The centre of Bergen is relatively small for a city with 250.000 inhabitants, and this centre itself contains only one small bridge, Smørsbroen (The Smørs Bridge). The present bridge was built in 1923 after the Great Bergen fire in 1916 when a large part of the centre of the city was laid in ashes. It is built like an arch and it is all of 17m long. It connects the main centre with the upper part of Nordnes. The street it crosses is called Jon Smørs gate (John Smørs Street). They are both named after the nobleman Jon Svaleson Smørs (ca. 1420-1483).The bridge is special since the front facing west (shown above) is totally different from the front facing east (shown below).
The eastern front is made in a Neo-Gothic style. Inside you can get a glimpse of 14 stylistic arches. This front was decorated by the artists Bernard Greve og Mandur Eriksen with inspirations from Greek mythology (see below).
The western front was initially made in a pure functionalistic style without any decorations. However, in 1991 the bridge was restored and decorations made of steel by the artist Arne Rygvold was added (see below).
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