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Kristiansand Cannon Museum is a museum at Møvik, 8 kilometers west of the town centre of
Møvik fort at Nasjonale Festningsverk
in Norwegian
Kristiansand Cannon Museum at www.visitnorway.com
Kristiansand Cannon Museum, website in English
Agderkultur (Norwegian & English)
Kristiansand Cannon Museum: Information video
{{Authority control Museums in Kristiansand Military and war museums in Norway Movik Fort World War II museums in Norway Tourism in Kristiansand Museums established in 1993 1993 establishments in Norway
Kristiansand Cannon Museum is a museum at Møvik, 8 kilometers west of the town centre of Kristiansand
Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporati ...
, Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
. The museum has collected authentic equipment from a former military installation.
The name
Thecoastal artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications.
From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form o ...
fortress was named Batterie Vara (MAB 6./502 Vara) by the Germans, when it was built by the German Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. It was named after Major General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...
Felix Vara, who was killed off Alderney
Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependencies, Crown dependency. It is long and wide.
The island's area is , making i ...
in the English channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...
on 3 November 1941. After the war, the Norwegian Armed Forces
The Norwegian Armed Forces ( no, Forsvaret, , The Defence) is the military organization responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Coast Guard, the Royal ...
named it Møvik Fort.
History
The fort was constructed between 1941 and 1944 by the German navy. Together with four other coastal batteries, it formed a part of the ''Kristiansand Artillery Group''. Together with its sister battery atHanstholm
Hanstholm is a small town and a former island, now elevated area in Thisted municipality of Region Nordjylland, located in northern Denmark. The population of the town is 2,104 (1 January 2022).
in Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
, Møvik Fort was built to obstruct Allied naval forces by blocking the Skagerrak
The Skagerrak (, , ) is a strait running between the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, the southeast coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area through the Danish Straits to the Baltic Sea.
T ...
strait and the seaways to Eastern Norway
Eastern Norway ( nb, Østlandet, nn, Austlandet) is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Vestfold og Telemark, Viken, Oslo and Innlandet.
Eastern Norway is by far the most populous region ...
, the Kattegatt
The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in Sweden i ...
Bay, the Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
and the Baltic region
The terms Baltic Sea Region, Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, mainly in Northern Europe. ...
for the allied naval forces. Only a field, ten nautical mile
A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Tod ...
s wide, in the Skagerrak could not be covered by the guns of these facilities. This field was therefore mined.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
worked personally for the barrier strategy and the decision about the fortress in Hanstholm was made in May 1940. In May 1941, two of the guns in Hanstholm were in place and on the Norwegian side preparatory work started.
For a few years after the war, Møvik fort was an operating Norwegian fortress. In 1953 it became part of Kristiansand fortress. On 20 April 1959 the fort was closed and two of the guns and the foundations of the fourth were scrapped.
The museum
Plans for a museum began in 1984. After extensive renovation work in the late 1980s and early 1990s by local armed forces and the Foundation Kristiansand Cannon Museum Møvik, a foundation was laid in 1991, and a part of the fort was opened to the public in 1993. Efforts to restore the 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in)narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
funicular railway
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...
who once transported the heavy shells are well underway.
The fortress had four gun positions, of which one of the guns is still intact. There are empty gun emplacements and an empty casemate
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" me ...
. The 38 cm calibre gun is one of the largest in the world; the barrel alone weighs 110 tons, measures almost 20 m in length and has a range of up to 55 km (34 miles). In the museum, this historic site can be experienced, by following the Fortress Trail - a walk to places and buildings which tell of everyday life in a fortress and national, military events.
The Kristiansand Cannon Museum is run today by the Foundation Kristiansand Cannon Museum Møvik (Stiftelsen Kristiansand Kannonmuseum Møvik) and administered by the Nasjonale Festningsverk (National Fortresses). The gun at the fort is one of the largest remaining land-based guns in the World.in Norwegian
See also
*Todt Battery
Todt is a German surname.
Surname
People with the Todt surname include:
* Anthony Todt (born 1975), American mass murderer (2019 Todt family murders)
* Emil Todt ( 18101900), German artist and sculptor
* Fritz Todt (18911942), German engi ...
References
External links
*Kristiansand Cannon Museum at www.visitnorway.com
Kristiansand Cannon Museum, website in English
Agderkultur (Norwegian & English)
Kristiansand Cannon Museum: Information video
{{Authority control Museums in Kristiansand Military and war museums in Norway Movik Fort World War II museums in Norway Tourism in Kristiansand Museums established in 1993 1993 establishments in Norway