Brevik, Norway

Brevik is a town in Porsgrunn Municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The town is located where the Eidangerfjorden and Frierfjorden join together to form the Breviksfjorden. Brevik is regarded as one of the best preserved towns from the sailing ship era. The town is located on the far end of Eidanger peninsula (Eidangerhalvøya), and was a former export centre for ice and timber. The last shipment of wood to the United Kingdom was around 1960.

Brevik is located about 10 km to the south of the town of Porsgrunn in a very large urban area. Brevik has an estimated population of 2,100 in the year 2020. It is considered part of the Porsgrunn/Skien metropolitan area by Statistics Norway, so Brevik's population is not tracked separately.

Brevik has significant industry, including cement production (Norcem, formerly Dalen Portland Cementfabrik, which is Norway's largest cement factory), workshop industry, food industry (among others Diplom-ice), and mining (Kjørholt limestone mine, which is Norway's largest mine). The town is located on the mainland and also on the small island of Sylterøya. There is a bridge over the strait between Sylterøya and the mainland. The town hall, which is an old farm estate, and Brevik Church are located on Sylterøya. Brevik has narrow and crooked streets with interesting, irregular buildings.

History
The growing village and harbour of Brevig (later spelled Brevik) was historically part of the parish of Eidanger. The village was established as a ladested (seaport/lading place) in 1680 and it was then separated from Eidanger due to its new status. On 1 January 1838, the small seaport of Brevik was established as a municipality (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1845, the seaport was granted kjøpstad status (town status). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, there was a major municipal merger where the following areas were merged to form a new Porsgrunn Municipality.
 * the town of Porsgrunn (population: 10,863)
 * the town of Brevik (population: 2,498)
 * all of Eidanger Municipality (population: 13,018)
 * the Bakke area (population: 75) of Hedrum Municipality in Vestfold county
 * the Enigheten, Høyberg, and Skavåsen areas (population: 12) of Brunlanes Municipality in Vestfold county

Important milestones
Some of the important milestones in the development of the growing town include the establishment of:
 * a post office in 1689
 * a new town hall was built in 1761 by Jørgen Christie
 * a pharmacy in 1846
 * the Brevikbanen railway line in 1895, part of the larger Vestfoldbanen railway line

Name
The town is named after the old Brevik farm (Breiðvík). The first element is which means "broad". The last element is which means "inlet" or "bay". Historically, the name was spelled Brevig, using the old Danish spelling.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 14 May 1954 and it was in use until 1 January 1964 when the town became part of Porsgrunn Municipality. The official blazon is "Azure, three bars argent" (Tre sølv bjelker på blå bunn). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a set of three horizontal bars spaced equally across the arms. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The blue color in the field symbolizes the importance of the sea. The three bars were chosen to represent floating logs and the importance of the timber industry in the town. The arms were designed by Paulus Holm. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Municipal self-government (1838-1964)
Brevik existed as a self-governing municipality from 1838 until 1964. During this time Brevik was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Bystyre) of Brevik was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Notable people

 * Erik Hesselberg, a crewmember of the Kon-Tiki expedition
 * Cort Adeler, a Norwegian seaman who was born in Brevik