NIKU’s office in Bergen is responsible for archaeological projects in the medieval city. We also undertake other assignments within the field of cultural heritage preservation, whether it concerns monitoring, registration, documentation and surveying, or planning work.

The Medieval Town of Bergen

The medieval town of Bergen is the largest of Norway’s eight medieval cities, and one of the country’s largest automatically protected cultural monuments. Within the conservation area, NIKU carries out archaeological investigations on behalf of The Directorate for Cultural Heritage and other actors, both private and public.

Bryggen

The UNESCO World Heritage site Bryggen preserves a building pattern dating back to the Early Middle Ages.

According to written sources, the city of Bergen was founded in 1070 AD, but some evidence suggests that a settlement with urban features was present in the northern part of the Bryggen area even before that date. Visible remains of the medieval town include churches, church ruins and parts of some buildings, e.g. stone cellars behind Bryggen. The site preserves a building pattern dating back to the Early Middle Ages, long before the arrival of the Hanseatic League, and some of the modern-day streets follow the same paths as medieval streets.

The medieval town of Bergen comprises a great number of archaeological deposits (“cultural layers”), many of which have a high content of organic material. Such material is vulnerable to degradation, and environmental monitoring projects have thus been initiated in many areas to obtain as much information as possible about conditions below ground.

Where to Find Us

NIKU’s Bergen office is located on the 3rd floor of Bryggen’s Museum, sharing premises with important players in the medieval field in Bergen.

NIKU Bergen

Dreggsallmenningen 3

Postboks 4112 Sandviken

5835 BERGEN

Phone 932 04 665 / 908 42 471