Porsgrunn kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Telemark within Norway
Porsgrunn within Telemark
Coordinates (city): 59°6′56″N 9°42′36″E / 59.11556°N 9.71°E / 59.11556; 9.71Coordinates: 59°6′56″N 9°42′36″E / 59.11556°N 9.71°E / 59.11556; 9.71
Country	Norway
County	Telemark
District	Grenland
Municipality ID	NO-0805
Administrative centre	Porsgrunn
Government
- Mayor (2003)	Øystein Beyer (Ap)
Area (Nr. 352 in Norway)
- Total	165 km2 (63.7 sq mi)
- Land	161 km2 (62.2 sq mi)
Population (2006)
- Total	33,550
- Density	2,653/km2 (6,871.2/sq mi)
- Change (10 years)	6.4 %
- Rank in Norway	22
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Official language form	Neutral
Norwegian demonym	Porsgrunning[1]
Website	www.porsgrunn.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Porsgrunn (help·info) is a town and municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Porsgrunn.

The municipality of Porsgrunn was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The town of Brevik and the rural district of Eidanger were merged into the municipality of Porsgrunn on 1 January 1964.

Contents 1 General information 1.1 Name 1.2 Coat-of-arms 2 History 3 Transportation 4 Geography 5 Industry 6 Notable residents 7 International relations 7.1 Twin towns — Sister cities 8 References 8.1 Books 8.2 Footnotes 9 External links

[edit] General information

[edit] Name

The place is first mentioned in 1576 ("Porsgrund") by the writer Peder Claussøn Friis in his work Concerning the Kingdom of Norway (see the article: Norwegian literature). He writes: "Two and a half miles from the sea, the Skien river flows into the fjord, and that place is called Porsgrund." The name was probably given during medieval times to the then swampy area by the nuns of Gimsøy Abbey, who went here to collect the shrub pors ("Bog Myrtle"), and the Norwegian word grunn meaning "ground". Prior to 1931, the name was spelled "Porsgrund".

[edit] Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 16 January 1905. The arms were divised in 1905 when the town needed a new city hall. The silver bend is the small river running through the town. The upper half shows a silver-colored branch of bog myrtle on a red background and is thus a canting symbol. The silver anchor on a blue background symbolizes the importance of the local harbor.^[2]

[edit] History

Porsgrunn has been an important harbor town in the Grenland area since the late 16th century. In 1653, the Custom House was moved further down the Telemarksvassdraget from Skien to Porsgrunn mainly because industrial waste such as sawdust and mud made the river too shallow to allow boats to go any further up the river.^[3] Moving the Custom House from Skien to Porsgrunn in 1653, added to the flourishing harbor activity and Porsgrunn became a thriving market town.

In the 18th century, it was the home of some of Norway's most influential families at the time, such as the Aalls, Cappelens, Løvenskiolds, and Deichmans. Also in this period, Porsgrunn was considered the cultural centre of Norway. On the ecclestiastical side, Porsgrunn was separated from the ancient rural parishes of Eidanger, Solum, and Gjerpen in 1764 to become a prestegjeld with its own minister. It was granted limited city status in 1807, but this was expanded to full city status in 1842.

[edit] Transportation

Transportation links from Porsgrunn:

• Bus (Oslo, Kristiansand, Notodden)
• Train (stops at Porsgrunn Station)
  • Vestfoldbanen to Drammen and onwards to Oslo
  • Bratsbergbanen to Skien and Notodden

[edit] Geography

Porsgrunn borders the municipalities of Skien and Siljan to the north, Bamble in the west, and Larvik in the east. It is part of a cluster of municipalities in southern Telemark that constitute the Grenland area of Norway. The town is situated at the mouth of the river Telemarksvassdraget or Skienselva (English: Skien river), and is an important center of industry. Originally an industrial park, the peninsula of Herøya, southeast of the city, has today grown into a suburb of Porsgrunn.

[edit] Industry

Porsgrunn has a long history of heavy industry. Important industries in Porsgrunn include:

[edit] Notable residents

[edit] International relations

[edit] Twin towns — Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Porsgrunn:^[4]

• Kisumu, Nyanza Province, Kenya
• Sigtuna, Stockholm County, Sweden
• Sønderborg, Region Syddanmark, Denmark

[edit] References

[edit] Books

This list includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (January 2009)

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Porsgrunn

Look up Porsgrunn in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
• Telemark travel guide from Wikitravel
• Porsgrunn travel guide from Wikitravel
• Municipal Homepage (Norwegian)
• Porsgrunds Porselænsfabrik AS (porcelain factory) (Norwegian)
• www.isola.com (Norwegian)
• Porsgrunn public library (Norwegian)

v • d • e Municipalities of Telemark Bamble · Bø · Drangedal · Fyresdal · Hjartdal · Kragerø · Kviteseid · Nissedal · Nome · Notodden · Porsgrunn · Sauherad · Seljord · Siljan · Skien · Tinn · Tokke · Vinje

v • d • e 40 most populous urban settlements (cities) of Norway as of 2009, according to Statistics Norway [1] 1. Oslo 876,400 2. Bergen 227,800 3. Stavanger / Sandnes 189,800 4. Trondheim 157,100 5. Fredrikstad / S'borg1 101,700 6. Drammen 96,600 7. Skien / Porsgrunn 86,900 8. Kristiansand 67,500 9. Tromsø 55,100 10. Tønsberg 47,500 11. Ålesund 46,500 12. Haugesund 42,900 13. Moss 41,700 14. Sandefjord 40,800 15. Bodø 36,500 16. Arendal 32,400 17. Hamar 30,000 18. Larvik 23,900 19. Halden 23,000 20. Lillehammer 20,100 21. Harstad 19,500 22. Molde 19,400 23. Kongsberg 18,800 24. Gjøvik 18,700 25. Askøy 18,300 26. Horten 18,200 27. Mo i Rana 17,900 28. Kristiansund 17,000 29. Jessheim 15,300 30. Hønefoss 14,300 31. Narvik 13,900 32. Alta 13,600 33. Elverum 13,500 34. Askim 13,100 35. Ski 12,900 36. Drøbak 12,400 37. Nesoddtangen 11,600 38. Steinkjer 11,500 39. Leirvik 11,400 40. Vennesla 11,400 41. Kongsvinger 11,400 42. Stjørdalshalsen 10,800 1 Sarpsborg.