Farsund

The town of Farsund was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt), although already recognized as a trading center in 1795. The rural municipalities of Herad, Lista, and Spind were merged with Farsund on 1 January 1965.

Farsund is a coastal municipality, bordering on Kvinesdal municipality in the north and Lyngdal in the north and east. In terms of square mileage it is one of the smallest municipalities in Vest-Agder county, yet one of the largest in number of inhabitants. The municipality of Farsund has 9,433 inhabitants (2012), concentrated in three centres of population: Farsund town (pop 3198), Vanse (pop 1901), and Vestbygda (pop 1087).^[2] Loshavn with its wooden buildings is located outside Farsund.

General information

Name

The first element is far n 'travel, journey' (like in English farewell 'good journey'), the last element is sund n 'strait, sound'.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms has been used since 1900 or 1901. It shows four linden trees (Tilia). Since around 1750 four linden trees stand in the center of the town.^[3]

History

There is evidence of settlement in Farsund and Lista since the Stone Age.

Farsund had a strategic location in the Atlantic wall during World War II. There are over 400 bunkers in Farsund, many that can be visited. In 1940–45, large Soviet prison camps were located at Lista. The prison camps at Kåde and Ore had over 600 prisoners. The Soviet prisoners were used as forced labour to build airport, bunkers, barracks and fortifications .^[4]

Farsund previously had a hospital, which was closed down in 2007.

Economy

The largest industries are Alcoa Lista, an aluminium plant, and Farsund Aluminium Casting AS, which makes auto parts of aluminium. Historically, shipping and fisheries have also been important. Farsund is the largest agricultural district in the county of Vest-Agder, having 26 km² productive land, 88 km² forest, and 17 km² freshwater areas. Farsund was already organized as a trading centre in 1795, and in 1995 celebrated its 200 year jubilee.

Trade and shipping laid the foundation for prosperity, and "the city of the strait" was a period one of the world's largest shipping towns in relation to the size of population.

Farsund Airport

Farsund Airport, Lista (FAN) was closed in 2002. The airport had from 1955 to 2002 scheduled traffic to Stavanger, Bergen and Oslo. Airlines which have frequented at Lista are among others Braathens SAFE, Norving and Air Stord.

The Airport was built by Luftwaffe in 1940, and they operated the airport with several fighter squadrons during World War II.^[5] After the war, the Royal Norwegian Air Force took over the airport, and for a period it was used as training camp for conscripts.

Today, the airport is privatized and is an industrial area with only minor GA-traffic.

Education

Farsund has 4 primary schools, located in Farsund, Vanse, Borhaug and Ore. Furthermore, there are two junior high schools, in Farsund and Vanse, and two high schools also located in Farsund and Vanse.

Churches

West in the municipality, at Lista, is Vanse Church. This is a medieval church, and the region's oldest and possibly the county's. Local people have wanted to date this church on older than Oddernes Church. Recent assessments from archaeologists suggest that the present church was begun built in the 1200s, while other reviews suggest about the year 1037.

East in the municipality is Spind church, a cruciform church from 1776, built of wood with 500 seats.

The Savior's Church is a church dating from 1785 located in Farsund centre. It is built of stone, and has 380 seats. The church was rebuilt after a city fire in 1901.

Herad church is the youngest church in Farsund municipality, built in 1957 as a church of brick.

Outdoor Activities

Farsund is a town linked to the fjords. It's guest harbour was considered one of the best in Norway, and is full of boats in summer months. Every year, Strandmila (5k / 10k run) takes place in Husenby Park. The course covers countryside trails, forest paths and sand beaches.

References

↑ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
↑ "Statistisk Sentralbyrå".
↑ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 27 September 2008.
↑ "Sovjetiske krigsfanger".
↑ "Norske Flyplasser".

External links

Media related to Farsund at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of Farsund at Wiktionary
Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
Vest-Agder travel guide from Wikivoyage
Some Photographs of Farsund in August 1986, including the Torvestuene
Farsund Kommune

v t e Municipalities of Vest-Agder

Åseral Audnedal Farsund Flekkefjord Hægebostad Kristiansand Kvinesdal Lindesnes Lyngdal Mandal Marnardal Sirdal Søgne Songdalen Vennesla

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