Every design for Kongsberg

Kongsberg sits where the river Numedalslågen leaves the valley of Numedal, and the river splits the town neatly in two. On the west bank, Vestsida, the oldest part of the mining town gathers beneath its baroque church; on the east bank, Nymoen has the shops, schools, hotels and the bus and railway station that set the pace of an ordinary weekday. With Skrimfjell to the south and Blefjell to the north, forest and mountain are never far from the centre.

Norsk Bergverksmuseum is a reminder of why the town exists at all. Silver was found here, and King Christian IV founded a mining town and named it after himself: Konningsberg, the King's Mountain. He brought in engineers and specialists from Saxony and the Harz, German was heard in the mines and at church, and the mining families became the town's educated elite. The silver mines finally closed after more than three centuries and are now the town's main attraction, while the Royal Norwegian Mint still strikes coins here and Kongsberg Gruppen carries the old arms-making tradition into high technology. Lågdalsmuseet keeps the wider valley's story.

On the map, the line of the river is unmistakable. For anyone who grew up here, so are the winter afternoons on the slopes at Skimore Kongsberg and the walk home across the river.