Skien

59°14N 9°37E, pop (2000e) 50 000. Ancient town and river-port capital of Telemark county, SE Norway; on the Skiensalv (river); railway; copper, iron ore, heavy industry.

Coordinates: 59°12′N 9°33′E

Skien is a town and municipality in the county of Telemark, Norway.

The conurbation of Skien is the seventh largest city in Norway and straddles an area of three municipalities: Skien municipality (about 52% of the population), Porsgrunn (35%) and Bamble (11.5%).

Skien was probably founded as a meeting place for inland farmers and sailing traders, and also as a shipping harbour for whetstones from Eidsborg (inland Telemark).

There have been several name and spelling changes for Skien.

In Europe canals were commonly built in the pre-railroad period to transport goods, timber and passengers. Skien is one terminus for the Telemark canal (in Norwegian, Telemarkskanalen), which consists of two canals:

The “Norsjø-Skienskanalen”, with one terminus at Skien and the other at Løveid, was built in 1854–1861, and is the oldest of the two canals.

Skien was connected to the Norwegian railway network (Vestfoldbanen) in 1882. In 1964, the rural municipalities Solum and Gjerpen were merged together with Skien town, forming the Skien municipality.

Skien is currently the administrive centre of Telemark County.

The largest industries are

ABB (electromechanical) Norske Skog Union (paper mill) (2006)(Mill Shut down in Spring '06)

Other important places of work are

Sykehuset Telemark (hospital) Fylkesmannen (The local Norwegian State Administration)

The daily newspapers Varden and Telemarksavisa are published in Skien.

Oldest building: Gjerpen church (built approximately 1150) Highest mountain: Skårrafjellet (814 m ASL)

Telemark Museum is located in Skien. At Venstøp in Skien you can find the Venstøp Farm, established as the Ibsen Museum in 1958.