Handelstorget
0
If you walk from the harbor in Skien, up Henrik Ibsens gate and past the Arkaden shopping centre, you will reach Handelstorget. This place has a long and special story to tell. This is where Skien's history begins and where Henrik Ibsen was born. Professor Jon Nygaard writes about this place: On the shore of the quiet cove in the innermost part of the Bryggevannet, at the transition between the inland waterway and the waterway out to the coast, more than 1,000 years ago a small craft and trade center with simple wickerwork huts grew up. It was based on the tanning of reindeer skins and the processing of reindeer horns from Hardangervidda and whetstones from Eidsborg and LÃ¥rdal. It shows how extensive the hinterland was that created Skien and the importance and scope of the waterways both inland into Telemark - and outwards from Skien. Brynestein from Skien has been found again over large parts of Northern Europe. It shows the extent of the trade connections that were to become the basis for the city of Skien. Today's Handelstorget is the last remnants of this original Skien. There are older trading places than Skien in Northern Europe, such as Skiringssal in Vestfold, Birka in Sweden and Hedeby in Denmark, but while the others have disappeared, only Ribe in Denmark and Skien still exist as cities today. Handelstorget in Skien represents more than 1,000 years of trade and craftsmanship and an extensive network both within Telemark and beyond in Europe. And it was precisely here, in Stockmann's farm by the square, that Henrik Ibsen was born on 20 March 1828.