The Herring Age in Stavanger
– A Saga of the Silver Fish

The Herring Adventure : For centuries, Stavanger lived by the sea. Fishermen rowed out in small
boats, and the harbor was filled with the smell of salt and catch. But it was only when the great
herring shoals entered the fjords in the late 1800s that the city saw its first true golden age.
When the herring came, the sea turned dark. The fish were so dense that people said you could
“scoop them up with a bucket.” From Ryfylke and Karmøy to Boknafjorden, boats were loaded to
the brim. In Stavanger, the future shimmered in the silver of the fish.

Canneries and Factories : By the mid-19th century, the first canning factories were established.
What began as simple salting and smoking soon became a modern industry. In the narrow streets
around Vågen, factory buildings rose, and the sound of machines filled the air.
By 1900, Stavanger had more than 50 canneries, and at its peak over 70.
Hundreds of workers filled the halls – most of them women, known as the sardine ladies. They sat
at long tables, filleting and carefully laying small herring into metal tins. Men operated the
machines, the smoke ovens, and handled transport.

Labels and Printing Houses : To sell canned sardines abroad required more than taste – they
had to stand out on store shelves. An entire industry of silk-printing houses grew up in
Stavanger. Artists and printers created colorful labels that adorned the little tins.
Names like King Oscar Sardines, Viking Brand, Neptune, and Three Herring were printed with
crowns, Viking ships, fjords, and exotic scenes.
These miniature works of art became part of the adventure themselves. Thousands of different
designs were produced, making Stavanger famous worldwide. Today, the labels are prized
collector’s items.

A City Blossoms : With the herring came jobs, wealth, and growth. New houses were built,
schools and churches rose, and roads expanded. Stavanger grew from a small town into Norway’s
fourth largest city.

The harbor buzzed with life: the steam from factory chimneys, the smell of smoked herring,
workers coming and going, and ships carrying tins to the world.
The Decline : But the sea cannot be harvested forever. By the 1950s, the shoals began to fail.
Overfishing and natural cycles reduced the catch. Factories closed, sardine ladies lost their jobs,
and printing houses stood idle. Stavanger once again faced uncertainty.
The Legacy : Though the herring disappeared, the legacy remained. The canning industry had
shaped Stavanger, given it confidence and a reputation abroad.
Today, the Norwegian Canning Museum in Old Stavanger stands as a memorial to this era.
There, one can see the machines, the labels, and hear the stories of the women who packed
millions of tins.