The village of Risør was a small fishing village in the
prestegjeld of
Søndeled when Dutch vessels began to call there to purchase
timber around the year 1570. By 1607, two inns had been opened to serve Dutch sailors. In 1630, Risør became a privileged port (
ladested). The town has a timber church,
Risør Church which was built in the
Baroque style in 1647. In 1723, Risør was granted
town status which granted it a number of commercial privileges. By the end of the 18th century, 96 sailing vessels were owned by Risør merchants. It was the sixth largest shipping town and one of four shipbuilding centers in Norway. In
Letters on Sweden, Norway, and Denmark,
Mary Wollstonecraft wrote extensively while visiting Risør in 1783, including the following remarks: • On entering Risør: "We were a considerable time entering amongst the islands, before we saw about two hundred houses crowded together under a very high rock—still higher appearing above." • While at Risør: "...seaports are not favorable to improvement. The captains acquire a little superficial knowledge by traveling, which their indefatigable attention to the making of money prevents their digesting; and the fortune that they thus laboriously acquire is spent, as it usually is in towns of this description, in show and good living." • While departing Risør: "The view of the town was now extremely fine. A huge rocky mountain stood up behind it, and a vast cliff stretched on each side, forming a semicircle. In a recess of the rocks was a clump of pines, amongst which a steeple rose picturesquely beautiful." Risør played a role in the
Napoleonic Wars in 1807–1814, when
Denmark–Norway took France's side, and therefore became the enemy of Norway's most important trading-partner: Great Britain. (It is from this period that
Henrik Ibsen took his subject, when he created his famous poem
Terje Vigen.) It was south of Risør, in
Lyngør (now in the neighboring
Tvedestrand municipality) that several British warships, headed by of the
English navy pursued and sank the last major vessel and the pride of Norway: the frigate
HDMS Najaden. On 1 January 1838, the new
formannskapsdistrikt law came into effect, granting each parish and town in Norway the rights to have a self-governing council. Thus, Risør was a small town with a council to run it. Risør was almost wiped off the map in 1861. A great fire swept across the small town leaving just 85 houses and the 1647
Risør Church. The entire road network was re-worked after the fire to remove the small streets and alleys and have wider roads that are there today. The city was redesigned and rebuilt and today it presents a positive impression of a well kept town with white, wooden houses. White was chosen because it was an expensive paint and the residents wanted to give an expression of prosperity. Still today, most houses have white paint, although some have other colors on the sides and back of their houses. By the second half of the 19th century, over 100 sailing vessels were based at their home port in Risør and more than 1,000 sailors called Risør home. The transition to steamships and the economic damage of
World War I, however, destroyed Risør's shipping industry. On 1 January 1901, an area of the neighboring municipality of
Søndeled (population: 658) was transferred to the city, greatly expanding Risør. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the
Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the town of Risør (population: 3,002) and the entire municipality of Søndeled (population: 3,134) were merged to form a new, much larger municipality of Risør, with the town being the
administrative centre. ==Geography==