Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Kristiansund (established in 1742), which is the major town for the whole Nordmøre region. Other notable settlements in the municipality include the villages of Kvalvåg, Rensvik, and Nedre Frei.
The municipality is the 334th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Kristiansund Municipality is the 53rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 24,404. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 0.04% over the previous 10-year period.
General information The parish of Christianssund was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). Initially, the small island municipality included just the town of Christianssund and its immediate surrounding area. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Kristiansund Municipality was merged with the tiny Grip Municipality (population: 104), an island municipality to the northwest and the Dale area of Bremsnes Municipality on Nordlandet island (population: 963). The neighboring Frei Municipality was merged with Kristiansund on 1 January 2008 creating a much larger Kristiansund Municipality.
Toponymy The municipality is named after the town of Kristiansund. Historically, it was spelled Christianssund. The first element of the name comes from the Danish-Norwegian King Christian VI who founded the town in 1742. The last element of the name is which means "strait" or "sound". The old name of the town/village (originally the island Kirkelandet) was Fosna or Fosen () 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.
Before 1877, the name was spelled 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 were granted on 27 June 1742 by King Christian VI. They are described as a silver or white river flowing from a cliff, with salmon swimming upwards on a blue background. The waterfall is most likely based on a misinterpretaion of the old name for the town Fosen, as it resembles the Norwegian word for "waterfall". A replica of the waterfall shown in the arms was eventually constructed in 1992 for the towns 250th anniversary.
Churches The Church of Norway has three parishes () within Kristiansund Municipality. It is part of the Ytre Nordmøre prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre.
Churches in Kristiansund MunicipalityParish ()Church nameLocation of the churchYear builtKristiansundKirkelandet ChurchKirklandet island1964Grip Stave ChurchGrip island1470NordlandetNordlandet ChurchNordlandet island1914FreiFrei ChurchNedre Frei1897
St. Eystein Catholic Church is the only Catholic church in Kristiansund.
Geography The municipality borders Smøla Municipality and Aure Municipality to the northeast, Tingvoll Municipality to the east, Gjemnes Municipality to the south, and Averøy Municipality to the southwest. The small Grip archipelago is located in the northwestern part of the municipality. The municipality is surrounded by the Freifjorden and Kvernesfjorden with the open sea to the northwest.
The town of Kristiansund is built on four main islands, with many smaller islands. The island of Nordlandet ("North Land", humorously nicknamed Marokko), is the second largest island and the site of the local airport, Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget (IATA code: KSU). Kirklandet, third in size is made up of two areas Kirkelandet and Gomalandet. In the local dialect, Kirkelandet (the "Church Land") is pronounced "Kirklandet", without the middle e. The smallest island is Innlandet ("Innermost Land"; humorously, "Tahiti"). The largest island in the municipality is Frei which was part of the old Frei Municipality which was merged into Kristiansund on 1 January 2008. The highest point of the municipality is located on Frei island, Freikollen at a height of .
The islands of Grip, located northwest of Kristiansund are also a part of the municipality. Grip Municipality 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. Grip Stave Church, the second smallest stave church of Norway (Undredal Stave Church is smaller), is also located at Grip. It is also where Grip Lighthouse is located.
Kristiansund includes the town of Kristiansund which 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 harbor/town area of Kirkelandet.
History 8000 BC–1066 Archeological evidence exists of settlement in the area which is now Kristiansund from as early as 8000 BCE. At the end of the last ice age some areas at the western coast of Norway were ice-free. The first evidence of such settlements were discovered at Voldvatnet in Kristiansund in 1909. More have since been found, a discovery at Kvernberget in 2007 when archeological digs were conducted before the extension of the city's airport. Finds have also been discovered from the Bronze Age, and early Iron Age.
During the Viking era, there were many battles around Kristiansund. The most famous one was the Battle of Rastarkalv on the island of Frei, where the Norwegian King Håkon the Good fought against the Eirikssønnene group. There is now a monument located near at Nedre Frei, where the battle was fought.
Middle Ages
The island of Grip was an important fishing community during the Middle Ages, and was considered 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 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 Trondheim. In 1631, the port was declared to be a 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.
19th century to present
The town of Christianssund was established as the municipality of Christianssund on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law).
The bombing of Kristiansund occurred from April 28 to May 1, 1940, during the German occupation of Norway in World War II. German air raids destroyed around 800 buildings, causing major damage and killing six people. In 1944, Royal Air Force planes accidentally hit civilian homes during a bombing raid, killing 12.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Kristiansund Municipality was merged with the tiny Grip Municipality (population: 104) to the northwest and the Dale area of Bremsnes Municipality on Nordlandet island (population: 963). The neighboring Frei Municipality was merged with Kristiansund on 1 January 2008 creating a much larger Kristiansund Municipality.
Media The local newspaper of Kristiansund is Tidens Krav, which also functions as a semi-regional newspaper for the other municipalities located nearby the city. Other online newspapers for the city exists, such as KSU.no. A local radio station, also named KSU 24/7, was founded in 2016.
Climate Kristiansund has a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb) with cool-to-warm summers and mild winters. The city structure with the unique natural harbour of the city combined with Atlantic air from the southwest and the Gulf Stream gives Kristiansund a much warmer climate than its latitude would indicate. The all-time high was set 28 July 2018. The warmest month on record at Kristiansund Airport was July 2014 with mean and average daily high . The all-time low was recorded 23 February 2010. The coldest month on record at Kristiansund Airport was December 2010 with mean and average daily low . The coldest month recorded at earlier weather stations in Kristiansund was February 1947 with mean (recordings since 1871).
Government Kristiansund Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Nordmøre og Romsdal District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal. Waste management was provided by the inter-municipal agency Nordmøre Interkommunale Renovasjonsselskap until 2020, after which it merged into ReMidt. Waste collection has since 2018 been operated by ReTrans Midt.
Municipal council The municipal council () of Kristiansund Municipality is made up of 45 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.
Mayor The mayor () of Kristiansund Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:
1838–1838: Hans Herluf Dahl 1839–1842: Jens Christian Schaanning 1843–1846: Hans Herluf Dahl 1847–1847: Jens Christian Schaanning 1848–1848: Morten Parelius 1849–1850: Jens Christian Schaanning 1851–1852: Claus Christian Olrog 1852–1853: Jens Christian Schaanning 1854–1856: Niels Rossing Parelius 1857–1859: Hans Herluf Dahl 1860–1861: Morten Parelius 1862–1862: Nicolay H. Knudtzon 1863–1866: Ernst David Thue 1867–1868: Jens Ludvig Paul Flor 1869–1869: Ernst David Thue 1870–1871: Rasmus Lossius 1872–1873: Christian Johnsen 1873–1874: Jens Ludvig Paul Flor 1875–1875: Ernst David Thue 1876–1876: Jens Ludvig Paul Flor 1877–1877: Ole Andreas Furu (H) 1878–1878: Ernst David Thue 1879–1885: Christian Johnsen (H) 1885–1888: Ole Andreas Furu (H) 1889–1891: Thomas Fasting (V) 1892–1894: Paul Christian Rønning (V) 1895–1896: Lars Gustav Aas (V) 1897–1897: Benedictus Heide (H) 1898–1898: Alf Peter Wessel-Thjøme (V) 1899–1900: Arne Arnesen (V) 1901–1910: Fredrik Selmer (V) 1911–1913: Jonas Hestnes (V) 1914–1916: Ivar O. Sundet (V) 1916–1917: Jonas Hestnes (V) 1917–1919: Robert Sæther (V) 1920–1921: Eileif Kolsrud (Ap) 1921–1922: Leif Bang (Ap) 1923–1925: Halvard Aase (FV) 1926–1926: Anton O. Næss (SmP) 1926–1934: Robert Sæther (SmP) 1935–1940: Ulrik Olsen (Ap) 1940–1942: Anton O. Næss (SmP)