Porsgrunn

Porsgrunn kommune
Municipality
Porsgrunn in early-August 2007
Coat of arms Telemark within Norway
Porsgrunn within Telemark
Coordinates: 59°6′56″N 9°42′36″E / 59.11556°N 9.71000°E / 59.11556; 9.71000Coordinates: 59°6′56″N 9°42′36″E / 59.11556°N 9.71000°E / 59.11556; 9.71000
Country	Norway
County	Telemark
District	Grenland
Administrative centre	Porsgrunn
Government
• Mayor (2015)	Robin Kåss (Ap)
Area
• Total	165 km2 (64 sq mi)
• Land	161 km2 (62 sq mi)
Area rank	352 in Norway
Population (2010)
• Total	35,117
• Rank	22 in Norway
• Density	213/km2 (550/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	6.4 %
Demonym(s)	Porsgrunning
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0805
Official language form	Neutral
Website	www.porsgrunn.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

 Porsgrunn  is a city and municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn.

The municipality of Porsgrunn was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The town of Brevik and the rural district of Eidanger were merged into the municipality of Porsgrunn on 1 January 1964.

The conurbation of Porsgrunn and Skien is considered by Statistics Norway to be the seventh-largest city in Norway.

The place is first mentioned in 1576 ("Porsgrund") by the writer Peder Claussøn Friis in his work Concerning the Kingdom of Norway (see the article: Norwegian literature). He writes: "Two and a half miles from the sea, the Skien river flows into the fjord, and that place is called Porsgrund." The name was probably given during medieval times to the then swampy area by the nuns of Gimsøy Abbey, who went here to collect the shrub pors ("Bog Myrtle"), and the Norwegian word grunn meaning "ground". Prior to 1931, the name was spelled "Porsgrund".