Get in
Fredrikstad is served by the Norwegian State Railway on the Oslo-Halden line. There are also numerous express busses between Oslo and the towns and cities in Østfold, including Fredrikstad.
The main airport serving eastern Norway is Oslo Gardermoen (OSL), which unfortunately is far north of Oslo while Fredrikstad is far south of Oslo. Nevertheless, there is a bus service (line F11) between Fredrikstad and the airport taking slightly over two hours.
Some people find a good deal if they fly to Gothenburg instead, and take the train or drive from there. Gothenburg is even further from Fredrikstad than OSL is (though the difference in time is less than an hour), but sometimes the tickets might be better there.
A new passenger terminal is being built at the military airport at Rygge near Moss which will open in October 2007 and be considerably closer, but it is not clear yet what airlines are going to fly there, and to what destinations that will be.
See
The old fortified city, founded in 1567 and Kongsten fortress
(previously Frederiksstad) (literally Fredrik's Town) is a city and municipality in the county of Østfold, Norway.
The city of Fredrikstad was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality of Glemmen was merged with Fredrikstad Janaury 1, 1964 - and the rural municipalities of Borge, Onsøy, Kråkerøy and Rolvsøy were merged with Fredrikstad January 1, 1994.
The city straddles the river Glomma where it meets the sea. With Sarpsborg, Fredrikstad forms the fifth largest urban area in Norway. As of April 1st 2006, according to Statistics Norway these two municipalitites have a total population of 121,097 - 70,962 in Fredrikstad and 50,135 in Sarpsborg.
Fredrikstad was built at the mouth of Glomma as a replacement, after Sarpsborg (15 km upstream) was burned down by the Swedes. It was founded in 1567 by king Frederik II. Almost half the population of Sarpsborg stayed behind, and rebuilt their old town at its original site.
The city centre is situated on the west bank of river Glomma, while the old town on the east bank is Northern Europe's best preserved fortified town.
Fredrikstad used to have a large sawmill industry and was an important harbour for timber export, then later on shipbuilding, until the main yard was closed in the 1980s. The main industries are currently various chemical plants and other light industry.
In 2005, Fredrikstad was a host port for the Tall Ships' Race.
The name
The city was named after the Danish-Norwegian king Frederik II in 1569. The last element is stad m 'city'.
Until 1877 the name was written Frederiksstad, in the period 1877-1888 Fredriksstad, from 1889 on Fredrikstad.
History
After Sarpsborg was burned to the ground during the Northern Seven Years' War, the ruling king,
Frederick II of Denmark, decided by a royal decret to rebuild the city 15 km south of the original
location. This new location's vicinity to the sea and with large accessible surrounding areas,
made it more ideal than the old location. The name Fredrikstad was first used in a letter from the King
dated february 6th 1569. The temporary fortification built during the Hannibal War (1644-1645)
between Sweden and Denmark/Norway, became permanent in the 1660s. The work on the fortifications was
first led by William de Coucheron and later Johan Caspar von Cicignon. During the next 60 years several
fortifications around Fredrikstad were built, including Isegran, Kongsten and Cicignon. In 1735 a
suburb on the western side of Glomma, Vestsiden, was founded. This part later grew faster than
the old city, and became the dominant city centre. Most of the buildings in the old city burnt
down during a fire in 1764.
In the 1840s timber exporting from Fredrikstad started to gain momentum. In the 1860s several steam
powered saws were built along the river, and in 1879 the railway reached Fredrikstad, leading to
further growth. With the decline of the timber exports as a result of the modernisation of
wood-processing industries in the early 1900s, Fredrikstad's production changed to other types
of products. It later became one of Norway's most important industrial centres, famous for
its large shipyard, Fredrikstad Mekaniske Verksted.
Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1967), but it is based upon a seal from 1610. It shows a bear guarding a castle.
Well known people from Fredrikstad
References
