In the seaport city of Stavanger, northwestern Norway

 Stavanger, Norway, is famous for its Pulpit Rock. It is as much an iconic tourist spot as it is a landmark with magnificent fjord views.

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(in southwestern Norway) The seaport city of Stavanger lies on the east side of a peninsula, with the Norwegian Sea on the west and Gands Fjord on the east. Stavanger became the seat of a bishopric in the 12th century, when the Cathedral of St. Swithun was built. Although it received a royal charter as a trading town in 1425, Stavanger grew slowly. After the Protestant Reformation, its bishopric was transferred to Kristiansand in 1682, but a new Lutheran bishopric was established in 1925.

+ Shipbuilding and shipping are now the city’s main economic activities, together with the refining of North Sea oil, first drilled in 1971. Stavanger became the center for all service activities connected with Norway’s burgeoning North Sea oil and gas industry. The Norwegian Canning Museum is one of several local museums that together constitute Museum Stavanger. Among the others are the Norwegian Petroleum Museum, Stavanger Museum, Stavanger Maritime Museum, and Stavanger Art Museum. Stavanger is also the site of the Kongsgård Grammar School (formerly a royal residence) and the Valbergtårn Watchtower. The Cathedral of St. Swithun, with its Norman and Gothic architecture, is another popular tourist attraction.

+ Stavanger, one of Norway's oldest cities, emerged in the 12th century during a period of population and urbnization growth in much of northern Europe. The archaeological and historical sources about the city's early development are sparse. Yet, It stands out as an important area from early times, as a desirable foothold for the monarchy and the church, as both needed a strong foothold in the southwest coastal area. In North Jæren, a traditional district in Norway's Rogaland county, rich archaeological material suggests that the chiefs held considerable power from the early Iron Age. Stavanger had a natural harbor and was, with Jæren in the south, strategically important to the county of the east as well as to the shipping route along the western coast and the fertile Ryfylke Islands in the north.

+ Clearly, Stavanger was known as a church city throughout the Middle Ages, up to the Reformation. (The cathedral, the bishop, and canons of the monastery had been large landowners.) Recession of the city began with the loss of people in rural areas, as a result of which the revenues of the cathedral and the bishop fell dramatically due to reduced rental income. In 1537 the bishop's and the monastery's estate (and property) was confiscated by the king.

+ Stavanger is now known as Norway's "Oil City" due to its importance in oil exploration in the North Sea (since the 1970s). Stavanger's old center has some of the most beautiful and best-preserved wooden buildings anywhere in Norway, many dating back to the 18th century. It's all very pretty, and in summer the waterfront comes alive in the best port-town style.