Discover the Stunning Wooden Architecture of Levanger in Norway

Norwegians love wood. They love to walk amongst trees and they love to build with wood. But wood is very susceptible to fire and in 1904 the Murtvangsloven Act was introduced prohibiting the construction of wooden houses within the town limits of all Norwegian towns. However, there are still pockets of original wood buildings and Levanger is one of the few that have not been burnt down or been destroyed during World War II. Situated at the mouth of the Levanger River on a warm, ice-free arm of the Trondheimsfjorden, Levanger has a long tradition as a trading city. And by the Middle Ages it was well established as a port and a market town.

Levanger has suffered a number of devastating town fires that have impacted on it development. In 1692 most of the town was burnt down after lightning struck its church. In 1846 a terrible fire nearly destroyed the whole town. It was after this fire that the first town plan was conceived. A town plan that was put into practice with only a few minor changes following the last fire in 1897 which started in the town square. This plan is still evident in Levanger today. Only a few buildings survived the fire of 1897. One of them still in use is the Musikkens hus. But it is the wooden houses that were built after the fire in 1897 and before the Building Enforcement Act in 1904 that are the most interesting. In 2018, large parts of the centre of Levanger were protected as a cultural environment. This preservation order included streets and squares, green areas, and buildings with backyards. In total, 157 properties are now fully or partially covered by cultural environmental protection. Some of these buildings are now under the auspices of the City Museum and are open to the public.

Museums in Levanger

There are two museums in Levanger, the Museum of Photography and the City Museum. A permanent exhibition in the Photography Museum, the Renbjør Room, relates the story of Harald Renbjør (1889–1956) a chemist in Levanger who became a key figure in the development of colour photography. His son, Per Renbjør, donated Harald’s collection of around 24,000 images, including 300 colour photos, his photographic equipment, his personal library and his laboratory to the museum. It is the only place in the world that has a complete work flow of the three-colour photography from negative to finished print. The City Museum concentrates on the history of Levanger through photographs . It also owns some of the original wooden buildings in the town. At Dampskipsbrygga harbour, the long wooden building on the old steam boat wharf was one of the first buildings in Levanger to be rebuilt following the fire of 1897. This old Customs House now a warehouse was due for demolition when the museum acquired it in 1992. The pier and building have been restored and the latter is used as an exhibition, meeting and banqueting room on the first floor and an exhibition of the Levanger Martnash, one of the oldest markets in Levanger, on the second floor.

Emilie’s Hus a typical working-class house is the last authentic residence in Levanger that was built in 1897. There is an outhouse and a functional bread oven in the backyard. The house is named after Emilie Erikson who lived her for 64 years. Her son took over the house after she died aged 99. He lived here for a total of 84 years. The roof was raised in 1913 but apart from that few changes have been made to this building. Following the careful restoration of the house and outbuildings after it was acquired by the museum it is now available to rent by artists and craftsmen to exhibit their work.

The Hveding Auto workshop is also part of the museum. The building dates back to 1898 and was turned into a bicycle workshop in 1914. The business expanded to include cars in 1925. It closed in 1962. Today this workshop is used as an experience centre for history related to transport in the city. It has a collection of photos and artefacts related to transport. Very few car repair shops like this have been preserved in Norway. Although the façades of this building have been changed several times since it was constructed the interior is still very authentic. In particular it focuses on the transitional period as cars became the most popular form of transport. Levanger also boasts an art gallery, Fenka, and some stunning street art.

Fenka Art Gallery in Levanger

Gallery Fenka is a contemporary art gallery occupying an historic building dating back to 1897. Originally, this brick building was occupied by a prison. Four cells occupied the ground floor. Below them, in the basement, was a caretaker’s flat and drunkard’s cell. Above the cells, on the first floor was the courtroom. This also used as a city hall until 1956, the same year the prison closed. The building was then used as a library and after that a youth club before falling into disuse. It was accorded the status of a listed building under the Norwegian Plan and Building Act in 1993. It was ‘rescued’ by two artists who restored the building and opened Fenka in 2008. Former prison cells have been transformed into small galleries and the ambience of the old city hall has been restored on the first floor. One wall of the old fire station next to the gallery is covered with a vivid representation of the three major fires in Levanger. The last major fire in 1897 started in the town square and destroyed 104 of the 133 buildings in the town. When rebuilding began after the fire the Town Plan of 1846 was put into effect for a second time. It included a continuous park feature, known as the park axis, intended to prevent a fire spreading.

The Park Axis in Levanger

The park axis stretches from Dampskipskaia, the old steamship quay on the shore of the Trondheimsfjorden to the railway station on the other side of town. This string of open spaces starts with Sjøparken (The Ocean Park). It surrounds an amphitheatre that faces the water and provides a venue for public events. Prominent in this park is Forbonden a sculpture by Oddmund Raudberget. It portrays a typical farmer or tradesman from days gone by bringing goods to the local market on a horse-drawn sleigh. Farmers would come from other places in the Trøndelag region and traders would come from Sweden bringing iron to trade for fish. In those days Levanger was also a big market for selling horses which is why the town has a horse in its municipal coat of arms. It was a gift from the Levanger Sanitetsforening (Sanitary Association) to mark the one thousand years of the town's existence.

Across the road from Sjøparken is Sejersteds Park which is named after Major Sejersteds who designed the park axis in 1846. As well as enjoying a successful career in the army Major Sejersteds was an engineer and he was responsible for other successful projects in Levanger including the diversion of the River Levanger to improve the flow of water. Sejersteds Park is an enclosed green space with a fountain in the centre. This fountain is a sculpture created by Arne Durban in 1964 and entitled Girl and Boy. Next in line on the park axis is the town square.

The town square of today is an amalgamation of two of the original parks, Torvet and Nedre to create the new open area at the heart of the town. It is a popular space for meetings and events. An historic bandstand, built in 1923, overlooks this area which is surrounded by trees. This square also features seed nurseries, and a greenhouse where native and exotic plants are grown. They are part of a project centred on the park axis to combat the intrusion of vehicles and commercial enterprises on the green spaces in the town – as Norwegians love to walk amongst the trees.

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