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Photo: Fred Berntsen
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Kongsvinger is rightly famous for its many fortifications. As a jewel, towering over the town, is Kongsvinger Fortress itself, dating back to 1682. Right under the walls of the fortress lies the vintage garrison township of Øvrebyen, – now a village of distinct character and the oldest urban settlement in Kongsvinger. The houses, mostly wooden ones, dating from the 18th and 19th century, are built in style to accommodate the officer corps serving at the fortress, or of a more modest style, to serve as dwellings for soldiers of lower rank and for various kinds of craftsmen.
The ancient Winger Royal Passageway, built to connect Norway and Sweden, turned Kongsvinger into a key junction and made it necessary to build fortifications for its protection. Therefore there are several older bastions on the Glomma embankment and elsewhere in the region.
Business
Kongsvinger of today is a modern centre of commerce, culture and communications, offering just about everything one would need for a pleasant and comfortable stay. Surrounded by great forests and farmland, the town itself has a multitude of services and industries, partly also branching out internationally, electronic technology, plastic- and mechanical production, construction etc.
Education
Kongsvinger is a regional centre for education, offering various high school choices for the youth, even a sports gymnasium. There is also a university seminar offering courses for teachers, nurses and computing- and automation personnel.
History and culture
Kongsvinger houses the National Women’s Museum, which, to our knowledge, is one out of three such institutions in the whole world. Its main aim is to collect documentation and focus on the life and work of Norwegian women in our cultural history up to present time. The building itself, Villa Rolighed, dating from 1857, is a very early and representative house in the Swiss style, which was introduced in Norway by a German engineer who settled in Kongsvinger. The style became very popular throughout southern Norway, especially when it comes to bourgeois homes and bigger farmhouses.
Kongsvinger of today is a centre with a multitude of cultural and leisure activities. Whatever your interests may be, you will always find a group of people to share them with.
Nature and activities
In Kongsvinger you are indeed brought into close contact with the charming and friendly forest terrain of South-Eastern Norway. Rivers and lots of lakes are ideal for swimming, fishing and canoeing and other boat sports.
We are particularly proud of the many hiking paths in the district. One of them is particularly unique and runs a full 240 km, along the border to Sweden. Also a number of historical paths that served as escape routes to Sweden during the German occupation 1940–45 are worth to mention.
In addition to this an almost unlimited mileage of quiet minor roads and tracks for bicycling is available. There are many attractive places to satisfy the wishes of the anglers, among them is the river Glomma that runs through the centre of the town and has a rich stock of both whitefish species and trout.
Short facts
Land disposal: 1 025 km²
Number of inhabitants: 17 500
Distance from Oslo to Kongsvinger: 95 km
Distance from Oslo Airport Gardermoen to Kongsvinger: 65 km
Distance to the Swedish border: 40 km
Distance from Hamar to Kongsvinger: 100 km
For more information, visit Kongsvinger at WikiPedia.
Norsk
