Portal:Norway

Magnus Haraldsson (Old Norse: Magnús Haraldsson; c. 1048 – 28 April 1069) was King of Norway from 1066 to 1069, jointly with his brother Olaf Kyrre from 1067. He was not included in official Norwegian regnal lists until modern times, but has since been counted as Magnus II.

A son of King Harald Hardrada, Magnus was in 1058 appointed nominal leader of an expedition into the Irish Sea while still only a child. He appears to have assisted Welsh ruler Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia in their struggles against Wessex, although his primary objective may have been to assert control over Orkney. He later accompanied his father in Harald's campaign against Denmark in 1062, and was appointed regent and made king before Harald's fatal invasion of England in 1066. Magnus briefly ruled Norway alone thereafter, until his younger brother Olaf returned from England in 1067. (Full article...)

Torp Station (Norwegian: Torp stasjon), also known as Sandefjord Airport Station (Sandefjord Lufthavn stasjon), is on the Vestfold Line in Sandefjord Municipality, in Vestfold county, Norway. It is served with regional trains operated by Vy. Located close to Sandefjord Airport, Torp, the station is served by a free four-minute shuttle bus service from the station to the airport. The trains operate northwards via towns in Vestfold to Drammen and Oslo and onwards via Oslo Airport, Gardermoen to towns in Innlandet county. Southwards, the trains serve Sandefjord, Larvik and Grenland.

The station opened as Raastad, later Råstad, in 1881. It had a single building, designed by Balthazar Lange. It was upgraded with a passing loop in 1910, but this was removed in 1971, and the station was closed in 1978. In 2008, the station reopened to serve the airport. The station is owned by the Norwegian National Rail Administration. (Full article...)

Operation Freshman was the codename given to a British airborne operation conducted in November 1942 during World War II. It was the first British airborne operation using Airspeed Horsa gliders, and its target was the Vemork Norsk Hydro hydrogen electrolysis plant in Telemark, Norway which produced heavy water as a by-product.

By 1942, the German nuclear weapons programme had come close to being able to develop a nuclear reactor, but for the reactor to function it would require a great deal of heavy water. The source of the heavy water was the Norsk Hydro plant, which had been occupied since 1940. (Full article...)

Ås Station (Norwegian: Ås stasjon) is a railway station in Ås, Norway on the Østfold Line. The station was opened on 2 January 1879 and designed by Peter A. Blix in Swiss chalet style. The station was modernized in 1992, when the section between Ski and Moss was upgraded to double track and speeds up to 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph). In 2006, a cultural meeting place comprising a café, concert hall and an art exhibition was established inside the station's building, initiated by the local organization "Galleri Texas" and to the governmental corporation Follo Futura. Galleri Texas and Follo Futura had been arguing a while over how the operating of the café should be, and in 2010, all the maintenance and operation of the meeting place were transferred entirely from Galleri Texas to Follo Futura, since Galleri Texas no longer were satisfied with Follo Futuras work. The station is served by commuter trains on the Line L21 of the Oslo Commuter Rail, running from Stabekk over Oslo to Moss. Ski Station and Vestby Station are the preceding and the following stations, respectively. (Full article...)

SL79 is a class of 40 articulated trams operated by the Oslo Tramway of Norway. The trams were a variation of the Duewag trams that had been developed by the German manufacturer since the 1950s. The six-axle vehicles are unidirectional with four doors on the right side. The trams can seat 77 passengers three and four abreast, with an additional 91 people able to stand. Power output is 434 kilowatts (582 hp), provided by two motors on the two end bogies, that supplement a central unpowered Jacobs bogie located under the articulation. The trams are 23.0 metres (75.5 ft) long and 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) wide. They are capable of 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph) and have standard gauge.

They were built in two series, the first of 25 units delivered in 1982–84, and the second of 15 units delivered in 1989–90. The first 10 units were built by Duewag, while the last 30 were built in Norway by Strømmen. They were numbered 101 through 140. The two series vary slightly in specifications. The trams were ordered in 1979 after the 1977 decision to not close the tramway, after the SM53 were finished delivered in 1958. The SL79 mainly serves on lines 11, 12 and 19. However, during rush hour, SL79 trams supplement SL95s on line 13. Except those with an advertising livery, the trams are painted a light blue. (Full article...)

NSB Class 64 (Norwegian: NSB type 64) is a class of three electric multiple units built by Strømmens Værksted for the Norwegian State Railways. Delivered in 1935, they were built for the opening of the Hardanger Line and served there until 1985, when the line closed and the trains were retired. They also periodically served on the Flåm Line. The delivery consisted of three motor cars and four carriages, with each train consisting of up to three units. The motor cars were 16.3 meters (53 ft) long, had a power output of 464 kilowatts (622 hp) and were capable of 50 km/h (31 mph). The motor units were given road numbers 505 through 507. Two of the units have been preserved by the Norwegian Railway Club and are at Garnes Station. (Full article...)

The Stord Bridge (Norwegian: Stordabrua) is a suspension bridge which crosses Digernessundet between the islands of Stord and Føyno in Stord Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The bridge is 1,077 meters (3,533 ft) long, has a main span of 677 meters (2,221 ft) and a clearance below of 18 meters (59 ft). It carries two lanes of European Route E39 and a combined pedestrian and bicycle pathway. It is part of the Triangle Link, a fixed link which connects Stord to Bømlo, and both to the mainland. In 2010, the bridge had an average 5,021 vehicles per day. The bridge and the link was a toll road from the opening until 30 May 2013.

Plans for a crossing arose in the 1960s; and until the 1990s proposals were for a pontoon bridge further north. The Stord Bridge was conceived after the decision to combine the crossing with the Bømlafjord Tunnel. The project was resisted both by local environmental groups and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, the latter because the new plans would delay completion. Construction was undertaken by a joint venue between NCC and HBG Steel Structures. Construction started in 1999 and was the first bridge in Norway to have the cables spun on-site. The bridge cost 442 million Norwegian krone (NOK) and was taken into use on 27 December 2000. (Full article...)

Erling Folkvord (15 June 1949 – 1 March 2024) was a Norwegian politician for the Red Party and a member of the Parliament of Norway. A revolutionary socialist, he was one of the leading members of the Workers' Communist Party and the Red Electoral Alliance before they merged to form Red. He sat as a member of the Parliament of Norway from 1993 to 1997, becoming the first socialist to the left of the Socialist Left Party and the Labour Party in parliament since 1961. He later lost his position in 1997 and was a candidate for parliament until his death. He was a member of the Oslo City Council from 1983 to 1993, and again from 1999 to 2011. Folkvord became one of the best-known Norwegian politicians on the left who was not connected with the Labour Party and the Socialist Left Party.

In the early part of his political career, Folkvord was a member of the Red Electoral Alliance. Known for working on several corruption cases earned him the nickname the "watch dog". Folkvord's political views turned to communism and anti-capitalism when he became a member of the Workers' Communist Party. From 1990 to 1997, he was Deputy Leader of the Workers' Communist Party, and in 2001 he became Deputy Leader of the Red Electoral Alliance alongside Chris Hartmann. (Full article...)

Tromsø Satellite Station (Norwegian: Tromsø Satellittstasjon, TSS), until 1988 known as Tromsø Telemetry Station (Norwegian: Tromsø telemetristasjon), is a satellite earth station located in Tromsø, Norway. The facility is owned by Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), a joint venture between the Kongsberg Group and the Norwegian Space Centre (NSC). In addition to hosting its own antennas serving thirty satellites, TSS acts as the center-point of KSAT's operations and provides backbone services for the high Arctic Svalbard Satellite Station (SvalSat) and the Antarctic Troll Satellite Station (TrollSat).

Originally proposed in 1965, the station was established by the Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (NTNF) in 1967 in close cooperation with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (NDRE) and located adjacent to Tromsø Geophysical Observatory. From its inception until 1974, it served low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites operated by the European Space Research Organization (ESRO). To a lesser extent it was also used by Canadian Space Agency and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) LEO satellites. Norway's non-membership in ESRO and later the European Space Agency (ESA) caused Tromsø to not become a ground station for Landsat. A gradual increase in operations occurred from 1982, such as for the International Cospas-Sarsat Programme and the European Remote-Sensing Satellite. TSS became part of NSC in 1990, although it was partially sold to the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) in 1995. SvalSat merged with TSS in 2002 to form KSAT. (Full article...)

Unity Arena, previously known as Telenor Arena and Fornebu Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena located at Fornebu in Bærum, outside Oslo, Norway. It serves as a venue for a variety of events, including concerts, exhibitions, action shows, family shows, TV and sport. It has a capacity for 15,000 spectators for sports and 25,000 for concerts, including 40 luxury boxes and club seating for 1,200. The venue has a fixed roof and an asphalt floor. The venue was opened ahead of the 2009 Norwegian football season as a replacement for Nadderud Stadion. It cost 585 million Norwegian kroner (NOK) to build, of which NOK 300 million was for the sports venue. The arena will host the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship with the country, Croatia and Denmark including the final.

During the 2000s, Nadderud was below standards for play in the top national league. Fornebu was at the time undergoing an urban redevelopment; after several years of negotiations and public grants, Stabæk secured a lot in 2004. Construction started in 2007. In 2010, a disagreement arose between the club and venue-owner Kjell Chr. Ulrichsen, with the latter demanding that the team leave the venue to allow for more event revenue. Telenor Arena has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, as well as concerts by artists and bands of international fame, such as Madonna, Britney Spears, The Weeknd, Tina Turner, Adele, Muse, Foo Fighters, Roger Waters (the Wall tour), Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Iron Maiden, Metallica, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, Justin Bieber, Celine Dion and Drake. Telenor holds the naming rights. (Full article...)

Jørgine Anna Sverdrup "Gina" Krog (20 June 1847 – 14 April 1916) was a Norwegian suffragist, teacher, liberal politician, writer and editor, and a major figure in liberal feminism in Scandinavia.

She played a central role in the Norwegian liberal women's rights movement from the 1880s until her death, notably as a leading campaigner for women's right to vote. In 1884, Krog co-founded the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights with liberal MP Hagbart Berner. Over the next two decades, Krog co-founded the Women's Voting Association, the National Association for Women's Suffrage, and the Norwegian National Women's Council, spearheading the presentation of women's suffrage proposals to the Storting (the Norwegian parliament). Krog wrote articles and gave speeches, travelling throughout Europe and North America to attend international women's rights conferences. She was editor of the Norwegian feminist periodical Nylænde (New Land) from 1887 until her death in 1916. She was an early member of the Liberal Party and served as a deputy member of its national board. Krog was strongly inspired by the American liberal women's rights movement spearheaded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. (Full article...)

The Hardanger Line (Norwegian: Hardangerbana or Hardangerbanen) was a 27.45-kilometre (17.06 mi) railway between Voss and Granvin in Hordaland, Norway. The line connected to the Bergen Line in Voss and ran to the Hardangerfjord and the district of Hardanger. Construction started in 1921, but the line did not open until 1 April 1935. Owned and operated by Norwegian State Railways (NSB), passenger transport was provided by three NSB Class 64 electric multiple units. They remained in use until 1985 when passenger transport was terminated. All transport ceased in 1988, and 21 kilometres (13 mi) of the line was demolished in 1991. The 3 kilometres (2 mi) from Voss to Palmafoss is still intact and is owned by the Norwegian National Rail Administration. The line featured six stations, fourteen halts and four tunnels and was one of Norway's steepest railways. It was NSB's first line to be electrified. The line was known as the Granvin Line (Granvinbanen) until February 1936. In 2016, Palmafoss established an emergency freight terminal and the tracks were re-established. (Full article...)

Forskningsparken is a rapid transit station on the Sognsvann Line of the Oslo Metro. It also serves as a light rail station for the Ullevål Hageby Line of the Oslo Tramway. It is located at the north of the Blindern campus of the University of Oslo in the Nordre Aker borough of Oslo, Norway. The decision to build the station was made in 1998, and it opened in 1999, replacing the former station Vestgrensa, and allowed interchange between the metro and the tramway. The Ullevål Hageby Line was at the same time extended to serve the new Rikshospitalet. Forskningsparken is served by lines 4 and 5 of the metro, each operating every 15 minutes and providing services along both the Sognsvann Line and the Ring Line. Lines 17 and 18 of the tramway serve Forskningsparken, operating to Rikshospitalet and the city center. (Full article...)

SS Kommandøren was a steel-hulled passenger/cargo steamship built in Norway in 1891. She served as a communications link between the regional capital of Western Norway, Bergen, and the various communities of Sogn og Fjordane county.

Following the 9 April 1940 German invasion of Norway, she was requisitioned by the Norwegian authorities and carried troops for the Norwegian war effort until the forces in Western Norway ceased fighting on 2 May 1940. (Full article...)

The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 18 May 1996 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) and presented by Ingvild Bryn and Morten Harket, the contest was held in Norway following the country's victory at the 1995 contest with the song "Nocturne" by Secret Garden.

Thirty countries submitted entries to the contest, with a non-public, audio-only qualifying round held two months before the final to reduce the number of participants from 30 to 23. The entries from Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Macedonia, Romania, and Russia were subsequently eliminated, which resulted in Germany being absent from the contest for the first – and as of 2024 only – time. (Full article...)

The 1994 national convention of the Progress Party of Norway was held from 15 April to 17 April at the hotel Bolkesjø Turisthotell in Bolkesjø, Telemark. It was originally set up to be a normal convention with 157 delegates in a non-election year, but because of mounting antagonism between a traditionalist and a libertarian faction, it became clear some months before the conventions that personal positions could be at stake. The party leader seat, held by Carl I. Hagen since 1978, was up for re-election. The deputy leaders Ellen Wibe and Hans J. Røsjorde was not up for election until 1995, but there were talks about forming a motion of no confidence against Wibe. The political disagreements roughly corresponded to a cleavage between two factions.

The traditionalist (also called populist) faction was represented by party leader Carl I. Hagen, Jan Simonsen, Fridtjof Frank Gundersen, Vidar Kleppe, Øystein Hedstrøm, Lodve Solholm and Eli Hagen. The libertarians of the party were first and foremost the deputy leader Ellen Wibe and four members of Parliament (by some called the "band of four"), Ellen Christine Christiansen, Oscar D. Hillgaar, Roy N. Wetterstad and Stephen Bråthen. Buskerud county leader Geir Thoresen, Akershus county leader Per Aage Pleym Christensen and Youth of the Progress Party leader Lars Erik Grønntun were other prominent libertarians. Both during the preceding months and on the opening day, resolutions were passed which ensured full dominance for Carl I. Hagen and the policies of his faction. Wibe resigned as deputy leader, and Carl I. Hagen's men (there were no women left in the leadership) also dominated the new central committee. The personal issues totally overshadowed the regular political debate, and as early as on 17 April the convention was famously dubbed as the "national convention at Dolkesjø"—derived from dolk, the Norwegian word for dagger. (Full article...)

Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben (Norwegian: Ny-Ålesund flyplass, Hamnerabben; ICAO: ENAS) is an airport serving the research community of Ny-Ålesund in Svalbard, Norway. The airport is owned by Kings Bay, who also owns the company town. The only flights available are to Svalbard Airport, Longyear, operated two to four times a week by Lufttransport using Dornier 228 aircraft. The services are organized as corporate charters and tickets are only available after permission from Kings Bay.

Between 1925 and 1928, Ny-Ålesund saw four air expeditions to the North Pole, two of which required the construction of an airship hangar and mast. The first proposal for an airport in Ny-Ålesund was launched in 1956 by Norsk Polar Navigasjon, who proposed an airport at Kvadehuksletta. Soviet protests against the airport caused the Norwegian authorities to oppose the plans, which were laid to rest in the early 1960s. Construction at Hamnerabben started in 1965 following the decision to build Kongsfjord Telemetry Station. The airport first hosted service to temporary landing strips near Longyearbyen, but from 1975 served Svalbard Airport. Lufttransport started flights with helicopters in the 1980s, but from 1989 has flown with fixed-wing aircraft. (Full article...)

Elisenberg station (Norwegian: Elisenberg stasjon) is an unfinished railway station within the Oslo Tunnel on the Drammen Line in Oslo, Norway. The ghost station was partially built during the construction of the tunnel between 1971 and 1980, but has never been put into use. It is located between Nationaltheatret Station and Skøyen Station, at Elisenberg in Frogner. A 220-meter (720 ft) long center platform and part of the access way has been built, but never completed. While the station initially was not put into use because of lack of funds to complete it, it is now unlikely that it will ever be completed, as the need for a station has disappeared and an opening would need a large investment of funds. (Full article...)

The Kingdom of the Isles was a Norse-Gaelic kingdom comprising the Isle of Man, the Hebrides and the islands of the Clyde from the 9th to the 13th centuries AD. The islands were known to the Norsemen as the Suðreyjar, or "Southern Isles" as distinct from the Norðreyjar or Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland. In Scottish Gaelic, the kingdom is known as Rìoghachd nan Eilean. The territory is sometimes called the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, although only some of the later rulers claimed that title. The historical record is incomplete, and the kingdom was not a continuous entity throughout the entire period. At times the rulers were independent of external control, although for much of the period they had overlords in Norway, Ireland, England, Scotland or Orkney. At times there also appear to have been competing claims for all or parts of the territory. The islands have a total land area of over 8,300 square kilometres (3,205 sq mi) and extend for more than 500 kilometres (310 mi) from north to south.

Viking influence in the area began in the late 8th century, and whilst there is no doubt that the Uí Ímair dynasty played a prominent role in this early period, the records for the dates and details of the rulers are speculative until the mid-10th century. Hostility between the Kings of the Isles and the rulers of Ireland, and intervention by the crown of Norway (either directly or through their vassal the Earl of Orkney) were recurring themes. (Full article...)

The Progress Party (Bokmål: Fremskrittspartiet; Nynorsk: Framstegspartiet, FrP; Northern Sami: Ovddádusbellodat), is a political party in Norway. It is generally positioned to the right of the Conservative Party, and is considered the most right-wing party to be represented in parliament. The FrP has traditionally self-identified as classical-liberal and as a libertarian party. It is often described as right-wing populist, which has been disputed in public discourse, and has been described by some academics as far-right. By 2020, the party attained a growing national conservative faction. After the 2017 parliamentary election, it was Norway's third largest political party, with 26 representatives in the Storting. It was a partner in the government coalition led by the Conservative Party from 2013 to 2020.

The Progress Party focuses on law and order, downsizing the bureaucracy and the public sector; the FrP self-identifies as an economic liberal party which competes with the left to represent the workers of Norway. The party has officially opposed Norwegian membership in the European Union since 2016, after having been neutral on the issue before. The Progress Party calls for a strict immigration policy, integration of immigrants and for the removal of illegal immigrants or foreigners who commit crimes. During its time in coalition government from 2013, the party oversaw the creation of a Minister for Integration and increased the process of deporting failed asylum seekers or migrants with criminal convictions. It has been described as anti-immigration; nevertheless, the FrP also supports free migration to and from the European Union through the European Economic Area as well as helping refugees through the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Progress Party has been amenable to receiving Ukrainian refugees. (Full article...)

Class B and Class E, normally referred to as Gullfisk (Norwegian for "goldfish"), were a class of 46 trams built by Strømmens Værksted and Skabo Jernbanevognfabrikk for Oslo Sporveier and Bærumsbanen of Oslo, Norway, in 1937 and 1939. They were the first aluminium trams to operate on the Oslo Tramway and the first bogie trams to operate on street lines. They had contemporary modern electronic equipment, a streamlined shape, and comfortable accommodation. Until 1964, they were also faster than any other Norwegian tramcar or suburban railcar.

Six prototype trams were delivered by Strømmen in 1937, with four different motor solutions, from AEG, Siemens, Vickers and Norsk Elektrisk & Brown Boveri (NEBB). None of these were particularly successful, and the 40 serial production trams used conventional motors from ELIN. These were delivered in 1939, with 20 (class E) being used by Oslo Sporveier mainly on the Kjelsås Line, but also on other services. The remaining 20 trams (class B) were leased to Bærumsbanen, that used them on the Kolsås and Østensjø Lines, and later on the Ekeberg Line. (Full article...)

Rødkleiva is a hill located in Nordmarka in Oslo, Norway. It was taken into use as a slalom hill in 1947 and was used for the combined event of the Holmenkollen Ski Festival eleven times between 1947 and 1963. It hosted the slalom events for the 1952 Winter Olympics, which saw a crowd of at least 25,000 spectators. The Olympic course was 422.5 meters (1,386 ft) long and had a drop of 169 meters (554 ft). The course gradually fell into disrepair and was closed in 1988.

The hill has several times been launched as a potential location for a ski jumping hill. The first idea came in 1912; later options to replace Holmenkollbakken resurfaced during the 1930s and the 1970s, but were quickly rejected. With the closing of Midtstubakken, Oslo's normal hill, in the late 1980s, Rødkleiva was again launched as a jumping hill. Vikersundbakken—Northern Europe's only ski flying hill—was in the late 1990s proposed replaced by a new hill in Rødkleiva. The plans received support from the Norwegian Ski Federation, but the municipality and state were not interested in issuing grants and the proposal was finally laid to rest in 2006. (Full article...)

NSB Class 73 (Norwegian: NSB-type 73) is a class of 22 electric multiple units built by Adtranz for the Norwegian State Railways. The four-car trains were modifications of Class 71, which was again based on the Swedish X2. The A-series consists of 16 intercity trains; they were delivered in 1999 and 2000 and are used on the Bergen, Dovre and Sørland Lines. The intercity service was branded as Signatur until 2003. The B-series consists of six regional trains delivered in 2002 and used on the Østfold Line. The regional trains were originally part of the Agenda concept. The trains have a power output of 2,646 kilowatts (3,548 hp) and a maximum speed of 210 km/h (130 mph). They have an overall length of 108 meters (354 ft) and have a capacity for 208 seated passengers in the A-series and 250 in the B-series. The trains have a tilting mechanism allowing for faster travel through curves.

The trains were delivered late, and were put into service after the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate had given dispensation from parts of the safety regulation. On 17 June 2000, a train derailed at Nelaug Station after an axle broke. The class was grounded for a month, and the investigation showed both design errors, and lack of proper inspection and testing. After they were put back into service, they were not allowed to use the tilting mechanism—thus not being allowed to run faster than their predecessors. The construction was reinforced, and in 2004, the tilting mechanism was re-enabled along with higher speeds. In 2007, a train derailed on the Bergen Line, and questions were raised about the trains' ability to operate in snow, however the accident report showed that the trains' front axle load was just as able to cope with heavy snow conditions as the locomotives running on the line, and that the derailment would have been more severe if the same conditions would hit a normal train with less secure connections between carriages. On 16 June 2011, two units were destroyed when the train ran into a fire in a snow tunnel at Hallingskeid Station. (Full article...)

A/S Bergen Aviation was a Norwegian airline that never operated any scheduled flights. Based in Bergen and established in 1981, it operated 2 Piper Cheyenne 2 turboprop for charter. It was originally established by the Bird Technology Group and was acquired by As Nevi in the Vestagroup in 1983. This was a time when SAS did not service Bergen well except Oslo and Copenhagen further adding to Flesland's decline as an important airport.

Later it signed an agreement to fly charter flights with Vestlandsreiser in 1986. It had also made an unsuccessful attempt to receive concession to operate domestic scheduled flights between Oslo Airport, Fornebu and Bergen Airport, Flesland. The airline bought 2 Sud Aviation Caravelle, but never received permission to operate. One Caravelle was severely damaged under take-off at Arlanda Airport in 1986 and left there for various kind of training for several years. The crash saved Bergen Aviation financially. (Full article...)

Vikingskipet ("The Viking Ship"), officially known as Hamar Olympic Hall (Norwegian: Hamar olympiahall), is an indoor multi-use sport and event venue in Hamar, Norway. It was built as the speed skating rink for the 1994 Winter Olympics, and has since also hosted events and tournaments in ice speedway, motorcycle speedway, rally, association football, bandy, ice sledge speed racing, flying disc and track cycling. The arena is also used for concerts, trade fair and the annual computer party The Gathering. It is the home arena of Hamar IL bandy team. The venue is owned by Hamar Municipality, and along with Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre is run by the municipal Hamar Olympiske Anlegg. Vikingskipet has a capacity for 10,600 spectators during sporting events and 20,000 during concerts.

The arena was designed by Niels Torp, and Biong & Biong, and opened on 19 December 1992. The complex cost 230 million Norwegian krone (NOK). The construction location was controversial, as it is located at Åkervika, a Ramsar site. It is Norway's national venue for speed skating and bandy, and holds annual ISU Speed Skating World Cup races, as well as regular world championships. It has among other things hosted tournaments of the World Allround Speed Skating Championships, European Speed Skating Championships, World Single Distance Championships, World Sprint Speed Skating Championships, UCI Track Cycling World Championships, Speedway Grand Prix and World Rally Championship. (Full article...)