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What You Need To Know

Kristiansand historically Christianssand and Christiansand, is a city and municipality in Norway. It is the fifth largest city in Norway and the municipality is the sixth largest in Norway, with a population of 88 598 as of June 2016. In addition to the city itself, Statistics Norway counts 4 other densely populated areas in the municipality: Skålevik in Flekkerøy with a population of 3,526 in the Vågsbygd borough, Strai with a population of 1,636 in the Grim borough, Justvik with a population of 1,803 in the Lund borough, and Tveit with a population of 1,396 (as of January 2012) in the Oddernes borough. Kristiansand is divided into five boroughs: Grim, which is located northwest in Kristiansand with a population of 15,000; Kvadraturen, which is the centre and downtown Kristiansand with a population of 5,200; Lund, the second largest borough; Oddernes, a borough located in the west; and Vågsbygd, the largest borough with a population of 36,000, located in the southwest. Kristiansand is connected with four main roads: European Route E18 from Oslo, Aust-Agder and covers the eastern part of Kristiansand; European route E39 from Stavanger, Flekkefjord and the coast towns and villages in Vest-Agder; Norwegian National Road 9 from Evje, Setesdal and Grim; and Norwegian National Road 41 from Telemark, northern Aust-Agder, Birkeland, Tveit and the airport Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik. Varodd Bridge is a large bridge and a part of E18, which stretches over Topdalsfjorden. Tourism is important in Kristiansand, and the summer season is the most popular for tourists. Kristiansand Zoo and Amusement parkis the largest zoo in Norway. It receives over 900,000 visitors every year. Markens Street is the main pedestrian street in downtown Kristiansand. Bystranda is a city beach located in Kvadraturen; in addition, Hamresanden beach is the longest beach in Kristiansand. Hamresanden Camping is a popular family camp during the summer season. The city hosts a free concert in downtown Kristiansand once every week in the summer. Outside the city is the industry park Sørlandsparken, which has Sørlandssenteret, the largest mall in Norway.

 

Population: Estimate  89,268
Area: 277 km²

Currency

Coat-of-arms

The arms of Kristiansand were granted on 8 December 1909 and are based on the oldest seal of the city, dating from 1643. In 1643 King Christian IV granted the young town the right to use a seal with the Norwegian lion and the royal crown. The crown indicates that the city was founded by the king. The other major element in the arms is a tree. As the species of tree is not specified, there are several known versions with differently shaped trees. A second seal, from 1658, shows a tree with leaves and what look like pine cones.On the base of the crown are the letters R. F. P., standing for Regna Firma Pietas, “Piety strengthens the realm”; this was Christian IV’s motto. Around the seal of the city is its motto, Cavsa Triumphat Tandem Bona, “A good cause prevails in the end”.

 

Economy

Christianssands Bryggeri is a producer of beer and soft drinks with a long history in the city. The brewery was established in 1859, and all products are made with spring water from the company’s own spring, called Christian IVs kilde (Christian IV’s spring). Hennig-Olsen is an ice cream factory with headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Kristiansand. The factory opened in 1960, but the Hennig-Olsen family has produced ice cream in Kristiansand since 1924, when Sven Hennig-Olsen started doing so in the back of his tobacco kiosk. Glencore Nikkelverk (nickel factory) was founded in 1910 as Kristiansand Nikkelraffineringsverk A/S. The company is owned by the Anglo-Swiss company Glencore and has about 500 employees. The Korsvik industrial area on the east side of the Kristiansandsfjord is home to companies working on drilling technology, cranes, winches and other equipment for the worldwide petroleum industry, among them National Oilwell Varco and Aker MH. Elkem, owned by China National Bluestar since 2011, operated a refining plant for ferrosilicon and microsilica at Fiskå in Vågsbygd for many years and was replaced in the beginning of the 20th century by Elkem Solar which produces polycrystalline silicon for wafers used in the solar cell industry. It has about 225 employees.

 

Health

Sørlandet Sykehus HF is a hospital group in Southern Norway, they have three hospitals in Flekkefjord, Arendal and the main one on Eg in Kristiansand. It is only a 6 minutes drive from the city centrum Kvadraturen. The headquarter of Sørlandet Sykehus HF is also located in Kristiansand. The hospital has departments in Vågsbygd and Oddernes. Eg hospital is an asylum/psychiatric hospital next to Sørlandet hospital. It was opened in 1881 by dr. Axel H. Lindboe, this became Norway’s third insane asylum. St. Josef hospital was a catholic hospital located at Kvadraturen, it was opened in 1885 and driven by his sisters. The hospital closed down in 1967. There are 11 retirement homes in Kristiansand and most of them are located on Kvadraturen. One rehabilitation center, ca 15 fitness centers, 20 dentist offices, 10 medical centers and around 25 pharmacies.

 

Language

The most widely spoken language in Norway is Norwegian. It is a North Germanic language, closely related to Swedish and Danish, all linguistic descendants of Old Norse. Norwegian is used by some 95% of the population as a first language.
 

Popular beaches

 
  • Bystranda is a beach located at the city centrum. It is east on Kvadraturen and at Tangen. Nearby the beach is the swimming complex Aquarama with outdoor and indoors pools. Aquarama is next door to the hotel “Scandic Hotel Bystranda”, which is Southern Norway’s largest hotel. Some of Kristiansand’s most expensive apartments is located east for the beach and the high school Tangen is nearby. Some of Bystranda’s facilities is beach volleyball, playgrounds, skatepark, stairs to the water at deeper ground and it is easy design for handicaps and children. In the middle of the water in the bay, there is a sculpture. Palmesus is a yearly beach festival held on Bystranda, it is Scandinavia’s largest beach festival.
  • Hamresanden is located between Hånes and the airport Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik. It is 3 km (2 mi) long which makes it longest beach in Kristiansand. There is three camping places and an apartment hotel at the beach. The name comes from the nearby the subpart Hamre.
  • Sømstranda is a nudist beach in Kristiansand located at Søm.

 

Tourism

Palmesus, Scandinavia’s largest beach festival. Kristiansand is a summer tourist destination, attracting many visitors in particular to its zoo, Kristiansand Zoo and Amusement Park, just east of the city. This is the second most visited attraction in Norway, after Holmenkollen, and had 925,000 visitors in 2012. Its animals, most of which are housed in natural habitats, include wolves, tigers, lions and the lynx. The zoo is open 365 days a year, while the amusement park is open during the summer season only. The Quart festival was an annual music festival that took place in Kristiansand over five days in early July. There were large stages on Odderøya and smaller venues around the city. Founded in 1991 as Qvadradurmusivalen, the festival changed its name to the more catchy Quart Festival the following year. It included internationally known performers and was also known for booking acts that later became internationally known. For several years it was the largest music festival in Norway, but beginning in summer 2007 it was challenged by the Hovefestivalen on Tromøya, Arendal, and some Oslo-based festivals. In early June 2008 the organization declared bankruptcy; the festival returned in 2009 under the name Quart, but again went bankrupt. Kristiansand is home to many other festivals as well, running throughout the year. Protestfestival, held in September, was launched in 2000 and aims to address apathy and indifference in politics, and includes debates, concerts and lectures combined with performance art and documentaries. Protestfestival claims to attract anarchists, communists, hippies as well as conservative Christians and capitalists and to encourage communication among these radically different groups. Others include Southern Discomfort, also in September, the Bragdøya Blues Festival in June, the Dark Season Festival in October, and Cultural Night and the International Children Film Festival in April.
 

Transport

Kristiansand is an important transport and communications node, connected to continental Europe by air and sea.

 

Weather

The parts of the Agder counties on the Skagerrak coast, which includes Kristiansand, have a temperate climate with warm summers and cool winters. Snow generally occurs in late December and in January and February; it may be heavy (the snow record at Kjevik airport is 170 centimetres (67 in)) but rarely stays long on the coast; see Climate of Norway. The Gulf Stream provides local warming through surface currents along the Norwegian trench. In the summer most locals go to the Fiskebrygga, the archipelago opposite the city, and Hamresanden Beach, which is located about 10 minutes from the city centre near Kjevik airport. People from Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the UK and other European countries also visit this beach in the summer during their travels. The climate in the city is warmer than most other places at the same latitude, but with cooler summers than farther east in Scandinavia. Its classified as an oceanic climate, with significant influence from the continental climate type due to its cold winter nights. The average annual temperature oscillates around 7 °C (45 °F). In the winter, the temperature seldom drops below −10 °C (14 °F), but it usually happens 2-3 times a year. Average temperature in the coldest month, January ranges from −3 °C (27 °F) as a low to 2 °C (36 °F) as average high. But temperatures have tended to be higher in recent years. And in the warmest month July, the average daily temperature ranges from 10 °C (50 °F) as a low to 21 °C (70 °F) as a high. The highest temperature ever recorded in Kristiansand was 32.6 °C (90.7 °F) at Kristiansand airport, Kjevik. The temperature seldom reaches 30 °C (86 °F), but most days in July reaches 22 °C (72 °F) or more. The annual rainfall in Kristiansand is 1,380 mm (54 in). The highest average temperature for Kristiansand in July was set in 2014 where there was an average temperature of 19.2 °C (67 °F).