Hammerfest Municipality

A municipality called Hammerfest by og landdistrikt (Hammerfest town and district) was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law), which included the town of Hammerfest and the vast rural district surrounding it. The law at that time required that all towns should be separated from their rural districts, but because of low population and very few voters, this was impossible to carry out for Hammerfest in 1838. (This was also the case in the nearby towns of Vadsø and Vardø.) In 1839, the northern part of Hammerfest (population: 498) was separated to become a new Maasø Municipality. This left Hammerfest by og landdistrikt with 2,024 residents. On 1 January 1852, the rural district outside of the town (population: 1,256) was separated from the town to form the new Hammerfest landdistrikt Municipality. This left the town of Hammerfest with 1,125 residents. (The rural Hammerfest landdistrikt was later divided into two municipalities: Sørøysund Municipality in the north and Kvalsund Municipality in the south.)

On 1 January 1992, Sørøysund Municipality (population: 2,341) was merged with the town of Hammerfest (population: 6,909) to form a new, larger municipality that was called Hammerfest Municipality.^[8]

In 2017, the neighboring Hammerfest Municipality and Kvalsund Municipality voted to merge into one large municipality effective 1 January 2020,^[9] and that merger came into effect on the planned date. Also on the same day, the new municipality became part of the newly formed Troms og Finnmark county. Previously, it had been part of the old Finnmark county.^[10] On 1 January 2024, the Troms og Finnmark county was divided and the municipality once again became part of Finnmark county.^[11]

The municipality is named after the town of Hammerfest, which was established in 1789. The town was named after an old anchorage. The first element of the name is derived from the local Hamran (Old Norse: Hamarr). Hamran were a number of large rocks, good for mooring boats in the local harbour. The name comes from the word hamarr which means "stone", "steep cliff", or "rock face". The local Hamran were covered up in land reclaiming during the early years after World War II. The last element of the name comes from the word festr which means "rope" or "fastening" (for boats).^[12]

On 1 January 2020 when the neighboring Hammerfest Municipality and Kvalsund Municipality were merged, the new municipality chose two parallel, bilingual, interchangeable names: Hammerfest kommune (Norwegian) and Hámmerfeastta suohkan (Northern Sami).^[13] The Sami language name spelling changes depending on how it is used. It is called Hámmerfeasta when it is spelled alone, but it is Hámmerfeastta suohkan when using the Sami language equivalent to "Hammerfest Municipality".^[14] Beside the official Hámmerfeasta, there are also two other common variants of the Sámi name: Hámmarfeasta and Hámmárfeasta.^[15]

The coat of arms was granted on 16 December 1938, in preparation for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the town's establishment in 1939. The official blazon is "Gules, a polar bear statant argent" (Norwegian: En hvit isbjørn i rødt). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a polar bear. The polar bear 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 polar bear was chosen as a symbol for the fishing in the polar seas north of Norway. The polar bear itself is not native to mainland Norway. Because of its town status, the arms often have a mural crown above them. The arms were designed by Ole Valle and the design was updated by Arvid Steen in 2001.^[16][17][18]

The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within Hammerfest Municipality. It is part of the Hammerfest prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland.

Many grave sites dating back to the Stone Age can be found here. This location was an important fishing and Arctic hunting settlement for a long time before Hammerfest was given market town rights by royal decree of Christian VII of Denmark–Norway in 1789.^[5]

After their victory in the Norwegian Campaign of the Second World War, the Germans soon fortified the town of Hammerfest and used it as a major base. The importance of Hammerfest to the Germans increased dramatically after their invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. The occupiers installed three coastal batteries in and around Hammerfest, one with four 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns on Melkøya island near the town, one with three 10.5 cm guns on a hill right outside the town and a final battery with casemated 13 cm (5.1 in) pieces on the Rypklubben peninsula near Rypefjord.^{[citation needed]}

The main German U-boat base in Finnmark was in Hammerfest, serving as a central supply base for the vessels attacking the allied supply convoys to Russia.^[19] Luftwaffe seaplanes were based at an improvised naval air station in nearby Rypefjord.^[20] The garrison in Hammerfest was also protected by around 4,000 mines and numerous anti-aircraft guns.

During their long retreat following the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation, the Germans no longer managed to transport troops by sea further east due to intensive Red Air Force raids. Thus Hammerfest became their main shipping port in Finnmark in the autumn of 1944.^[21]

The town of Hammerfest was bombed twice by the Soviet Air Forces. The first time, on 14 February 1944, the town was hit by explosive and incendiary devices, but little damage was done. On 29 August 1944 Soviet bombers launched a second airstrike, inflicting significantly more damage to buildings and infrastructure in downtown Hammerfest. Two ships were sunk in the harbour.^[22] The ships lost were the local transports Tanahorn and Brynilen.^[23][24]

The population was forcibly evacuated by the occupying German troops in the autumn of 1944 after a Soviet offensive at the northern extremity of the Eastern Front pushed into eastern Finnmark. All of Finnmark including the town was looted and burned to the ground by the Germans when they retreated in 1945, the last of the town having been destroyed by the time the Germans finally left on 10 February 1945. Only the town's small funeral chapel, built in 1937, was left standing.^[22] The Museum of Reconstruction in Hammerfest tells the story of these events and the recovery of the region. The Soviet troops in eastern Finnmark were withdrawn in September 1945.^[5]

Mines and munitions left over from the Second World War were found and destroyed as late as 2008.^[25]

Hammerfest Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[35] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Vestre Finnmark District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Hammerfest Municipality is made up of 35 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

The mayor (Norwegian: ordfører) of Hammerfest Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:^[60][61][62]

The construction of the large liquefied natural gas site on Melkøya (island) just off Hammerfest, which will process natural gas from Snøhvit, is the most expensive construction project in the history of Northern Norway. This project has resulted in an economic boom and new optimism in Hammerfest in recent years, a stark contrast to the economic downhill and negative population growth most other municipalities in Finnmark are experiencing.^{[64][65][66][67]} After the opening of natural gas production on Melkøya there have been some problems with significant smoke and soot pollution in the initial production phases.^[68] Snøhvit is Europe's first export facility for liquefied natural gas.^[69]

Hammerfest offers sport and commercial fishing, both sea and freshwater, as well as scuba diving. The northernmost glacier on the Norwegian mainland is a hiking destination. The town is a starting point for northern tours. There is a daily boat to the North Cape (Norwegian: Nordkapp). One chain of the Struve Geodetic Arc, now on the World Heritage List, is located at Fuglenes in Hammerfest.

Hammerfest is also a centre^{[citation needed]} of Sami culture. Hammerfest is home to the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society (Norwegian: Isbjørnklubben); a museum displaying the history of Arctic hunting.

The newspaper Hammerfestingen is published in Hammerfest.

The Nussir copper mine has not started operations (as of 2025); Protests (Q2 2025) in regard to construction, resulted in construction being temporarily stopped.^[70] In June 2025, the municipality ordered a pause in construction.^[71]

American author Bill Bryson begins his European travels in 1990, documented in his book Neither Here Nor There, with a visit to Hammerfest in order to see the Northern Lights, calling it "an agreeable enough town in a thank-you-God-for-not-making-me-live-here sort of way".^[72]

Hammerfest is connected to the main road network by Norwegian national road 94 which branches off from European route E6 at Skaidi in the neighbouring municipality of Kvalsund. The town is a port of call for the Hurtigruten ship route. Hammerfest also has Finnmark's third largest airport, Hammerfest Airport, opened 30 July 1974. Before the opening of the airport, the only air link to Hammerfest was by seaplane, the first route established in 1936.^[73]

Hammerfest is town twinned with the following foreign settlements:

• – Haparanda, Sweden^[74]
• – Ikast, Denmark^[75]
• – Kola, Russia^[76]
• – Mokpo, South Korea^[77]
• – Petersburg, Alaska, United States^[78]
• – Tornio, Finland^[79]
• – Trelleborg, Sweden^[75]
• – Ushuaia, Argentina

Denmark,^[80] Sweden,^[81] Finland^[82] and the Netherlands^[83] have honorary consulates in Hammerfest.