Kristiansund

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Kristiansund Municipality
Kristiansund kommune
Municipality
Coat of arms of Kristiansund Municipality
Coat of arms
Møre og Romsdal within Norway
Møre og Romsdal within Norway
Kristiansund within Møre og Romsdal
Kristiansund within Møre og Romsdal
CountryNorway
CountyMøre og Romsdal
DistrictNordmøre
Administrative centreKristiansund
Government
 • Governor (2007)Per Kristian Øyen (Ap)
Area
 • Total23 km2 (9 sq mi)
 • Land87 km2 (34 sq mi)
 • Rank#426 in Norway
Population
 (2008)
 • Total22,661
 • Rank#58 in Norway
 • Density757.7/km2 (1,962/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years)
Increase +0.1%
DemonymKristiansunder[1]
Official language
[2]
 • Norwegian formBokmål
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeNO-1503[3]
WebsiteOfficial website
Data from Statistics Norway

lat_seclon_seclat_minlon_minlon_deglat_deg

Kristiansund [ˈkrɪstɔɪansʊnˈd]ⓘ is a city and municipality on the western coast of Norway, in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. It was officially awarded township status in 1742.

Kristiansund was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The island and municipality of Grip was merged with Kristiansund on 1 January 1964. The island and municipality of Frei was merged with Kristiansund on 1 January 2008.

Geography

The city borders Smøla to the northeast, Tustna to the east, and Averøy to the southwest. In the south, the island of "Nordlandet" borders the island of Frei, which is now part of Kristiansund municipality. In the northwest the small island of Grip is located. [4].

History

8000 BC - 1066

Many scientists believe that the very first Norwegian lived near the city of Kristiansund. At the end of the last Ice age some areas at the western coast of Norway were ice-free. There were allso a lot of food in the sea around Kristiansund at that time, and it is believed that the first settlement arrived in Kristiansund around year 8000 BC.

During the viking ages there were many important battles around Kristiansund. The most famous one was the battle at Rastakalv on the island of Frei, where the Norwegian King "Håkon the Good" fought against the Eirikssønnene-group. There is now a memorial monument located near Rastakalv, where the battle was fought.

The middle ages

A picture of Christianssund from the early 1840s.

The island of Grip was an important fishing community during the Middle Ages, and were considdered to be the most important municipality in the region at the time. The natural harbour in Lille-fosen, close to where Kristiansund is located today were allso frequently used for fishing purposes.

17th to 18th century

During the 17th century a small settlement developed around the area we know today as Kristiansund harbour. As more and more settlers arrived, the area became an important trading port for fishing and the lumber transportation along the coast. The Dano-Norwegian government established a custums station here, which was controlled by the main trading port in Trondheim.

Dutch sailors brought the knowledge of clipfish-production to Kristiansund at the end ofthe 17th century, and for a number of years the city was the largest exporter of clipfish in Norway, exporting goods mainly to the Mediterranean countries. The citys clipfish-production was allso part of the reason why it was awarded town status in 1742.

Toponymy

The city centre and harbour of Kristiansund seen from sea. Photo: Harald Oppedal

The city, formerly named "Christiansund", is named after the Danish-Norwegian king Christian VI in 1742. The last element of the name, sund, means "strait" or "sound". The old name of the town/village (originally the island Kirkelandet) was Fosna or Fosen (Old Norse: fólgsn) which means "hiding place" (here 'hidden port'). It was also often named Lille Fosen ("the small Fosen") to distinguish it from the island Storfosen ("the big Fosen") in Ørland.

Before 1877, the name was written Christianssund, from 1877-1888 it was spelled Kristianssund, and since 1889 it has had its present spelling, Kristiansund.

Before the introduction of postal codes in Norway in 1968, it was easy to confuse the name Kristiansund with Kristiansand in the south. It was therefore obligatory to always add an N (for north) to Kristiansund (Kristiansund N) and an S (for south) to Kristiansand (Kristiansand S).

Coat-of-arms

The Coat-of-arms is from 1742. It shows a waterfall because the old name of the town (Fosen) was misinterpreted as Fossund (as a compound of foss which means waterfall and sund which means strait). There are, however, no waterfalls in the municipality.

Another myth concerning the coat-of-arms is that there was a mix up, between Kristiansund's and Molde's intended shield. The Dano-Norwegian government officials in charge of the giving of the coats, had a party to remember the momentous occasion and became too drunk and hungover to remember which was which, and so Molde got the coat with a whale (which are scarce in between the Romsdal fjords) and Kristiansund got the waterfall (since Molde is on the mainland and Kristiansund lies in the open sea, it would be more likely that the waterfall was intended for Molde's mountains and the whales for Kristiansund.)

Media

There are two local TV stations in Kristiansund. The largest one is TVNordvest, (TV North-West) which broadcasts local news from the area around Kristiansund on a daily basis, as well as some other TV shows. The second one is TV Kristiansund, which is more of a culture channel, broadcasting cultural news from Kristiansund, like shows from the city Opera.

The local newspaper of Kristiansund is Tidens Krav, which allso functions as a local newspaper for the other municipalities located nearby the city.

City parts and structure

The island of "Innlandet" in Kristiansund.

Kristiansund is built on five islands, where Nordlandet ("North Land"), humorously called Marokko ("Morocco"), is the second largest, and the site of the local airport, Kvernberget (IATA code: KSU). Gomalandet and Kirk(e)landet[5] ("Church Land"), third and fourth in size, are considered separate "lands" (islands) even though they are connected. The smallest island is Innlandet. ("Innermost Land"; humorously, "Tahiti") The city also consists of the larger island of Frei which was, until January 1 2008, not a part of Kristiansund. Frei has now merged into Kristiansund municipality, and is now the largest of the five islands of Kristiansund. Even though there are many more smaller islands within city limits, these five "larger" islands are considered to be the "main islands". The highest point of the municipality is located in Frei, Freikollen at a height of 629 metres.

The island of Grip, located northwest of Kristiansund is also a part of the municipality. It was Norway's smallest municipality, and also one of the most remote until it merged with Kristiansund in 1964. Today the island of Grip holds status as a deserted fishing village, but in the summer season it is a popular tourist attraction due to the very special location and architecture. The smallest Stave church of Norway is also located at Grip.

Kristiansund is one of the most densely populated cities of Norway, having what is arguably the country's most urban small city centre, due to the relatively small size of the islands on which it is built and the very constricted central harbour/town area of Kirkelandet.

Churches

Climate

Kristiansund has a maritime, temperate climate with cool-to-warm summers and relatively short and mild winters. The city structure with the unique natural harbour of the city combined with warm wind from the southwest of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream gives Kristiansund a much warmer climate than its latitude would indicate.

Climate data for Kristiansund
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Source: Weatherbase.com[6]

Administration

The city council of Kristiansund have 45 reprasentatives. (as of 2008) Per Kristian Øyen from the Labor Party (Arbeiderpartiet) was elected in 2007 as the mayor of Kristiansund, succeeding Dagfinn Ripnes.

The 2007 election

As of 2007 the following parties have representatives in the city council of Kristiansund:[7]

Kristiansund kommunestyre 2007–2011
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 20
  Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet) 8
  Conservative Party (Høyre) 8
  Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) 2
  Red Party (Rødt) 1
  Centre Party (Senterpartiet) 3
  Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti) 1
  Liberal Party (Venstre) 2
Total number of members:45

Twin Towns

Together they have a tournament called Nordiske Dager. (Nordic Days)

Parks and gardens

Photo showing a small section of the Langveien-park.

Though fairly small in size, the city of Kristiansund contain many green parks and gardens, frequently used by the citys inhabitants. There are two larger parks near the city centre. The first one is located near Langveien, and was constructed in the aftermath of World War Two. The second one is located in Vanndamman. This area used to be part of the city water supply, due to the large amount of small lakes in the area. (hence the name "Vanndamman" (The Water pounds)) The two parks are partly linked together, but the Langveien-park serve more as an urban recreation area due to the short walking distance from the city centre, while the Vanndamman-park is more suitable for outings and jogging.

Transport

Festiviteten in Kristiansund

Started in 1876 and still going strong is the Sundbåt ("Sound Boat"/"Strait Crossing Boat") shuttle service with a capacity of a few tens of passengers, travelling between the islands. The small motor ferry crosses the harbour from Kirk(e)landet to Innlandet, then goes on to Nordlandet, to Gomalandet, and back to Kirkelandet, repeating the round trip in half-hour intervals morning to evening on weekdays. The Sundbåt bears the distinction of being the world's oldest motorized regular public transport system in continuous service.

The road to Kristiansund from mainland Norway, National Road No. 70 (RV 70) is connected to European route E39 at the bridge/tunnel system called Krifast. After passing through the underwater tunnel from the central part of Krifast, RV 70 crosses Frei, and enters Kristiansund over the Omsund Bridge onto Nordlandet. The Nordsund Bridge brings the RV 70 to Gomalandet and its terminus in downtown at Kirkelandet. Another high bridge, the Sørsund Bridge, leads from Kirkelandet to Innlandet. The above mentioned E39 leads southwest to Molde and northeast via the E6 to Mid-Norway's principal city, Trondheim.

There is a car ferry going from Kirkelandet to Averøy, whose people have been commuting to town for many years for work as well as selling agriculture products. The ferry to Averøy connects Kristiansund to RV 64, which goes on via the scenic Atlanterhavsvegen to Molde. The ferry is scheduled to be replaced by the 5.7 km long underwater tunnel Atlanterhavstunnelen in December 2008. A second car ferry goes from Seivika on Nordlandet to Tustna in the northeast (road: RV 680), with further road and ferry connections to the islands Smøla and Hitra, and to Aure on the mainland.

Besides roads and car ferries and Kvernberget airport, communications to/from Kristiansund consist of the traditional coastal express Hurtigruten connecting coastal towns from Bergen in the south to Kirkenes in the north, and the high speed catamaran passenger service Kystekspressen to Trondheim. Another option to get to Kristiansund is to fly with Scandinavian Airlines from several other Norwegian cities.

Commerce and industry

File:Kirkelandet Curch.png
The front fasade of Kirkelandet kirke. It was one of the first truely modern church buildings in Norway, constructed in the mid 1960s.

Kristiansund is known as the major bacalao city of Norway. Bacalao is made of salted, dried codfish,[8] and has traditionally been exported in large amounts to Spain, Portugal and Latin America as food suitable during Lent. In recent years Kristiansund has become the major oil and gas city at the mid-northwestern coast. Oil companies like Shell and StatoilHydro have offices in Kristiansund from where they serve their offshore installations at Haltenbanken (one of the northernmost underwater oil fields in the world).

Due to the city's heavy involvement in fish processing and international shipping, there used to be as many as seven consulates in Kristiansund, mainly to Latin countries. Currently, there are only five left: Britain, Finland, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Portugal.

Culture and sports

Kristiansund is an important cultural centre in the region of Nordmøre. The city is probably best known for housing Norways oldest opera, which was established in 1928 by Edvard Bræin. There is an annual opera festival heldt every February in Kristiansund named The Opera Weeks (Operafestukene). Additional to this, Kristiansund is allso host city of Northern Europes largest photo festival, Nordic Light. Even though this is a rather "young" festival, (Est. 2006) it has grown to become one of the most important of its kind in Europe, attracting famous photographers from all around the world, like Don McCullin, Jock Sturges and William Klein.[9] Other smaller festivals heldt in Kristiansund include The Tahiti Festival and Kristiansund Church, Art and Culture Festival. (shortened to the KKKK-festival in Norwegian)

Kristiansund's main football team, KBK is a resoult of the merger between the two largest football teams in the city, KFK and Clausenengen which got together so they could make an elite football club in Kristiansund. KBK now plays in the second division in the Norwegian football league.

Other popular sports in Kristiansund includes Volleyball, Wrestling, Swimming and Handball. A new Ice skating arena, The Nordea Ice Arena (Nordea Kunstisbane) is under construction in Kristiansund, and is to be completed within the end of 2008.

Tourist Attractions

The Norwegian clipfish museum. Theese building are typical for Kristiansund, and are easy to see along the harbour.
  • The archipelago of Grip, southwest of Kristiansund was until 1964 the smallest municipality of Norway. Today it is a deserted fishing village, but is a popular tourist attraction for the special architecture and unique location. Norways smallest stave church, which was constructed in the end of the 15th century is also located at Grip.
  • Sundbåtene in Kristiansund holds status as the world's oldest public transport system founded in 1776. The small "Sundbåt" passenger ferries crosses between the four "lands" of the city.
  • The old city structure in Vågen is a center for the historical fishing settlement in Kristiansund. Mellemværftet is also located here, which is an old shipbuilding facility for sailer ships. The Norwegian Clipfish Museum is also located here.
  • Innlandet is an old city part of Kristiansund with very special and unique coastal architecture. Innlandet is the part of Kristiansund who was least destroyed during the bombings of Kristiansund during World War Two.
  • Nordic Light is an annual festival of photography arranged for the first time in 2006, and is currently the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The festival is represented by Morten Krogvold.
  • Festiviteten (Kristiansund Opera) is the oldest opera house in Norway. It is built in Art Nouveau-style, and was completed in 1914. It is one of the few older buildings in the city centre of Kristiansund that survived the bombing of the city during World War Two.

Notable people from Kristiansund

The following people are from, or have their roots in, Kristiansund.

Kristiansund Picture Links

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kristiansund.
  1. ^ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. ^ "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
  3. ^ Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (2023-01-26). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
  4. ^ Grip was Norway's smallest-area municipality before being merged into Kristiansund in 1964.
  5. ^ In the local dialect, Kirkelandet (the "Church Land") is pronounced "Kirklandet", without the middle e.
  6. ^ "Weather Information for Oslo". Weatherbase.com]. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "Members of the local councils". Statistics Norway. 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Salted, dried cod, used in bacalao (see Baccalà and Bacalhau), is known locally as klippfisk ("Cliff Fish", eng. clipfish), the name coming from the rounded, barren cliffs on which the fish were traditionally left to dry in the open air after being opened, gutted, flattened, salted, and pressed.
  9. ^ http://www.nle.no/?div_id=212&pag_id=214
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