Horten

Horten, Norway kommune
Municipality
Coat of arms Vestfold within Norway
Coordinates: 59°25′15″N 10°25′58″E / 59.42083°N 10.43278°ECoordinates: 59°25′15″N 10°25′58″E / 59.42083°N 10.43278°E
Country	Norway
County	Vestfold
Administrative centre	Horten
Government
• Mayor (2015)	Are Karlsen (Arbeiderpartiet)
Area
• Total	70 km^2 (30 sq mi)
• Land	68 km^2 (26 sq mi)
Area rank	407 in Norway
Population (2004)
• Total	24,671
• Rank	34 in Norway
• Density	361/km^2 (930/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	8.2 %
Demonym(s)	Hortenser Hortensar[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0701
Official language form	Bokmål
Website	www.horten.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

 Horten  is a town and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway—located along the Oslofjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. The municipality also includes the villages of Borre, Åsgårdstrand, Skoppum, and Nykirke.

The town of Horten was separated from the municipality of Borre to become a municipality of its own in 1858. The neighboring municipalities of Borre and Horten were merged back together on 1 January 1988. The name of the new united municipality was first Borre, but after a referendum it was changed to Horten on 1 June 2002.

The local newspaper in Horten is named Gjengangeren, and covers mostly local news. It is also available online (see external links section).

General information

The nearest train station in Horten is Skoppum. Skoppum is 1 hour and 10 minutes by train from Oslo Central station. By car Horten is reached by following E18 south, and is approx. 100 km (62 miles) from Oslo. The nearest airport is Sandefjord Airport Torp which is located about 30 minutes by train south of Skoppum.

Name

The town is named after the old Horten farm (called "Hortan" in 1552), since it is built on the same ground. The name seems to be the finite form of hort m 'bulge' (but here in a weak form, Norse *horti). Several hills and mountains in Norway have the name Horten (or Horta, femininum), and here it could be referring to the hill Brårudåsen lying in the middle of the town.^[2]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from relatively modern times. They were granted on 19 November 1907. The arms were granted when Horten received city status. The arms use the old "English"-style of shield that is divided diagonally in a "party per bend" style with a mural crown on top signifying its city status. The lower part of the arms show the importance of the city as a naval port. The upper part shows a rose as a symbol for the nature around the city.^[3]

Education

Close to Horten is the University College Høgskolen i Buskerud og Vestfold, commonly referred to as Bakkenteigen, which offers a wide range of subjects from sociology, history and language thru mathematics, nature science and maritime studies. Bakkenteigen has over 4000 students and aims to be a resource for research and development in the region.

Transportation

Being located out on a peninsula, most major transportation arteries go to the west of Horten, and secondary roads connect the city to these routes. A ferry line (the Bastø Ferry) across the Oslofjord runs between Horten and Moss in Østfold.

The railway line Vestfoldbanen passes through the Horten municipality, but not through the main city center. Skoppum Station is located southwest of the downtown, although several commuters prefer to use Holmestrand Station due to better road access.^[4]

Borrehaugene

Borrehaugene (from Borre, the name of a local village and haugene from the old Norse Word haugr meaning mound) was the first national park to be founded in Norway. Borre National Park is situated between Horten and Åsgårdstrand. The site provides important historical knowledge and can be seen as evidence that there was a center of power here in the Viking Age. The excavations also uncovered an unusually good selection of craft work, much of which is on display in Oslo at the Viking Ship Museum. This style has become known as "Borre style" and is, today, known for its beautiful animal and knot ornaments, which were often used for decorating harnesses. The finds also confirm that there was a Viking ship buried at Borrehaugene.

The Borre mound cemetery at Borre National Park contains graves of kings dating back to the Migration Period. The park covers 45 acres (180,000 m²) and has the largest collection of kings' graves in Scandinavia. These burial mounds may represent North Europe’s most extensive collection of graves of the old Scandinavian Yngling dynasty. From 1989 to 1991, new excavations were undertaken both in and around the national park.

Other Attractions

Norwegian Naval Museum

• Marinemuseet, the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum, is the oldest existing museum of its kind in the world, founded in 1853. At the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum you can find many ships, including HNoMS Rap, the world's first torpedo boat from 1873.
• Preus Fotomuseum, The Norwegian Museum of Photography, is a unique museum located in the same building as the naval museum.
• The Naval Base - Horten has a naval base named Karljohansvern. Activity there in the recent years have been decreasing and parts of the area have now been opened to the public, including some nice beaches. Both the museum of photography and the navy museum are located close to the naval base.
• The Royal Norwegian Navy Band is a military band ranked among the best in Europe has its home base on Karljohansvern in Horten.
• Horten Bilmuseum, the classic car museum, houses a variety of classic cars ranging from 1900 to the 1970s. One of Norway's largest model railways is also on display in the museum. It is open every day during summer, Sundays only from the middle of August to the middle of June.
• Borre Golfbane is a golf course has hosted two Challenge Tour events (1994 and 1998) and was in 2005 extended to 27 holes of full length (par 72 + par 36). The first Challenge Tour event in 1994 was the first professional golf tournament on Norwegian soil. The 18-hole course runs along the beautiful lake Borrevannet and some of the holes have a spectacular view over the lake.
• Lake Borrevannet is home to a national bird sanctuary where 255 different bird species have been observed (2003 numbers). 110 species have been confirmed using the lake as their nesting place.
• L'Esprit d'Edvard Munch is the northernmost vineyard of the world, operating in Horten.
• Åsgårdstrand, in the southern part of the municipality, is a sight of its own. It's a small, white-painted ocean town that is best known for its great painters (like the afore mentioned Edvard Munch) and its beaches.

Sports

Horten has several football clubs. The most successful and well known is FK Ørn-Horten, which currently plays in the Norwegian 2nd Division. Another Horten team, Falk, plays 3rd division, while Borre and Holtankammeratene plays further down in the leagues.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Horten:^[5]

• Hillerød, Region Hovedstaden, Denmark
• Karlskrona, Blekinge County, Sweden
• Loviisa, Southern Finland, Finland
• Ólafsfjörður, Fjallabyggð, Iceland

References

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
2. Rygh, Oluf (1907). Norske gaardnavne: Jarlsberg og Larviks amt (in Norwegian) (6 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 127.
3. Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2009-01-15.
4. "Pendlerne velger Holmestrand ("Commuters choose Holmestrand")" (in Norwegian). Gjengangeren. 13 March 2007.
5. "Vänortskedjor i Norden". Norden.se. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-15. (Swedish)

External links

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
• Vestfold travel guide from Wikivoyage
• The Naval Museum (Norwegian)
• Museum of Photography
• Local History Museum (Norwegian)
• VisitHorten.com
• Gjengangeren - the local newspaper of Horten (Norwegian)
• Horten bilmuseum (the classic car museum) (Norwegian)
• Borre Golfbane (Borre Golf Course)