Larvik

Sister cities

• Andora

History

Various remains from the Stone Age have been discovered throughout the municipality of Larvik, for instance by Torpevannet near the village of Helgeroa. Raet goes through all of Vestfold County before peaking out of the ocean in Mølen in Larvik. Ancient peoples have carried rocks from Raet and constructed vast numbers of burial mounds at Mølen. During the Roman Iron Age, ancient peoples erected a stone monument resembling a ship at Istrehågan, one of Norway's greatest remains () from prehistoric times. About southeast of the town is Skiringssal, an archaeological site where archaeologists first discovered burial mounds and an ancient Viking hall, and later uncovered the nearby remains of an ancient town, Kaupang. This is now known as the oldest known merchant town in Norway. There was international trade from this area, over 1,200 years ago. and it was one of Scandinavia's earliest urban sites. Larvik (which historically used the Danish spelling: Laurvig) was an old coastal village. In 1671, the village received kjøpstad (market town) status in 1671 when Ulrik Fredrik Gyldenløve bought the Fritsø estate. He later became the first Count of Laurvig. The count built a new residence in 1674, "Herregården", which can still be visited today. Then in 1821, it became part of the newly created Jarslberg og Laurvigs amt (county). Larvik is also the site of the Treschow estate, "Fritzøehus", which is currently owned by the heirs of Mille-Marie Treschow, reportedly "Norway's richest woman". The Treschow estate was created in 1835 when Willum Frederik Treschow bought the county from the Danish crown, who in turn had bought the county from the local consortium "grevlingene", four local entrepreneurs who proved unable to manage the ownership financially (the consortium had bought…

Geography

The municipality is located approximately southwest of the Norwegian capital, Oslo. The municipality covers an area of , making it the largest municipality in Vestfold county. By population, however, Larvik is the third-most populous municipality, only smaller than neighbouring Tønsberg and Sandefjord municipalities. Larvik borders Kongsberg Municipality in the north (in Buskerud county), Sandefjord Municipality in the east, and Porsgrunn Municipality and Siljan Municipality (both in Telemark county) in the west. The southernmost point in the municipality is Tvistein Lighthouse in the sea south of Hummerbakken in Brunlanes. On the mainland, its southernmost point is found in Oddane, between Mølen and Nevlunghavn. The westernmost point is Geiterøya Island in the Langesundsfjord, and the easternmost point is one of the Rauer islets. The highest point is the tall mountain Vindfjell which lies on the western border with Siljan Municipality in Telemark county. * Larvik (city), population: 26,851 * Stavern (city), population: 5,902 * Tveteneåsen, population: 850 * Hem, population: 676 * Helgeroa and Nevlunghavn, population: 1,962 * Kvelde, population: 1,103 * Verningen, population: 1,003 * Svarstad, population: 611 Himberg is an exclave which is part of Sandefjord Municipality, although it is completely surrounded by Larvik Municipality in all directions. Attempts at annexing Himberg into Larvik Municipality have largely been met with protests from Himberg residents. A 1995 attempt at annexing Himberg was cancelled due to protests from local residents. There are only four such enclaves in Norway, and Himberg is the most populous enclave in Norway, with a population of approximately 40 people. Himberg is . Larvik has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb)…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  8,278
• Common Eider

  Somateria mollissima (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,012
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  7,444
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,174
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  7,083
• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6,878
• Herring Gull

  Larus argentatus Pontoppidan, 1763 · Aves
  6,802
• Graylag Goose

  Anser anser (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,666

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2005-01-29
  7 km NNE of Hvittingfoss, Norway