My hometown in Northern Norway, Narvik.

A walk around the city Narvik.

To place myself little better on the map and my little spot on earth I want to share a bit about the place where I live, the city of Narvik. I grew up here and did the primary school. Eventually I studied at the university in Tromsø (a city further north) and finished my education as Occupational therapist. As we use to say: Once a northman, always a northman, and here I still live and work.

Narvik is located on the shores of the Ofotfjorden. The municipality is part of the traditional district of Ofoten of Northern Norway, inside the Arctic Circle. The municipality of Narvik was established on 1 January 1902. The city has around 19000 residents.

The history of Narvik as a settlement began in the Bronze Age. Not very much is known about these people, but the Vikings lived in this area.

Narvik was developed as an all-year ice free port for the Swedish Kiruna and Gällivare iron mines. The history of modern Narvik begins in the 1870s, when the Swedish government began to understand the potential of the iron ore mines in Kiruna, Sweden. Obtaining iron ore from Kiruna had one significant problem in that there was no suitable Swedish port. Narvik offered a port which is ice-free thanks to the warm Gulf Stream, and is naturally large, allowing boats of virtually any size to anchor. The Swedish company (Gällivarre Aktiebolag) built the Iron Ore Line (Malmbanan) to Riksgränsen on the Norway–Sweden border. The Norwegian Ofotbanen railway line connects Narvik to the Swedish border.

During the construction and building of the railway the city was located in the innermost part of the Rombakfjord. Here was a whole community with shops, postoffice, hotels and so on.

The port was once called Victoriahavn after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, however Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria was also honoured. When the construction period was finished, the town was moved to where it is today. The port of Narvik proved to be strategically valuable in the early years of World War II, but it is another story for a later occasion.

A part of main street named Kings road.

The town hall was renovated last year.

View from the town hall to the square.

This sign is located on the square and show the distanse to other cities in europe. Maybe you can see your hometown on the sign?

Litle Petter

Never more Hiroshima
Never more Nagasaki
A stone from 0 point in Hiroshima

"Peace is the promise of future"

The War and Peace Centre foundation is located in Narvik. The center shall work to further knowledge about and understanding for peace, international humanitarian law and human rights through research, documentation and dissemination with a particular focus on the WWII-history of the Northern region.

The passenger. Angry lady

View over the square, you can see the Narvik peace center and library in the background.

The playing children

The life up from chaos
The peace monument, a memory of the liberation from the occupation during WWII.

Trinigon

The sculpture is made of high-gloss polished steel. The sculpture has a height of 18 meters, and was given as a gift from the government to mark the 50th anniversary of the liberation in 1945.

Another view of the Main street.

The church in Narvik, built in 1925.

A view from a part of the harbour.

Ofoten museum. This small museum has exhibitions dealing with Narvik's history,

The old post office from around 1888 which is all the remains of the old Narvik was resturated in 1992.

If you're still hanging out, you've had a small tour around my hometown. In a later post I will show you a little of the building of the railroad Ofotbanen and the workers called "Rallar" or Navvy/Navigator in english. Hoped you enjoyed.

Have a great day. Best regards
Harald.