Sarpsborg

The city was founded as Borg by the famous Viking King Olav Haraldsson (Saint Olav) in 1016. Unfortunately most of the old city landed in the river Glomma, after a mudslide in 1702. The city was rebuilt at a safer location but was burnt down to the ground by Swedish invaders in 1567. Half the population evacuated down the river to what is today known as Fredrikstad, about 15 km downstream. Again Borg was rebuilt, and it was recreated as a city in 1839, and separated from Tune as a municipality of its own. The rural municipalities of Tune, Skjeberg and Varteig were merged with the city January 1, 1992. The population is steadily growing, and during the summer of 2005 it reached 50,000.

Together with Fredrikstad, Sarpsborg forms the fifth largest urban area in Norway. As of April 1st, 2006, according to Statistics Norway these two municipalities have a total population of 121,097 - 50,135 in Sarpsborg and 70,962 in Fredrikstad.

Borregaard Industries is and always has been the most important industry in the city. The city is also the home of Borg Bryggerier, part of the Hansa Borg Bryggerier, Norway's second largest brewery-group.

In the 1960s, Sarpsborg was famous for its football (soccer) team, Sarpsborg FK, but is now more known for its hockey team, Sparta Warriors. In football, Sparta Sarpsborg has taken over the local throne, currently playing on the 2nd highest national level, known as the Adecco League.

1 The name
2 Coat-of-arms
3 Well known residents from Sarpsborg
4 Districts of Sarpsborg
5 Sister cities

The name

In Norse times the city was just called Borg (from borg f 'castle'). The background for this was the fortification built by Olav Haraldsson (see above). Later the genitive case of the name of the waterfall Sarpr (now Sarpsfossen) was added.

In Norse times the county Østfold was called Borgarsýsla ('the county/sýsla of Borg') - and the law district of Southeast Norway was called Borgarþing ('the thing/court of Borg').

The old name has been revived in the names Borg bispedømme 'diocese of Borg' (1968) and Borgarting lagmannsrett (1995).

Coat-of-arms

The current city seal is from modern times (1965/1966), but it is based on a coat-of-arms from 1556. It shows a bear over a castle. The bear was introduced as early as sometime in the 13th century, by the earl of Sarpsborg (Comes de Saresburgh), Alv Erlingsson. He used the bear to symbolize his strength. The castle symbolizes the fortress (borg) that once gave the city its original name.