capacity since World War II, but is still used by the military for office facilities. The area is under the command of the commandant of Bergenhus and is still a military area, but open to the public.
King Sverre also had a Sverresborg built in Trondheim in 1183. In 1263 the walls of this fortress were pulled down.
Fly over Sverresborg using Google Earth