One of the most important remains from the Viking age was found at the grave site Gokstadhaugen in Sandefjord. The Gokstad ship was excavated by Nicolay Nicolaysenand is now in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. The Viking, an exact replica of the Gokstad ship, crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Bergen to be exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago during 1893. A replica of Gokstad ship, called Gaia currently has Sandefjord as home port. Other known replicas include the Munin, (a half scale replica) located in Vancouver, BC.
Health resort
Sandefjord was formerly a famous health resort, with various kinds of baths for health improvement. Amongst these were salt water sea baths, mud and sulfur baths. Visitors included royalty, a prime minister, and some of Norway�s foremost cultural personalities. Around 50,000 people, mostly Norwegians, visited the bath from 1837 to 1939. Today the bath's building has been restored and now hosts cultural events and various activities.
Whaling and ships
From 1850, a number of ships from Sandefjord were whaling and sealing in the Arctic Ocean and along the coast of Finnmark. The first whaling expedition from Sandefjord to the Antarctic Ocean was sent in 1905. Towards the end of the 1920s, Sandefjord had a fleet of 15 factory ships and more than 90 whalers. In 1954, more than 2,800 men from the district were hired as crew on the whalers, but from the mid 1950s whaling was gradually reduced. The number of southbound expeditions rapidly decreased during the 1960s, and the 1967/68 season became the last for Sandefjord. The shipping industry was gradually readjusted from whaling to other ship types during this period. The local Framn�s Mekaniske V�rksted and Jotun Group Private Ltd. had major roles in this business.
Today, the memories from this important period of the city's history are kept alive through the whaling museum(Hvalfang stmuseet)
