Skiens history goes back to the 9th century. The town is situated where the vast quantities of water from the Hardangervidda plateau flow into the Skiensfjorden. This was a natural staging post for goods en route for the hinterland, and an equally natural place for inland products to be collected and then shipped out. The timber trade was important to the commerce of the town and Skien was, for a time, Norways biggest lumber town. It is also the birthplace of Henrik Ibsen. Since the 17th century the town has been regularly reduced to ashes every hundred years. The last time this happened was in 1886 when the whole of the town centre was destroyed. The architectural style of the turn of the century is, therefore, now predominant. The last old buildings are to be found in Snipetorp, a street which lies higher than the town centre, enabling it to escape the fires. Here, for example, is the house that Knud Ibsen, Henriks father, moved into. Henrik Ibsen also lived here for a short time, before he decided to seek his fortune and left the town - never to return.
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