The long, narrow Reperbanen (the rope walk) was the very centre of the working process. Here the yarns of hemp were spun and later spliced to make all sorts of rope for ships and boats. The building which we see today may be dated to around 1690, and is therefore the oldest rope walk in Europe. The irregularities on the roof and futtocks along the sides are clear signs of ageing. The entire works is a remnant from the time when Sandviken was dominated by dozens of such craftworks. Bergen was Norway’s most important centre of production for rope and Sandviken’s rope walk is an important cultural monument from this industry.
At the end of the rope walk is the rope works manager’s residence and office – one of Bergen’s most distinguished bourgeois houses from the beginning of the 1800s. The original house was built between 1806 and1808 by rope master Christopher stoltz. In this house the rope master lived with his large family and some of the apprentices and novices who worked in the rope-works. Bergen Rope-makers Guild, the only one in Norway, often had its meetings there.
Behind the building there is a tar-house built in stone. Here the rope was pulled through heated tar to give it extra protection against moisture. Belonging to the works was also a large boathouse for storage of the raw material – hemp – that was imported from Russia.
