What to do in South-Norway: Christiansholm Fortress

This fortress is a must if you`re ever at the City of Kristiansand at the (almost) southern tip of Norway. The fortress is one of the city's pride.

Christiansholm Fortress is a very well-preserved tower fortification, so if you are into history, and nice views, this is the spot in Kristiansand. Also, i should mention that the big square right outside it

If you have the option to visit Kristiansand in May 17, this is a happening for both big and small. "Tapto" is a running game that everyone can join in, we run from a certain place in town and end up at the castle ending with big fireworks. During the day there are stalls that one can get something to eat at. These are great events every summer and winter.

Hot Tip:
The whole fortress can be rented privately as a wedding celebration, where the guest will get together at the square and the wedding couple can arrive with a helicopter. That an awe inspiring view in historic and great view surroundings :)

The fortress is often used today for exhibitions and concerts and is free/open for tourist and locals.
The bad thing about it is the lack of overview and lack of description of the history, so i wrote something further down in this article about that.

Christiansholm Fortress was part of Christian IV's plan for the defense of Kristiansand (then Christianssand) when the city was founded in 1641. It close to the city centrum (about 300 meters), and gives a very nice view of the harbour and surroundings of the coast. Its also within walking distance of the beach and various cafes and restaurants. The fortress was finished 1672.
Anyhow, these pictures gives is a quick overview of the fortress from the outside. All the photos are taken by my drone, and gives you a new perspective that you generally cant see, kinda cool:

Picture: As you see, the round tower with a diameter for 35 meters, is surrounded by a massive gray stone wall at angles that follow the outer reach of the canal. The stone walls are 5 meters thick which makes the walls almost impenetrable against weapon technology at that age

The fortification system consists of a locked fortress with 8 bronze canons from the period 1666 - 1788 as seen here:

Picture: I did some research into these cannons. Older cannons usually had a weight of 2-300 times the projectile they fired, but these guns at this fortress are probably scaled around 100 times. In the prime period, in the late 16 century, the fortress had around 60 cannons fully operational, which would have proven a really intimidating threat for all ships at that time.

Some History
The fortress has loosened a shot against an enemy on one occasion and that was in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars. The English had claimed the Danish / Norwegian fleet and had taken most of the fleet after the bombing of Copenhagen in the days from 2 to 5 September 1807.

Some ships were still under Danish / Norwegian command, among them the line-ship "Prinds Christian Fredrik" which had aprox. 70 cannons in and was stationed at Kristiansand. Captain Stopford sailed towards the city with the line-ship "Spencer" and three other warships and announced in letter that he wanted to take over the ships and threatened to open fire to the city if the ship was not handed over. The ship "Spencer" stepped into the city fjord and was shot from Christiansholm Fortress. This worked for its purpose, and "Spencer" disappeared with the other warships

Hope you enjoyed the view, i sure did :)

(All the pictures are taken from my personal drone)

Located in Kristiansand - South-Norway: