Hotels in Kongsberg, Norway

A little about Kongsberg...

Kongsberg is a municipality and town at the southern end of the Numedal valley, in the county of Buskerud, Norway.

The town was founded in 1624 under the name Konings Bierg[1] by Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV as a mining community (see below), and was granted its royal charter of trade—amounting to official township—in 1802. Kongsberg was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipalities of Ytre Sandsvær and Øvre Sandsvær were merged with Kongsberg January 1, 1964.

The neighbouring municipalities of Kongsberg are Flesberg to the north, Øvre Eiker and Hof to the east, Lardal, Siljan and Skien to the south, and Sauherad and Notodden to the west. Of these, the two first lie in Buskerud county like Kongsberg, while Hof and Lardal lie in Vestfold, and the others lie in Telemark. The town is divided by the river Numedalslågen, which has three waterfalls in the town itself.

Main highways are the E134, crossing Kongsberg east-west (and connected to the E18 to Oslo), and National Highway No. 40 (Riksvei 40), going north-south. Sørlandsbanen railway line stops at Kongsberg station, with connection to local and regional bus lines.

The town is known for many great ski jumpers. Birger Ruud and his two brothers, as well as many other townsmen, such as Petter Hugsted, won numerous medals in Winter Olympics and other international championships in the 1930s and 40s. Their medals and equipment can be seen at the Kongsberg Skiing Museum (Kongsberg Skimuseum) which is co-located with the Norwegian Mining Museum (Norsk Bergverksmuseum) in central Kongsberg. Inventor of the modern ski binding, Norwegian-American skier and Olympic skiing coach Hjalmar Hvam, was born in Kongsberg in 1902.

Recent winter sports athletes of the Kongsberg region include Olympic snowboarders Stine Brun Kjeldaas and Halvor Lunn; cross-country ski sprinter Børre Næss of the village Efteløt; and ski jumper Sigurd Pettersen of nearby municipality Rollag (60 km/37 mi north of Kongsberg). A large ski center for alpine skiing and snowboarding, with several lifts and ca 320 m of height difference has been in operation and gradually expanding since 1965. Kongsberg hosted the cross-country skiing parts of the 2006 Nordic skiing National Championships. The arranging sportsclub was IL Skrim, the ski tracks being located at former military camp Heistadmœn.