Larvik

 Larvik  is a town and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. The municipality of Larvik has about 41,364 inhabitants, and covers 530 km².

The city of Larvik was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The city of Stavern, and the rural municipalities of Brunlanes, Hedrum, and Tjølling were merged into the municipality of Larvik on January 1, 1988.

Larvik has a daily ferry connection to Hirtshals, Denmark.

General information

Name

The Norse form of the name must have been Lagarvík. The first element is the genitive case of lǫgr m 'water; river' (now called Numedalslågen river), the last element is vík f 'cove, wick'. The meaning is "the cove at the mouth of (Numedals)lågen". Prior to 1889, the name was written "Laurvik" or "Laurvig".

Coat-of-arms

The coat of arms is from modern times, and was granted in 1989. It is blue with a silver-colored mast with three sails to represent the maritime traditions of the municipality.