Kvadraturen (Kristiansand)

Kvadraturen
Kvadraturen
Borough of Kristiansand
	Descending, from top: Kvadraturen also known as downtown, bottom: Markens gate
	Coat of arms
	Location of Kvadraturen, shown in yellow, in Kristiansand
	Kvadraturen Kvadraturen
	Coordinates: 58°08′48″N 7°59′43″E / 58.1468°N 07.9953°E
Country	Norway
Region	Southern Norway
County	Agder
District	Kristiansand
Municipality	Kristiansand
Elevation	7 m (23 ft)
Population (2015)
• Total	6,750
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Post Code prefix	460, 461
Website	kvadraturen.no; kristiansand.kommune.no

Kvadraturen is a borough in the city centre of the city of Kristiansand which lies in the municipality of Kristiansand in Agder county, Norway. It has a population of 6,750 (2015). The borough is made up of the centre together with the harbour to the south and the more rural district of "Eg" to the north. Kvadraturen is the administrative centre of the municipality of Kristiansand as well as the administrative centre of Vest-Agder county, but is far smaller in area than the other boroughs in the municipality, such as the borough of Grim to the north and west, and the borough of Lund to the east.

Kvadraturen is the location of the Kristiansand Cathedral and the nearby commercial, pedestrian street is Markens gate. The city harbour is located along the Kristiansandsfjorden and the island of Odderøya. The borough has three malls and three high schools. The closest public junior high is "Grim Skole" and the closest elementary is Tordenskjoldsgate Skole and is the only remanding elementary in Kvadraturen. The Sørlandet Hospital Kristiansand is also located in the borough, in the district of Eg.

The main city centre was established as a city on 5 July 1641 by King Christian IV. The city became a self-governing municipality under the formannskapsdistrikt law on 1 January 1838. On 1 July 1921, a neighboring part of the municipality of Oddernes (population: 2,164) was transferred from Oddernes to the city of Kristiansand. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the city of Kristiansand (population: 27,100) was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Randesund (population: 1,672), Oddernes (population: 18,668), and Tveit (population: 2,802) to form a new, larger municipality of Kristiansand.^[2]

Shopping edit

Markens gate is the main pedestrian street in Kristiansand. It is one of Norway's most walked street and is over 2,778 feet (847 meters) long. The street has many different stores. The walking zone stretches over seven blocks. During the 1600-1700s, the street was called Dronningens gate, and today its also nicknamed Stripen (The Strip).

The most central part of the city is lower Markens where it meets Tollbodgata. Some stores here are open 24/7 and it is here most crimes of downtown Kristiansand take place. Chain restaurants like 7-Eleven, McDonald's, and Deli de Luca are also located there.

There are three malls at Kvadraturen: Sandens is the largest and newest one, Slottet Shopping is located at the north end of Markens gate in the north. Lille Markens is the smallest mall.^[3]^[4]

Transportation edit

Kristiansand Bus Terminal, Kristiansand Station, and Kristiansand Harbor are all located at Vestre Strandgate next to each other.^[5] Local buses goes from Henrik Wergelandsgate and Tollbodgata.

Kristiansand Station has daily trains to Oslo and Stavanger.^[6] Kristiansand Harbor has many daily ferry routes to Hirtshals, Denmark.

Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik is located 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the city center, and it has routes to the biggest cities in Norway, with less frequent routes to other Northern European cities.

Education edit

There are two public and one private high schools and one elementary school in the borough of Kvadraturen. The elementary school has students from over 27 different nationalities. The closest junior high schools are in the nearby boroughs of Grim and Lund.^[7]

List of schools in Kvadraturen
Name	Location	Type ^[8]
Kvadraturen skolesenter	Tollbodgata	High School
Noroff videregående skole	Elvegata	High School
Tangen High School	Tangen	High School
Tordenskjoldsgate skole	Nybyen	Elementary

Politics edit

The largest political parties in Kvadraturen (2019):

Kristiansand city council votes from Kvadraturen 2019^[9]
Labour Party	21,7% (684 votes)
Conservative Party	19,4% (611 votes)
Socialist Left Party	10,3% (326 votes)
Green Party	10,0% (315 votes)
The Democrats	8,2% (257 votes)
Christian Democratic Party	6,6% (207 votes)
Liberal Party	5,7% (181 votes)
Progress Party	4,6% (144 votes)
Red	4,3% (135 votes)
Centre	2,8% (89 votes)
The Christians Party	1,2% (37 votes)
Pensioners' Party	0,9%% (28 votes)
The Capitalist Party	0,4% (14 votes)
Health Party	0,4% (12 votes)
Others	3,6% (112 votes)
Total	7 386 votes

Tourism edit

The borough of Kvadraturen is the site of many tourist attractions. Christiansholm Fortress was built in 1672. The Kilden Theatre, the largest culture house and theatre in Southern Norway, is located on the island of Odderøya. It was finished in 2012 and has a capacity of over 2,000.

Fiskebrygga (The Fish Wharf), a former fish landing in Kvadraturen with Odderøya, has been redeveloped as a restaurant, shopping, and tourist destination.^[10]