Vestfossen

Vestfossen is a town in the municipality of Øvre Eiker, county of Buskerud in Norway. As of 2006 it had a population of 2741 according to Statistics Norway. Vestfossen is a former industrial town with traditions dating back to the 16th century. At that time, the manor now known as Fossesholm became the center of a land collecting effort for the purposes of creating a large-scale sawmill industry. Later, other types of industry emerged. The most influencial among them were the Vestfossen Cellulose paper mill, and the textile factory of Fredfos Uldvarefabrikk. An industrial crisis which occured around 1970 lead to the fall of these factories, and large parts of the local industrial infrastructure were unused for a long time. After the year 2000, a cultural effort has led to the establisment of several cultural institutions here, and Vestfossen now calls itself "capital of culture".