Brevik, Norway

Town in Telemark county, Norway

Brevik is a town in Porsgrunn Municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The town is located where the Eidangerfjorden and Frierfjorden join together to form the Breviksfjorden. Brevik is regarded as one of the best preserved towns from the sailing ship era. The town is located on the far end of Eidanger peninsula (Eidangerhalvøya), and was a former export centre for ice and timber. The last shipment of wood to the United Kingdom was around 1960. Brevik is located about to the south of the town of Porsgrunn in a very large urban area. Brevik has an estimated population of 2,100 in the year 2020. It is considered part of the Porsgrunn/Skien metropolitan area by Statistics Norway, so Brevik's population is not tracked separately. the town of Porsgrunn (population: 10,863)
the town of Brevik (population: 2,498)
all of Eidanger Municipality (population: 13,018)
the Bakke area (population: 75) of Hedrum Municipality in Vestfold county
the Enigheten, Høyberg, and Skavåsen areas (population: 12) of Brunlanes Municipality in Vestfold county

The town is named after the old Brevik farm The first element is breiðr which means "broad". The last element is vík which means "inlet" or "bay". Historically, the name was spelled Brevig, using the old Danish spelling.

The coat of arms was granted on 14 May 1954 and it was in use until 1 January 1964 when the town became part of Porsgrunn Municipality. The official blazon is "Azure, three bars argent" (Tre sølv bjelker på blå bunn). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a set of three horizontal bars spaced equally across the arms. The charge 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 blue color in the field symbolizes the importance of the sea. The three bars were chosen to represent floating logs and the importance of the timber industry in the town. The arms were designed by Paulus Holm. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Brevik existed as a self governing municipality from 1838 until 1964. During this time Brevik was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

The municipal council (Bystyre) of Brevik was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.