![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/CairnInMoelen.jpg/640px-CairnInMoelen.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Mølen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mølen is a coastal geopark in the Brunlanes area of Larvik Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The park is Norway's largest beach made up of rolling stones.[1] It is a part of Vestfoldraet, the terrain left behind after the end of the most recent ice age around 10,000 years ago.[2][3] Mølen is one of Larvik's most popular tourist attractions. It is home to over a hundred types of rock, including Norway's national stone, Larvikite, which is named from the area.[4]
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/CairnInMoelen.jpg/640px-CairnInMoelen.jpg)
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/M%C3%B8len-hi-res.jpg/640px-M%C3%B8len-hi-res.jpg)
The wind and sea have lashed the landscape of Mølen for thousands of years, and the place takes its name from the Old Norse word "mol", meaning a stone mound or bank of stones.
Mølen first received protected status in 1939 due to its ancient burial mounds.[5] Mølen is home to over 230 cairns, some exceeding 35 metres (115 ft) in diameter. Excavations have dated the cairns to the Bronze Age 900-600 BCE.[6] The cairns have been purchased and acquired by the University Museum of National Antiquities.[7]
Mølen received a new protection status in 1970 due its rich and unusual avifauna.[5] Mølen is a habitat for a variety of rare bird species.[8] Between 316[9] and 320 species of birds have been recorded at Mølen, more species than at any other site in Norway.[10][11]
It became the first UNESCO Global Geopark in the Nordics in 2008.[12][5]