Pocket Bergen: A Guide to the UNESCO Site of Bryggen

(89 reviews)

Bergen audio tour: Pocket Bergen: A Guide to the UNESCO Site of Bryggen

This is a 0.5mi walking tour

It takes an average of 60 mins to complete.

Bergen

Norway

$8.99

Access all 13 locations offline with the VoiceMap app

Buy for a Group

Reviews

About the Tour

Bergen’s historic harbour district, Bryggen, has long been an important part of Norway’s history. In the 12th century, the area flourished as an economic centre under the commercial domination of the Hanseatic League, a medieval merchants’ guild originating in Germany, but its survival was threatened over the centuries. On this walking tour, I’ll shed light on some of the area’s rich and complex history, and tell you how Bryggen rose from the ashes to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

Starting and ending in front of the harbour, this tour takes you through the Bryggen Hansa Quarter. Along the way, you’ll learn about the commercial area’s medieval origins, and its quick expansion. You’ll walk through its narrow wooden streets, hearing about the iconic architecture around you. I’ll also tell you about the daily working life of the Hanseatic merchants and the struggles they faced, the stockfish trade that made the area commercially rich, and the tense relations between Norwegians and the Hanseatic community. I’ll also show you the district’s main landmarks, like the Hanseatic Museum and Schøtstuene Assembly Rooms, St. Mary’s Church, Bryggens Museum, and Kjøbmandsstuen (an old Hanseatic Merchant’s Hall).

On this Bryggen walking tour, you’ll have the chance to:

Find out why Norwegians despised Bryggen until the first half of the 1900s
See where the medieval ”red light district” once was
Discover where the statue of ”the naked truth” is
Learn what a king cod is and where the name comes from
Find out why part of Bryggen is made from wood and another part was rebuilt with bricks
Imagine what life was like for Hanseatic merchants in the 1400s

This tour is perfect for anyone who wants to delve deeper into Bergen’s history while enjoying a leisurely walk through the streets of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Join me on this hour-long tour to meet Bryggen’s medieval merchants and fishermen, and hear their stories!

Tour Producer

Antonio De Comite

3 tours

He:
- lived in Italy, France, Germany and Norway (so far)
- travelled in more than 35 countries and slept in over 150 different cities.
- likes books, languages, old coffeeshops, tattoos, geography, good food and wine, trains, seagulls ...
- dislikes maths formulas, long queues, green peas and pigeons

Founder at Måke Tours, tour company in Norway.

Preview Location

Location 3

Bryggen Architecture and everyday life

Stop here please.

Everything you see here made the work efficient, quick, safe and smooth. That's why every time Bryggen burnt down they rebuilt it identically. Typically we had the largest warehouse on the ground floor, the manager’s room upstairs as well as other rooms f... Stop here please.

Everything you see here made the work efficient, quick, safe and smooth. That's why every time Bryggen burnt down they rebuilt it identically. Typically we had the largest warehouse on the ground floor, the manager’s room upstairs as well as other rooms for goods and on the top floor, the shared bedroom for workers and again rooms for goods.

Life here was very hard. Hanseatic merchants worked and lived in these warehouses. You might be thinking right now: why didn't they rent houses outside of Bryggen? Well, they couldn't because nobody in the city would have given them help or shelter. The relations between the Hanseatic and local people were very bad, complicated with a lot of social tensions and many fights. Bear this in mind, as we're going to talk about it again soon.

So we said that they shared bedrooms, therefore no privacy, no intimacy at all. Those rooms were also extremely cold. The fire hazard was so high that strict, draconian rules regulated life here. It was absolutely prohibited to light a candle or cook food on the hearth. As a consequence, it was also inconceivable to heat the bedrooms. Just imagine how freezing cold it would have been living here during the winters!

If you were a merchant you had to come down from the top floor every morning and go to work on the pier for 10-12 hours a day, that was the average, loading and unloading boats. Chronicles say the bay was so full of boats that you could go from one shore to the other without getting your feet wet. Another part of the daily routine consisted in filling the warehouses with goods. Now, no doubt that the ground floor was an easy task but what about the other floors?

The average weight of a cod liver oil barrel was 120 kg. How would you safely carry that up on the first floor? There are stairs of course but the slightest distraction could lead to permanent injury. That's why the gable windows with pulleys that you can see almost everywhere on the top floors made the work efficient, simple but most importantly safe, in an era where health insurance didn't really exist and workplace accidents happened quite frequently. The galleries then, like the one you have close to you, were not only used to temporarily stock goods before filling the rooms but also as a shelter for goods and people from bad weather, rain in particular. Did you know that Bergen is one of the rainiest cities in Europe with over 250 days of rain per year?

Questions: do you think the work stopped because of the rain or the snow? What kind of fabric were the merchants' clothes made with? One thing is 100% sure, we're not talking about
waterproof clothes and no is the answer to the other question too. Business and trade couldn't wait for a cloudless sky and the sun.

Just imagine an average long day of loading, unloading, weighing and sorting stockfish, walking on slippery wooden planks, in an icy cold surrounding or even worse at the quayside, with the northern wind freezing noses and fingers, with a persistent smell of fish in the nostrils, on the hair, hands, clothes. Plus the rain.

Let me ask you another question: what do you think a merchant needed after a day like that?

Something warm, right? Something warm to eat. But they couldn't cook anything here because any form of fire, such as a hearth, was forbidden on these premises. They had to go somewhere else, to another building that was called Schotstue. That's our next location but before reaching it take your time, enjoy this Bryggen Street, explore it, go up the stairs, and picture yourself in a Hanseatic merchant's life in the 1400s. See you soon then.

When you're ready to continue, keep going straight, keeping to the left as the path forks. You'll reach a square and another red wooden warehouse. I'll meet you there. Read More

View locations and route

How VoiceMap Works

Focus on your surroundings, not the screen

The VoiceMap app uses GPS to play audio automatically, at the right time and place, so you can focus on your surroundings, not the screen.

Follow a route with turn-by-turn-directions

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a fixed starting point. That lets us give turn-by-turn directions and use context to tell a better story.

Resume playback to go at your own pace

If you'd like to stop for a drink or go into a museum, end your tour then use the Resume feature to pick up exactly where you left off.

Listen as many times as you like

You can listen to your tours as often as you like using both the VoiceMap app and website.

Take virtual tours anywhere, like a podcast

Select Virtual mode in the VoiceMap app to listen to tours like a podcast - at home or in transit.

Buy for less on voicemap.me and sync

Once you've purchased a tour, it's added to your VoiceMap library. To access it in the app, just sign in using the same account.

Do tours without paying for data

Tours work offline, so you don't have to pay roaming fees. Just download them over WiFi before you get started.

Major Landmarks

Tyskebryggen
Bryggen Hansa Quarter
Bryggen warehouses
Øvregaten
Hanseatic Assembly Rooms
Bryggen
The Hanseatic Museum and Schøtstuene assembly rooms
St. Mary's Church
Bryggens Museum

View all

Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
Bredsgården 2e, 5003 Bergen, Norway
Total distance

776m
Final location
Øvregaten 50, 5003 Bergen, Norway
Distance back to start location

30.84m

Directions to Starting Point

The tour begins in front of the red warehouse on the east side of Bryggen, not far from the crossroad with Nikolaikirkeallmenningen.

Show Directions

Gift vouchers

Buy tours for friends and family who delight in discovery

Buy Now

Buy for a group

Get 15% to 50% off when you buy for a group

Buy Now

License this tour

Adapt this tour to use your brand and suit your guests

Find out more

Tips

Places to stop along the way

Bryggen area is full of coffeeshops, restaurants and pubs with open air spaces. Pick your favorite! You'll be also surrounded by souvenir shops and art galleries.
Bryggen Museum definitely deserves a visit as well as the museum of the Schøtstuen. Religious art can be found along the naves of St. Mary's Church.

Best time of day

Anytime of the day is suitable for this tour but not too late in the evening because Bryggen might be closed. Bear in mind that Bergen is a very rainy city! Remember to have an umbrella with you, wear waterproof clothes and comfortable shoes.

Precautions

Don't forget the umbrella!

Get The App

Download tours to use them offline

Listen hands-free with GPS playback

Get turn-by-turn directions

Scan the QR Code

“This app has become my go-to app for audio tours. I pretty much use it for every trip and it works wonderfully. I highly recommend VoiceMap for travelers to truly experience cities.”

App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”