Norway is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and a beautiful place. Following is a summary of background information you should know before taking a trip.

An Overview of Norway for Travelers

The official name of Norway is the Kingdom of Norway. The country covers an area of mainland and accompanying island territories. The total size of Norway is approximately 150,000 square miles. For comparison purposes, this makes the country slightly larger than the State of New Mexico in the United States.

The capital of the Kingdom of Norway is Oslo, which is also the biggest population center with over 520,000 residents. Other major cities of note include Bergen with just under a quarter of a million residents, Trondheim with 150,000 residents and Stavanger with roughly 110,000 residents.

The terrain of Norway can be described as extreme with high plateaus, steep fjords, mountains, and fertile valleys. The climate is temperate along the coast, but much colder inland. With its far north location, Norway experiences very long days during summer months and equally long nights during winter. During summer, it can stay light until close to midnight.

Citizens of Norway are known as Norwegians. The most recent estimate of the total population for Norway was 4,593,000 in 2006. The population is not exactly expanding with annual growth rate just above zero at .41 percent. To provide perspective, there is approximately one Norwegian for every 15 square miles of land.

Ethnicity in Norway is primarily a blend of peoples from the Scandinavian countries in antiquity. The dominant majority is a mix of Nordic, Alpine and Baltic peoples intermixed over time. Norway does not have a strong immigrant movement with only 300,000 immigrants as of 2005.

From a religious perspective, the Church of Norway is the dominant faith with over 87 percent of Norwegians claiming it as their faith. The Church of Norway is a Lutheran denomination. No other religion is able to claim more than two percent of the population as followers, but pockets of Pentecostal Christian, Roman Catholic and Muslim can be found here and there.

The Kingdom of Norway has two official languages – Bokmaal Norwegian and Nynorsk Norwegian. English is also widely spoken by most and taught in the school system. Small pockets of Sami and Finish speaking minorities also exist.

Although statistically impossible, Norway claims a literacy rate of 100 percent. The true number if probably not much less due to compulsory education. Life expectancy for male Norwegians is 76 years of age, while women live an additional five years on average.

As this background information reveals, this country to the far north has led a somewhat isolated existence. That being said, the people are universally pleasant and the country is stunningly beautiful.

Situated far from centres of culture such as Florence, Rome and Paris, Norway has often been isolated from major European cultural trends and developments. Yet a strong culture was flourishing here from at least the ninth century.
Findings from burial sites indicate that the Vikings were great shipbuilders with a strongly-developed artistic tradition represented in crafts, wood carving and jewellery. Significantly, these skills were also passed on to those parts of Europe which they occupied. The beautifully-decorated stave churches built after Christianity was introduced into Norway also underscore the artistic abilities of the Norwegian people. The Gothic cathedral of Trondheim, known as Nidarosdomen, represents a golden age of Norwegian cultural development. It was the last monument to be erected before the dark era in which nearly half the population was wiped out by bubonic plague and Norway ceased to be an independent state.

During the union with Denmark, Copenhagen functioned as the capital of Norway, so that not only the written language, but also Norwegian culture and artistic life became strongly influenced by Denmark. In Copenhagen Norwegian artists found work opportunities which were simply not available to them in Norway; Ludvig Holberg staged his early plays there, whilst Copenhagen’s University was the only institution at which Norwegians could undertake academic studies. As a result, when it was finally reinstated as an independent nation, Norway had relatively little of the cultural life so typical of other European capitals during the 19th century. However, a vigorous culture was developing in the regions, embracing architecture, decorative arts, music and folk tales. Furthermore, when Romanticism experienced its breakthrough in Europe, Norwegian artists found ready inspiration in the breathtaking landscapes of their motherland. Subsequently the second half of the 19th century witnessed a new era of rich artistic development and the work of Henrik Ibsen, alongside the paintings of Edvard Munch, became a part of international cultural history.
During the course of the 20th century Norway, like many other countries, was affected by many foreign (and particularly since World War II, American) cultural influences. This development, taking place against a background of widespread determination to uphold and support the uniqueness of Norwegian culture, has created an interesting mixed expression in contemporary Norwegian artistic life.

In recent decades the Norwegian cultural sector has prospered and a number of literary and performing artists – particularly in the fields of contemporary dance, fine arts and music – have won international acclaim for their work. It is hoped that in the future their achievements will be recognised alongside the more high-profile activities of Norway’s scientists and adventurers who have hitherto been responsible for putting Norway on the world map.
This section takes a look at developments and trends in each Norwegian cultural sector, backed up with detailed directory entries for key organisations and bodies throughout the country. Where possible, other web resources are listed to enable the reader to go deeper into each sector. Please use the navigation bar on the left to explore this rich and colourful mix of creativity and heritage.