Lillesand

	Lillesand
	Lillesand
Basic data
Commune number :	4215
Province (county) :	Agder
Coordinates :	58 ° 14 ′ N , 8 ° 19 ′ E Coordinates: 58 ° 14 ′ N , 8 ° 19 ′ E
Surface:	190.43 km²
Residents:	11,074 (Feb 27, 2020)
Population density :	58 inhabitants per km²
Language form :	Bokmål
Structure:	4 districts
Website:	www.lillesand.kommune.no
politics
Mayor :	Einar Holmer-Hoven ( H ) (2019)
Location in the province of Agder

Lillesand ^{? / i} [ lilleˈsan ] is aport cityandmunicipalityon theNorwegiansouth coast. The small town (about 800 inhabitants, municipality: 11,074 inhabitants (February 27, 2020)) with its old (wooden) houses is located in the province (Fylke)Agder, protected by many smallskerries, directly on theSkagerrakand on the old shipping routeBlindia.

history

Up until 1600 there were about 30 inhabitants here, and the place was then called Sanden. By 1800, 100 people were already living there. In the 19th century, during the heyday of the large sailing ships , prosperity grew and the population rose to 1,500 inhabitants in 1890. Rich shipowners settled in this time, there were numerous shipyards and up to 80 large sailors. The decline of sailing shipbuilding after 1900 also reduced the population of Lillesand. The German cargo ship Rio de Janeiro , with soldiers and supplies for the imminent German invasion of Norway on board, was sunk by an Allied submarine on April 8, 1940 off Lillesand. Around 180 men were rescued by the residents, around 200 died. At the beginning of the 1960s there was a new economic surge. In 1962 the municipalities Lillesand, Vestre Moland and Høvåg were merged.

Attractions

The town has a town and seafaring museum in the patrician house "Carl Knudsen Gården", built in Empire style from 1827. Household appliances, furniture , furnishings and tools are on display that illustrate life in earlier times in the small seafaring town. An old church - the West Moland stone church (Vestre Moland stone church) from about 1100 is located 1.5 km west of the town center. There is a reconstructed Bronze Age nave in the district of Høvåg.

Industry

One of the world's largest production facilities for silicon carbide is located in Lillesand . The operator is the French company Saint-Gobain .

various

It is worth mentioning that some books by the Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder are set here. For example, Hilde from Sofie's world lives in Lillesand. Gaarder also refers to this city in Das Kartengeheimnis .