Å i Lofoten (Å in Lofoten)
Description
8392 Sørvågen
The fishing village of Å is situated between crags and ringed by mountains and sea at Lofoten’s southwestern point. Here is the endpoint for Europavei 10 through Lofoten. Å is an old, traditional fishing village of the fishing station type, organized as a typical Lofoten village, where the merchant/fishing station owner owned the land and most of the buildings. Fishing station owner Johan Ellingsen came here in 1843 and built the place up, and since then several generations of Ellingsens have owned and operated the fishing station.
The fishing station’s houses and commercial buildings of various kinds, such as the shop, bakery, cod liver oil steamer, boathouse, wharves and fishermen’s shacks, form the core of the fishing village. The buildings can be split into three groups. There are the inner houses and the seaside houses, with buildings dating mostly from the nineteenth century, which make up the old fishing village. The third group consists of newer houses and outhouses that belonged to the fishermen. Most of these date from the twentieth century and they encircle the old core of the village.
“Gammelgården” (Old Farm) and ”Øvergården” (Upper Farm) are situated in the inner house group and were listed in 1969
The fishing station’s houses and commercial buildings of various kinds, such as the shop, bakery, cod liver oil steamer, boathouse, wharves and fishermen’s shacks, form the core of the fishing village. The buildings can be split into three groups. There are the inner houses and the seaside houses, with buildings dating mostly from the nineteenth century, which make up the old fishing village. The third group consists of newer houses and outhouses that belonged to the fishermen. Most of these date from the twentieth century and they encircle the old core of the village.
“Gammelgården” (Old Farm) and ”Øvergården” (Upper Farm) are situated in the inner house group and were listed in 1969
aside from that, the entire fishing village is protected by a preservation order. In Å there are two museums: Lofoten Tørrfiskmuseum (Lofoten Stockfish Museum) and Norsk Fiskeværmuseum (Norwegian Fishing Village Museum). Several of the buildings referred to here form part of the fishing village museum and others are used in connection with tourism. Many of the older fishermen’s shacks are still preserved and a few are used by fishermen in the Lofot season from January to April, but most of them are hired out to tourists.
Year of construction
1800-1900
Client
Johan Ellingsen and others
Building Type
Fishing village, trading place
Construction System / Materials
Timber, notched log construction, half-timbering
Keywords
fishing village
trading settlement
wood
log construction
timber
half timbering
Literature
Svendsen, Ola Øgard: Fredede hus og anlegg 1 – Finnmark, Troms, Nordland. Oslo 1981.
www.lofoten-info.no/nfmuseum
www.lofoten-info.no/nfmuseum
Map
