BRYGGEN
Bryggen is the face of Bergen. But more than that - Bryggen is a part of our collective cultural heritage and has its place on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Therefore Bergen too is classified a World Heritage City.
Preferably you should come to Bergen by sea. It's this approach which shows the city at its best and, as you come into the inner harbour of Vågen, there's Bryggen to meet you. This old trading wharf still looks the same as it did when the town was in its infancy. Although fires have wreaked havoc through the ages, each time Bryggen has been lovingly rebuilt. So that as many tradesmen as possible could benefit from the sea, long narrow warehouses were built all along the quayside.
The early Bergensers understood the importance of this site, as did the merchants of the Hanseatic League who, for several centuries, had one of their largest commercial centres here. These "Hansas" also had their own lifestyle a town within a town in fact. In time, their monopoly was broken, but Bryggen endures.
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