page_title: Strandgaten, Bergen
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Strandgaten, Bergen / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Muren in Bergen Norsk nynorsk: Muren i Bergen
context_page_description: Strandgaten is a street in the city centre of Bergen, Norway, west of the bay of Vågen. It starts at Torgallmenningen and follows the eastern shore of the Nordnes peninsula to Tidemands gate, where it becomes Nordnesgaten. The easternmost quarter of Strandgaten is a regular two-way street, while it is an eastbound one-way street between Tollbodallmenningen and Holbergsallmenningen, and between Østre Murallmenningen and Torgallmenningen. Between Holbergsallmenningen and Østre Murallmenningen the street is pedestrianised. In total, Strandgaten is approximately 1.2 km long.
context_section_description: The street was officially named "Strandgaten" in 1857, although it had gone by that name for a very long time prior to this. During the 12th century, the area around the eastern part of Strandgaten changed from a rural area dominated by Munkeliv Abbey and St. John's Priory, to a centre for trade of goods. After one of the many great fires that throughout the centuries have ravaged Bergen destroyed the easternmost part of Strandgaten in 1561, Erik Rosenkrantz, governor of Bergenhus len, ordered the creation of a broad street (an "allmenning") which would prevent future fires from spreading. Torgallmenningen (formerly Vågsallmenningen), Vetrlidsallmenningen, Korskirkeallmenningen, and many other streets in the old part of Bergen were created for the same reason. The street, formerly known as "Rosenkrantz' allmenning", is now known as "Murallmenningen". The origin of the name is the personal residence of Rosenkrantz, which he built there shortly after the fire. This building, known as "Muren" or "Murhvelvingen", has been used for a number of different purposes throughout history, and is currently home to the Buekorps Museum.
  The area between Torgallmenningen and Østre Murallmenningen was destroyed in the Bergen fire of 1916. The reconstruction plans included a new street layout, which better conformed to the ideals of the era, rather than those of 1756, when the area had last burned. The streets were straightened and widened. Strandgaten was no exception; its eastern end was moved southwards, while its western end was moved northwards. Smørsallmenningen, a street which had intersected Strandgaten, was removed.
  The Jewish community in Bergen consisted of around 60 persons in the years before World War II, who in total owned six retail stores in Strandgaten. Because of the deportation of the Jews only one store remained after the war, and with new owners. During the war, British bombers destroyed many of the wooden houses on Nordnes. On 20 April 1944, the German steam trawler Voorbode, loaded with dynamite, exploded in Vågen, and destroyed the area around Tollboden and Nykirken, as well as a large number of houses in the surrounding neighbourhoods and on the other side of the bay.
  The war was followed by a period of reconstruction and re-purposing. There were plans to tear down several of the old neighbourhoods in central Bergen, including Marken and most of the neighbourhoods on the Nordnes peninsula, including Strandgaten west of Østre Murallmenningen. The plans were abandoned by the city government in 1974. However, the north-eastern part of the Nordnes peninsula, including about half of Strandgaten, which had been the most damaged during World War II, was cleared out and the ruins and remaining buildings were replaced with large apartment buildings. The stretch of Strandgaten between Murallmenningen and Hobergsallmenningen, was spared. It was pedestrianised in 1971, and is now known as "Gågaten", literally "the walking street".
caption: Murhvelvingen at Østre Murallmenning, where the Buekorps Museum is located
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