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Tromsø (Romsa in Sami) is a city and municipality in the county of Troms, Norway. The municipality of Tromsø covers large districts outside the town.

Geography

Tromsø is the eighth-largest city in Norway by population, and is home of the world's northernmost university, University of Tromsø, brewery, botanical gardenand planetarium[http://nordnorsk.vitensenter.no/himmel/planetarium.htm. The city centre is located on the east side of the Tromsøya — almost 400 km inside the Arctic Circle at . Suburban areas include Tromsdalen (on the mainland, east of the Tromsøya island), the rest of the Tromsøya island, and the eastern part of the large Kvaløya, west of the Tromsøya Island. Tromsø Bridge and a four laned road tunnel connects the mainland with Tromsøya by road, and, on the western side of the city, Sandnessund Bridge connects Tromsøya island with Kvaløya island.








Climate

Tromsø is rather famous in Norway for having a lot of snow in the winter, although this varies a lot from one year to the next. In the winter of 1996/97 a new all time record was set April 29 1997 when the meteorological station on top of Tromsøya could - with some difficulty - record 240 cm of snow. The coldest temperature ever recorded is -18.4°C, and the January average is a mere -4°C. This is due to the warming effects of the North Atlantic Drift, an extension of the Gulf Stream. The proximity to the sea moderates temperatures; Sommarøy on the west coast of Kvaløya has January average of -1.9°C.

Then again, summer is rather cool, with a July 24-hr average of 12°C; daytime temperatures are usually slightly warmer, but varies a lot (from 9 to 25°C). In the summer of 1972 the temperature made 30°C (*).

Light and darkness

The geographical location some 350 km north of the Arctic circle means that Tromsø has both midnight sun and polar night.

The Midnight sun is above the northern horizon from about May 18 to July 26, although the mountains in the north block the view to the Midnight sun a few days, meaning that you can optically see the sun from about May 21 to July 21. Due to the position on top of the globe, the twilight is longer, meaning there is no real darkness between late April and mid August.

The sun remains below the horizon from about November 26 to January 15, but due to the mountains the sun is absent from the centre from November 21 to January 21. The return of the sun is an occasion for celebration. Due to the twilight, there is some daylight for a couple of hours even around mid winter, often with beautiful bluish light. The days lengthen quickly, and by February 21 the sun is above the horizon from 07:45 to 16:10, and April 1 from 05:50 to 19:50 (summertime).

The combination of snow cover and sunshine often creates intense light conditions from late February until the snow melts in the lowland (usually late April), and sunglasses are essential when skiing. Because of these diametrically different light conditions in winter, Norwegians often divide it into two seasons: Mørketida (the dark time) and Seinvinter (late winter).

Tromsø is in the middle of the Aurora Borealis (northern lights) zone, and is in fact one of the best places in the world to observe this phenomenon. Because of the planet's rotation, Tromsø moves into the aurora zone around 6pm, and moves out again around midnight. Due to the light, no aurora is visible between late April and mid August.

History

Settlement of the Tromsø area goes back to the end of the ice age. Einar Østmo reports this region as having Corded Ware culture remains. This is the late Neolithic into the early bronze age. During the iron age, the outer coast off Tromsø was settled by both Norse and Sami people, whereas the inland areas of Tromsø Municipality was all Sami.

In the summer of 2005, children playing in a suburban area on Tromsøya discovered a silver treasure which had lain buried since the Viking age (source).

The first church was built in 1252, and was then the world's northernmost church, called Sancta Maria juxta paganos, or "Saint Mary's close to the pagans". Probably around the same time, a turf rampart was built to protect the area against raids from Karelia and Russia.

Tromsø was issued its city charter in 1794, by then only around 80 people lived there. During the 19th century the city rose in importance, with the establishment of a bishop's seat (1834), a teacher training college (1848), a shipyard (1848), the Tromsø Museum (1872) and the Mack Brewery (1877).

Arctic hunting, from Novaya Zemlya to Canada, started up around 1820. By 1850 Tromsø was the major centre of Arctic hunting, overtaking the former centre of Hammerfest, and the city was trading from Arkhangelsk to Bordeaux. By the end of the 19th century, Tromsø had become a major Arctic trade centre from which many Arctic expeditions originated, explorers like Roald Amundsen, Umberto Nobile and Fridtjof Nansen made use of the know-how in Tromsø on the conditions in the Arctic, and often recruited their crew in the city. The Northern lights observatory was founded in 1927.

During World War II it served briefly as the seat of Norwegian government. However, the city escaped the war without any damage, although the German battleship Tirpitz was sunk off the Tromsøy Island on November 12, 1944, when close to 1000 German soldiers died. At the end of the war, the city received thousands of refugees from the Finnmark province, which was evacuated and devastated by German forces at the time in expectance of the Red Army offensive.

Expansion after World War II has been rapid. The airport opened in 1964, the University of Tromsø in 1972 and the Norwegian Polar Institute was relocated to Tromsø from Oslo in 1998. Tromsø Airport served 1,447,000 passengers in 2004.

The population growth has been strong, some years more than 1000 people; in 1964 the present municipal borders were created through unification of several boroughs. Then the city had some 32,000 inhabitants, practically doubled today at 64,000. After some years of limited growth, the city grew by some 1000 inhabitants again in 2005.

Politics

The highest political body is the City Council (Bystyret), which elects a governing body, the Formannskap and five political committees.

The biggest political party is the Labour Party. Although the Labour Party is led by Reinhold Fieler, Labour's Herman Kristoffersen is the mayor of Tromsø. The vice-mayor is Pia Svensgaard (Labour).

There is a discussion of whether to introduce city parlamentarism, as practiced in the biggest Norwegian cities. The Labour Party is advocating this political system, while the Socialist Left Party is opposing it.

Population

More than 100 nationalities are represented in the population, among the more prominent minorities are the Russians and Finns. The world's northernmost mosque is to be found in Tromsø. The Our Lady Catholic church is the seat of the world's northernmost Catholic Bishop, although the Catholic population is only 350 heads strong.

The Sami minority is making itself felt again, after decades of ridicule and repression, and there is a Sami kindergarten and Sami language classes in school. Sami was once spoken in communities throughout Tromsø, but is unfortunately a dying language in those communities. Hopefully, this is countered by the recent establishment of a Sami language centre in Ullsfjord. Most Sami speakers in Tromsø have migrated here from other Sami-speaking areas in the North. Suggestions to make Tromsø a bilingual municipality have so far met with limited approval among the citizens.

Sports

Tromsø is the home of many football clubs, of which the three most prominent are Tromsø I.L., which plays in the Norwegian Premier League, I.F. Fløya in the Norwegian Premier League for women, and Tromsdalen U.I.L., playing in the Adeccoligaen. Tromsø Midnight Sun Marathon is arranged every year in June and recently also a Polar Night Half marathon in January.

The city is also home to many clubs in the top division in various Norwegian sports. Most notably basketball-outfit Tromsø Storm in the BLNO, BK Tromsø in the top volleyball league for men, and Tromsø Volley in the top volleyball league for women.

Winter sport enthusiasts appreciate the Ski station, situated 10 km outside the city centre, in a suburb. From the southern to the northern tip of the Tromsø Island, there is a floodlit cross country ski track. A ski jump is also situated on the island, close to the university.

Tromsø had announced a bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. This is considered an interesting idea to many sports fans, seeing as Tromsø would be the first city north of the Arctic Circle to host the games and would be unique in many of its accommodations, among them the use of ships as the media village. However, the Norwegian government still has yet to officially support Tromsø's bid. Thus, Tromsø will not be a candidate in 2014, although it is considering a bid for 2018.

Culture

Art, theatre, jazz and classical music

Many cultural activities take place in Kulturhuset (The culture house), including concerts by Tromsø's symphony orchestra (Tromsø Symfoniorkester) and plays by Tromsø's professional theatre troupe Hålogaland Teater. The new theatre building was opened in November 2005. There is also the Northern Norwegian Art Gallery (Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum) as well as the Tromsø Gallery of Contemporary Art (Tromsø Kunstforening).

Popular culture

Attractions in Tromsø

The city centre is the biggest concentration of historic wooden houses north of Trondheim. A multitude of historical wooden houses dating from 1789 to 1904 (when building wooden houses was banned in the city centre), co-exist with modern architecture. The oldest house in Tromsø is Skansen, built in 1789 on the remains of a 13th c. turf rampart. The little Polar Museum presents Tromsø's past as a centre for Arctic hunting and starting point for polar expeditions, and is situated in a wharf house from 1837. The Tromsø Cathedral (Norway's only wooden cathedral, built in 1861)is right in the centre of town, and so is the little catholic church of Vår Frue. Norway's oldest cinema is still in use, Verdensteatret, built 1915-16, lies in Tromsø and is featured with large wall paintings, picturing scenes from Norwegian folk lore and fairy tales, made by the local artist Sverre Mack in 1921.

Outside the compact city centre, there is the Arctic Cathedral (a striking modern church from 1965), and the Polaria aquarium and experience centre from 1998 is a short walk south from the city center. The Tromsø Museum is a University museum, presenting culture and nature of North Norway. The museum also displays the Arctic-alpine botanic garden, the world's northernmost botanical garden. A cable car goes up to Mount Storsteinen, 421 m.a.s.l., with a panoramic view over Tromsø. The mountain Tromsdalstinden, 1238m, on the mainland, which is easily spotted from the city centre, is also a major landmark.

Miscellaneous

Tromsø was known in the 19th century as the "Paris of the North", probably because people in Tromsø appeared as far more civilized than expected to foreign tourists. Fashions, language skills and a high educational level of the city's gentry came as a big surprise to prejudiced visitors. Another reason was that the many fishermen in the city usually got a lot of money at once when they sold their fish stocks, and so often found themselves buying high fashion from Europe for their wives.

The nightlife of Tromsø enjoys national fame. The combined capacity of clubs, pubs and bars is of more than 20 000 people, meaning that one out of three can go out at the same time. However, the sin city image was more apparent in the 1970s, when the rest of Norway was a lot drier and duller than today. Ølhallen, dating from 1928, and open 9am to 5pm, is the vintage pub in Tromsø, located in the basement of the brewery. Rorbua achieved national fame when hosting a popular tv show in Norway.

The local newspapers are named Bladet Tromsø and Nordlys and the local brewery is the Mack Brewery which is the northernmost brewery in the world.

The movie Insomnia was shot in Tromsø and in Nyksund

Tromsø IL is the world's most northern Premier league football team.

People

Famous people who come from the city include:

Twin towns

Tromsø has ten twin townsList of twin towns from Tromsø municipality (Norwegian):

External links

Municipalities of Troms | Cities in Norway | Coastal towns | Tromsø | Ski areas and resorts in Norway | Port cities

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Tromsø".

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