Every design for Levanger

Levanger is known for its wooden town. The old trading town centre is protected as a heritage environment, and its care for the past has earned it the Olavsrosa. Fire has swept through these streets more than once, yet every time Levanger was rebuilt in wood, and most of its houses are still wooden today.

The town lies on the eastern shore of the Trondheimsfjorden at the mouth of the river Levangselva, halfway between Steinkjer and Stjørdalshalsen. Its life as a trading place goes back to the medieval winter fair, the Marsimartnan, held here since the thirteenth century. For a long time only citizens of Trondheim could join the trading guild that grew up around the market, until Levanger was made a kjøpstad by the Swedish king Carl III. One official even proposed calling it Carlslevanger in the founder's honour; the idea was turned down, though the town's records used the name for a while. Not long after, a great fire nearly destroyed the town, and a new plan by Major Johannes Sejersted gave it the more open streets it has now.

Today Levanger is a university town with a campus of Nord University. Coming back along the fjord to the wooden houses by Levangerbukta, it is easy to feel you have arrived exactly where you belong.