Sarpsborg kommune

Sarpsborg was founded in 1016 by King Olav Haraldsson. He had this town as his capital for several years, but left for good in 1028. He died at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030.Sarpsborg's geographical location placed the town in the front line of hostilities in the war Sweden fought against Norway and Denmark in 1567 - and the result was our town as a smoking ruin. A sad story - and this fact, together with the increasing competition in exporting of logs, made the people to move their town nearer the sea, to what today is the town of Fredrikstad.After St. Olav it went hundreds of years with peaceful sleep for Sarpsborg. But one interruption has to be mentioned: The nightmare in 1702 when the old town was completely destroyed in a gigantic landslide.Our main factory, sited near the great waterfall, is Borregaard. It was at first a sawmill, but it burnt to the ground and was replaced by a sulphate pulp mill to produce paper and wood pulp. The construction works began in 1890. Within a period of ten years the plant became the largest in the country. Today Borregaard Industries is one of the world's leaders in several chemical products.On the whole, from being one of the largest in wood forest industry in Norway several industrial concerns in Sarpsborg gradually developed towards modern, high-tech concerns. One of them, Norcool, is well known world wide for their quality productsSarpsborg todayAfter years "in the shadow" Sarpsborg again was granted town status in 1839. From the year 1992, after a resolution in the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget), Sarpsborg, Skjeberg, Tune and Varteig became one municipal unit. Today's population is 50.593 (year 2007) and the total area is 405 km2. Of this 84 km2 is cultivated earth and 32 km2 is water - the rest is mostly forests. Sarpsborg has 23 schools, 11 churches, 4 libraries and the number of civic employees is 3.223.