Lindesnes

Lindesnes (the Naze) is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Mandal. Other villages in Lindesnes include Åvik, Høllen, Skofteland, Svenevig, Vigmostad, Heddeland, Bjelland, Breland, Koland, Laudal, Øyslebø, Bykjernen, Skjebstad, Sånum-Lundevik, Skogsfjord-Hesland, Krossen, Harkmark, Skinsnes-Ime, and Tregde-Skjernøy.

The 934 km2 municipality is the 126th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Lindesnes is the 55th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 23,479. The municipality's population density is 26.6 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 5.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The municipality of Lindesnes was created as a new municipality on 1 January 1964 after the merger of the older municipalities of Spangereid (population: 899), Sør-Audnedal (population: 2,323), and Vigmostad (population: 589).

On 1 January 2020, the neighboring municipalities of Mandal and Marnardal were merged into Lindesnes, creating a much larger municipality of Lindesnes. At the same time, the administrative centre of the new, larger municipality was moved to the town of Mandal.

Name
The oldest Old Norse form of the name was Líðandi. That name is derived from the verb which means "lead to an end" or "go to the end" and the meaning of this name is probably just "the end", referring to its location at the southern tip of Norway. A later form was Líðandisnes where the word which means "headland" was added (a word that is related to the English forms ness and naze). The traditional English language version of the name is just the Naze, derived from ness meaning headland.

Coat of arms
The original coat of arms was granted on 25 April 1986 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was enlarged and a new coat of arms was adopted. The official blazon was "Azure a lighthouse issuant argent" (I blått et oppvoksende sølv fyrtårn). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is the top of a lighthouse. The lighthouse has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The lighthouse represents the local Lindesnes Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in Norway. It was built in 1655 on the Lindesnes peninsula. The arms were designed by Truls Nygaard who based it after a design by Rolf Dybvig. The municipal flag had the same design as the coat of arms.

The new coat of arms was granted on 1 January 2020 and it was a slightly more modern take on the old arms. The blazon is "Azure, a lighthouse issuant and a crest a mural crown argent" (På blågrønn bakgrunn, et hvitt fyrtårn med murkrone). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a lighthouse with a crown above the shield. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The new arms have a slightly different design and the addition of a mural crown above the escutcheon to represent the fact that the municipality now includes the town of Mandal. The color was also changed to a more teal blue.

Churches
The Church of Norway has eight parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Lindesnes. It is part of the Lister og Mandal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.

Government
Lindesnes 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 Agder District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Lindesnes is made up of 39 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Lindesnes:


 * 1964–1967: Gunnar Gulli (V)
 * 1968–1971: Daniel Leland (Sp)
 * 1972–1975: Knut Lunden (KrF)
 * 1976–1979: Terje Gabrielsen (H)
 * 1980–1981: Kenneth Skofteland (KrF)
 * 1982–1983: Peder Skofteland (H)
 * 1984–1987: Kenneth Skofteland (KrF)
 * 1988–1993: Ansgar Gabrielsen (H)
 * 1993–1999: Oddleiv Skagestad (H)
 * 1999–2011: Ivar Lindal (KrF)
 * 2011–2019: Janne Fardal Kristoffersen (H)
 * 2019-2023: Even Sagebakken (Ap)
 * 2023-present: Alf Erik Andersen (FrP)

Geography
Lindesnes is a coastal municipality, with a long stretch of coastline to the south. It borders Lyngdal municipality to the west, Evje og Hornnes to the north, and Kristiansand and Vennesla to the east. The Lindesnes Lighthouse stands on the southernmost point of the mainland of Norway, nearly 1700 km southwest of Knivskjellodden, the northernmost point of mainland Norway. The southern coast of Lindesnes is rugged and includes several fjords such as the Snigsfjorden and Grønsfjorden as well as many islands such as Svinør. The interior of the municipality follows the Audnadalen valley through which the river Audna flows south into the Snigsfjorden.

Climate
Lindesnes has a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb). The weather station has been recording since January 1863, and is situated near the Lindesnes lighthouse on a peninsula protruding into the sea. It is the southernmost mainland point in Norway. The all-time high temperature is 27.3 °C recorded August 1975; the all-time low is -18.1 °C recorded in January 1987. The five months May - September have not seen any overnight freeze, with coldest low 0.6 °C in May 1981 (data since 1954).

Public service & public thinking

 * Peder Claussøn Friis (1545–1614), a Norwegian clergyman and author
 * Søren Jaabæk (1814 in Holum – 1894), a farmer and politician who was the longest-serving member of the Norwegian Parliament from 1845 to 1891
 * Geirulf Bugge (1862 in Mandal – 1940), a judge and Norwegian Supreme Court Justice
 * Ivar An Christensen (1868 in Mandal – 1934), a ship owner with a fleet of eleven steam ships
 * Elise Sem (1870–1950), a barrister, women's activist, and sports official who grew up in Manadal
 * Ellen Gleditsch (1879 in Mandal – 1968), a radiochemist and Norway's second female professor
 * Karen Platou (1879 in Mandal – 1950), a politician who was the first woman elected Member of Parliament
 * Arne Askildsen (1898–1982), a politician and bailiff of Mandal and Halse og Harkmark from 1928–1968, except during WWII
 * Asbjørn Aavik (1902 in Åvik - 1997), a Norwegian Lutheran missionary to China and writer
 * Leif Edwardsen (1922 in Mandal - 2002), a Norwegian diplomat
 * Knut Aukland (1929 in Vigmostad – 2014), a Norwegian physiologist
 * Ole-Johan Dahl (1931 in Mandal – 2002), Norway's foremost computer scientist
 * Ludvig Hope Faye (1931–2017), a politician who was Mayor of Mandal from 1972–1975
 * Ansgar Gabrielsen (born 1955 in Mandal), a consultant and former politician
 * Janne Haaland Matláry (born 1957), a political scientist, writer, politician, and academic

The Arts

 * Adolph Tidemand (1814 in Mandal – 1876), a romantic nationalism painter
 * Olaf Isaachsen (1835 in Madal – 1893), a landscape and genre painter
 * Amaldus Nielsen (1838 in Halse – 1932), a painter known as "Norway's first naturalist painter"
 * Gustav Vigeland (1869 in Halse og Harkmark - 1943), a sculptor who is associated with the Vigeland Sculptures in Frogner Park in Oslo and designed the Nobel Peace Prize medal
 * Emanuel Vigeland (1875 in Halse og Harkmark - 1948), a multi-talented Norwegian artist
 * Kjell Askildsen (born 1929 in Mandal), a writer of minimalistic short stories
 * Tobias Santelmann (born 1980), a German-born Norwegian actor, grew up in Lindesnes
 * Helene Bøksle (born 1981 in Mandal), a singer and actress

Sport

 * Per Arne Nilsen (born 1961 in Mandal), a sailor who participated at the 1984 Summer Olympics
 * Bjarne Røyland (born 1971 in Mandal), a bobsledder who competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics