11 Interesting Facts About Stavanger, Norway

Has Stavanger made it on your travel bucket list? Or are you a geography buff who stumbled upon this story?

Either way, here are some lesser known facts you must know about this vast yet quaint Norwegian town!

The earliest settlements in Stavanger region date back to the Ice age.

The Battle of Hafrsfjord, fought between 872 and 900, unified all of Norway under the ruling of King Herald Fairhair.

‘Sverd i Fjell’ (The swords in the rock) monument standing 33ft tall was created by Norwegian sculptor Fritz Roed in honor of the historic battle.

Stavanger states its official founding year as 1125, the same year, the Stavanger Cathedral was completed.

Stavanger Cathedral is the only active cathedral in Norway that dates to the Middle Ages.

Stavanger is home to the largest collection of wooden houses across Northern Europe.

The oldest of them are the beautifully preserved one’s at ‘Gamle Stavanger'.

With over 50 canneries, Norway in the 1950’s witnessed a major boost in their fish canning industry.

Stavanger was once known as the “canned capital of Norway”.

Stavanger is Norway’s oil capital.

The city has played a pivotal role in Norway’s oil & gas industry and houses the headquarters of Norwegian energy company Statoil.

In 1969, oil was discovered near Stavanger.

Closely located North Sea oil-fields, air connections, and good harbor led to increased petroleum-exploration and production activity in Stavanger.

Stavanger was given the joint 36th city award of the European Capital of Culture in 2008.

Norway’s largest bank robbery took place in Stavanger at the NOKAS cash depot in 2004

Later in 2010 a movie based on the robbery titled Nokas was released.