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Stone quarry in Kollevågen, 1922
Stone quarry in Kollevågen, 1922. The stone from here has been used i.e. for expanding the wharf in Vågen, Bergen. (Bergen Havnevesen)

At Kong Olav V's Place in Bergen, one finds stone from Hanøy. Together with Sima-granite from Eid Fjord, it decorates the city floor around "The Blue Stone" (a popular meeting place in Bergen, in the middle of Ole Bull's Place) . It is a grey and light pink granitic gneiss that is broken up for use in representative road surfaces in Bergen.

The stone-workers in Askøy have solid traditions to build on. Around 1920, they made up 20% of all of the actively employed workers on the island. Local stone is something the Askøy residents have always made use of, i.e. in buildings, stone walls and wharfs. There are at least thirteen gneiss quarries on the island, mostly in the Hanøy and Kollevåg areas. Several thousands of cubic metres of stone are taken out of these quarries, most in the beginning of the 1990s.

As otherwise in the Precambrian basement area, the gneiss between Hanøy and Kollevågen was formed through pressing together and flattening the basement during the Caledonian mountain-building event. At this time, the gneiss got its layering that makes it well-suited as a building stone.

  • Fossen, A. B. 1983. Fra pælebrygge til steinkai – trekk ved utbygginga av Bergen havn ca.1870–1940. Sjøfartshistorisk Årbok: 59–106. BOF – årsmelding.