Kristiansund (town)

Coordinates: 63°06′37″N 7°43′40″E / 63.1104°N 7.7279°E / 63.1104; 7.7279
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Kristiansund
Christianssund / Fosna
Ladested
1631
Kjøpstad1742
Area
[1]
 • Total8.24 km2 (3.18 sq mi)
Elevation
[2]
16 m (52 ft)
Population
 (2018)[1]
 • Total18,292
 • Density2,220/km2 (5,700/sq mi)
Demonym(s)Kristiansundar
Kristiansunder
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Post Code
6500 Kristiansund

Kristiansund (

Kirkelandet, Innlandet, and Nordlandet in the Nordmøre
region of the county.

The 8.24-square-kilometre (2,040-acre) town has a population (2018) of 18,292 and a

Kirkelandet
.

Etymology

The town, formerly spelled Christianssund, was named after the

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 Storfosna ("the big Fosen") in Ørland
to the north.

Before 1877, the name was written Christianssund, from 1877 to 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). This is pretty much still practiced and also occurs in some other contexts than postal addresses.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 27 June 1742. The arms were granted by King Christian VI and are described as a silver or white river flowing from a cliff, with salmon jumping upwards on a blue background. The waterfall may possibly be the Lille Fosen waterfall near the town.[4][5]

There are two myths as to why the arms show a waterfall. The first one is 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).[5]

The other 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.)

History

8000 BC–1066

Many scientists believe that the very first

Norwegians lived near the area of the present-day town of Kristiansund. At the end of the last Ice age
some areas at the western coast of Norway were ice-free. There was also 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

Håkon the Good fought against the Eirikssønnene group. There is now a memorial monument located near Rastakalv (at Nedre Frei
), where the battle was fought.

Middle ages

A picture of Christianssund from the early 1840s.

The nearby island of Grip was an important fishing community during the Middle Ages, and was considered to be the most important area in the region at the time. The natural harbour in Lille-Fosen, close to where Kristiansund is located today, was also 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 customs station here, which was controlled by the main trading port in

ladested
.

Dutch sailors brought the knowledge of

clipfish production to Kristiansund at the end of the 17th century, and for a number of years the town was the largest exporter of clipfish in Norway, exporting goods mainly to the Mediterranean countries as Spain and Portugal. The city's clipfish production was also part of the reason why it was given town status as a kjøpstad in 1742.[citation needed
]

A Picture of Kristansund from 1940 after the bombing.

19th century to present

The town of Christianssund was established as

Frei Municipality
was merged with Kristiansund on 1 January 2008 creating a much larger Kristiansund Municipality.

Media

There are two local TV stations in Kristiansund. The larger 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 also functions as a local newspaper for the other municipalities located nearby the city.

Climate

Kristiansund has a

maritime, temperate climate with cool-to-warm summers and relatively short and mild winters. The landscape with its unique natural harbour 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
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 2
(36) 		3
(37) 		5
(41) 		7
(44) 		12
(53) 		13
(56) 		16
(60) 		16
(60) 		12
(54) 		9
(49) 		5
(41) 		3
(37) 		8
(47)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −1
(31) 		−1
(31) 		1
(33) 		2
(36) 		7
(44) 		9
(49) 		11
(52) 		11
(51) 		8
(46) 		5
(41) 		2
(36) 		0
(32) 		4
(40)
Source: Weatherbase.com[9]

Parks and gardens

A small section of the Langveien-park.

Though fairly small in size, the town of Kristiansund contains many green parks and gardens, frequently used by the local 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 II . 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 ponds)) The two parks are partly linked together, but the Langveien park serves 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

Started in 1876 and still going strong is the

Kirkelandet
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 the mainland,

Sørsund Bridge, leads from Kirkelandet to Innlandet. E39 leads southwest to the town of Molde and northeast via the European route E6 to Trøndelag and the city of Trondheim
.

There used to be a

Averøy Municipality to the west, whose people have been commuting to town for many years for work as well as selling agricultural products. The ferry to Averøy connected Kristiansund to Norwegian National Road 64, which continued along the scenic Atlantic Ocean Road to Molde. The ferry was replaced by the 5.7-kilometre (3.5 mi) long underwater Atlantic Ocean Tunnel
in December 2009. Because both tunnels are forbidden for bicyclists, Kristiansund cannot easily be reached by bicycle.

A second car ferry goes from Seivika on

Aure Municipality
on the mainland.

Besides roads and car ferries and Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget, connections to/from Kristiansund consist of the traditional coastal express Hurtigruten boats which connect the coastal towns from Bergen in the south to Kirkenes in the north, as well as 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

The front façade of Kirkelandet Church. It was one of the first truly modern church buildings in Norway, constructed in the mid-1960s.

Kristiansund is known as the major bacalhau city of Norway.

Statoil 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

consulates in Kristiansund, mainly to Latin countries. Currently, there are only five left: Britain, Finland, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Portugal
.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Statistisk sentralbyrå (1 January 2018). "Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality".
  2. ^ "Kristiansund (Møre og Romsdal)". yr.no. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  3. ^ "Kristiansund". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  4. ^ "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  5. ^
    Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget
    . Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  6. ^ Hoel, Oleiv; Rimstad, Niels Øistein (2023-01-13), "norske storbranner", Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian), retrieved 2023-01-29
  7. ^ Redaksjonen. "Allanengen skole 1941". Brunsvika Nytt (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  8. ^ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  9. ^ "Weather Information for Oslo". Weatherbase.com. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
  10. 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.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kristiansund_(town)&oldid=1136227761"