The Bear Pit

A gift from shipowner Knut Knutsen and his wife Elisabeth, the town hall was designed by architects Gudolf Blakstad and Hermann Munthe-Kaas and opened in 1931.

A museum of local culture and history.

Church of Norway (Lutheran) parish church, built in 1901, in the centre of Haugesund with a capacity of 1050.

Copper from Visnes was used on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. A much smaller version of the statue is at Visnes to commemorate the connection. Guided tours are offered, including peasant re-enactments with 19th-century crofters’ lunches.

2 km north of downtown Haugesund you will find Haraldshaugen, a testimony to the fact that although the city is young, the area has been known and used for thousands of years. Haraldshaugen consists of four important monuments in Norwegian history; the burial mound, the stone cross, the church site, and the National Monument (Haraldsstøtta). The latter was unveiled in 1872 in commemoration of Harald Fairhair’s gathering of Norway into one kingdom. The legend goes that he was buried here.

The Icelandic Book of Settlement, Landnáma, says that Flòke Vilgjerdson build a beacon at Ryvarden in 868 before he sailed to Iceland. He was the first man to sail to Iceland with the purpose of settling there, and he is also the one who gave Iceland its name. The story goes that he used three ravens to show him the way, hence the name he is now known by; Ravnafloke (Raven-Floke). The first Viking raid is also said to have originated from Ryvarden. There is a small museum at Ryvarden telling the story of Ravnafloke. Of course, the highlight of a trip to Ryvarden, about 40 min by car north of Haugesund, is the breathtaking scenery.