On the Fuglenes peninsula, three kilometres from Hammerfest's centre, a stone column topped with a copper globe stands looking out over the Norwegian Sea. This is the Meridianstøtten, the northernmost point of the Struve Geodetic Arc, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that stretches 2,820 kilometres from here to the Black Sea coast of Ukraine.
Between 1816 and 1855, the German-Russian astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve led a chain of measurements across ten countries to determine the exact size and shape of the Earth. It was the first international scientific cooperation carried out at a national level, and the first accurate measurement of a meridian arc. The monument in Hammerfest, designed by architect von Hanno, was installed in October 1854.
Norway has four of the 34 UNESCO-listed measurement points from the Struve chain. The Hammerfest monument is by far the easiest to visit, a pleasant walk along the waterfront. The other three require serious effort: Lille-Raipas near Alta involves a mountain hike, while Luvddiidčohkka and Bealjášvárri near Kautokeino demand proper navigation skills across unmarked bog and plateau terrain, with brutal mosquitoes in summer. Getting lost on the way to one of these points is almost a rite of passage.
Between 1816 and 1855, the German-Russian astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve led a chain of measurements across ten countries to determine the exact size and shape of the Earth. It was the first international scientific cooperation carried out at a national level, and the first accurate measurement of a meridian arc. The monument in Hammerfest, designed by architect von Hanno, was installed in October 1854.
Norway has four of the 34 UNESCO-listed measurement points from the Struve chain. The Hammerfest monument is by far the easiest to visit, a pleasant walk along the waterfront. The other three require serious effort: Lille-Raipas near Alta involves a mountain hike, while Luvddiidčohkka and Bealjášvárri near Kautokeino demand proper navigation skills across unmarked bog and plateau terrain, with brutal mosquitoes in summer. Getting lost on the way to one of these points is almost a rite of passage.