Grimstad () is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Grimstad. Some of the villages in Grimstad include Eide, Espenes, Fevik, Fjære, Håbbestad, Hesnes, Homborsund, Jortveit, Kroken, Nygrenda, Prestegårdskogen, Reddal, Roresand, Rønnes, Skiftenes, Tjore, Vik, and Østerhus.
The municipality is centered around the little maritime town of Grimstad which is surrounded by many small islands (Skjærgård). There is a harbor, a main street, a small market square, Grimstad Church, and a museum dedicated to the early life of Henrik Ibsen, who served as an apprentice to Grimstad's local pharmacist Reimann, from 1844 to 1847, before leaving Grimstad in 1850. Ibsen's intimate knowledge of the local people and surroundings can be seen in his poem Terje Vigen. The majority of the inhabitants live in and around the town, while the rest of the municipality is rural and heavily forested.
The municipality is the 264th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Grimstad Municipality is the 49th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of . The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 13.4% over the previous 10-year period.
General information
Administrative history The town of Grimstad was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law).
Over the years, the growing town of Grimstad was enlarged by annexing adjacent areas from the neighboring municipality. On 1 January 1878, part of the neighboring Fjære Municipality (population: ) was transferred to Grimstad Municipality. Again, on 1 January 1960, another part of Fjære Municipality (population: ) was transferred to Grimstad Municipality.
On 1 January 1971, the following areas were merged to form a significantly larger Grimstad Municipality with a total population of :
all of Grimstad Municipality (population: ) all of Fjære Municipality (population: ) all of Landvik Municipality (population: )
In 2020, there were many municipal and county mergers across Norway due to the work of the Solberg cabinet. Historically, this municipality was part of the old Aust-Agder county. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became a part of the newly-formed Agder county (after Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder counties were merged).
Name The municipality is named after the historic town of Grimstad (). The first element is the name of after the old Grøm farm. The farm name is the combination of two items. First, the old local river name Gróa which comes from the word which means "to grow" and the second part is which means "home" or "abode". The last element of the name is which means "landing place" or "harbour". The town's name was originally spelled Grømstad, when Norway was part of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway. At some point, the spelling of the name was misunderstood and became spelled as "Grimstad" during the registration of Norwegian cities and small places.
Coat of arms The coat of arms was granted in 1899 and was based upon a seal of the city dating back to 1847. The blazon is "Azure, a brig above three barrulets wavy Or". This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a two-masted brig, a type of sailing ship, on top of three wavy lines which symbolize the ocean. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The arms usually have a mural crown above the shield. The design was chosen as a symbol for the importance of fishing and shipping.
Churches The Church of Norway has four parishes () within Grimstad Municipality. It is part of the Vest-Nedenes prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.
Churches in Grimstad MunicipalityParish ()Church nameLocation of the churchYear builtEideEide ChurchEide1795FjæreFevik ChurchFevik1976Fjære ChurchFjærec. 1150GrimstadGrimstad ChurchGrimstad1881LandvikLandvik ChurchRoresand1825Østerhus ChurchØsterhus1980
History Grimstad lies within the boundaries of the ancient parish of Fjære Church. It is reportedly first mentioned as a harbor in the 16th century. Eight years after he was deposed, Christian II of Denmark–Norway (1513–1523) attempted to recover his kingdoms. A tempest scattered his fleet off the Norwegian coast, and on 24 October 1531, they took refuge at Grimstad. On 1 July 1532, he surrendered to his rival, King Frederick I of Denmark, in exchange for a promise of safe conduct. King Frederick failed to honor his promise and imprisoned Christian until he died.
An inn is recorded at Grimstad as early as 1607. In 1622, Grimstad became a ladested (privileged seaport) under the neighboring town of Arendal. By 1747, Grimstad was identified as a sailing community and a recognized haunt of smugglers. During the Napoleonic Wars, the British Royal Navy blockaded Grimstad; on 16 March 1811, the British frigate Venus entered Grimstad's harbour to capture four Dano-Norwegian merchantmen sheltering there. Royal Marines from Venus captured the sloop Frau Maria but were eventually forced to abandoned her and row back to Venus.
John Frederik Classen, who owned the Frolands Værk (an ironworks), obtained concessions to export and import through Grimstad and bypass Arendal with its customs dues. Grimstad was awarded kjøpstad status in 1816. The Nørholm farm was the home of Knut Hamsun in the early 20th century.
Government Grimstad 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 () of Grimstad Municipality is made up of 35 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 mayor () of Grimstad Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:
1838–1841: Bendix Ebbell 1841–1842: Dr. Christian Fredrik Bonnevie 1843–1843: Christian Holst 1844–1844: Mathias Gundersen 1845–1845: Christian Holst 1846–1846: Mathias Gundersen 1847–1848: Rev. Axel Christian Pharo 1848–1849: John Collett Falsen 1849–1850: Fredrik Crawfurd 1851–1851: Morten Smith Petersen 1852–1852: Charles Crawfurd 1853–1853: Morten Smith Petersen 1854–1854: Christian Holst 1855–1855: Morten Smith Petersen 1856–1856: Dr. Hans Frisak 1856–1857: Morten Smith Petersen 1857–1857: Morten Smith Tveten 1858–1859: Morten Smith Petersen 1859–1859: Morten Smith Tveten 1860–1860: Dr. Hans Frisak 1860–1862: Morten Smith Petersen 1863–1864: Dr. Hans Frisak 1865–1866: Henning J. Bie 1867–1867: Morten Smith Petersen 1867–1867: Aanon Aanenson Frivold 1868–1868: Morten Smith Petersen 1868–1872: Dr. Hans Frisak 1873–1874: Fredrik Crawfurd 1875–1878: Dr. Hans Frisak 1879–1901: Fredrik Smith Petersen 1902–1907: Bernt Einersen 1908–1910: Dr. Peter Berg 1911–1914: Bernt Einersen 1915–1916: Hans P. Hansen 1917–1917: Alfred Johnsen 1918–1919: Johannes Alfred Gundersen 1920–1920: Daniel Gundersen (H) 1921–1922: Ole Thomassen Tønnevold (H) 1923–1925: Peder Bjørn Einersen (H) 1926–1928: Daniel Gundersen (H) 1929–1931: Peder Bjørn Einersen (H) 1932–1934: Carsten Assev (H) 1935–1936: Thomas Olsen Tønnevold (H) 1937–1937: Mons Fuhr (H) 1938–1938: Gunnar E. Gundersen (KrF)| 1939–1945: Mons Fuhr (H) 1945–1945: Gunnar E. Gundersen (KrF)| 1945–1945: Dr. Leif B. Smith (V) 1946–1947: Trygve Skretting (H) 1948–1948: Gunnar E. Gundersen (KrF)| 1949–1949: Trygve Skretting (H) 1950–1950: Gunnar E. Gundersen (KrF)| 1951–1961: Trygve Skretting (H) 1962–1963: Hans Stifoss Hanssen 1964–1970: Trygve Skretting (H) 1970–1971: Johan Jørgen Ugland (H) 1972–1975: Gudmund Hytten (H) 1976–1977: Trygve Skretting (H) 1978–1981: Reidar Aslaksen (KrF) 1982–1983: Gunnar Edvard Gundersen (H) 1984–1985: Reidar Aslaksen (KrF) 1986–1987: Hallstein Gauslaa (H) 1988–1989: Jon Sørland (KrF) 1990–1991: Bent Sætra (H) 1992–1995: Oddvar Skaiaa (KrF) 1995–2003: Per Svenningsen (Ap) 2003–2007: Svein Harberg (H) 2007–2015: Hans Antonsen (V) 2015–2019: Kjetil Glimsdal (KrF) 2019–present: Beate Skretting (H)
Education Grimstad is home to Drottningborg, a private Lutheran boarding preparatory school. It is also the location of the Bibelskolen in Grimstad (BiG), a private Lutheran bible school. The University of Agder has its faculty of engineering seated here. A student dorm called "Grøm" is also in Grimstad.
Geography Grimstad is a coastal municipality in Agder county bordering on the Skagerrak. The municipality is bordered by Arendal Municipality in the east, Froland Municipality and Birkenes Municipality in the north, and Lillesand Municipality in the west. The lakes Syndle and Rore are found in the northern part of the municipality. Landvikvannet and Reddalsvannet lakes are found in the southern part of the municipality, near the village of Reddal. The rivers Nidelva and Tovdalselva run through parts of the municipality. The Rivingen Lighthouse and Homborsund Lighthouse both sit on small islands just off the coast. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Dobbedalshei in the northern part of the municipality.
Climate Grimstad is the sunniest town in Norway. The coastal areas of the municipality have a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), with cool to cold winters and mild summers. The inner parts have a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) with averages under in winter. Autumn and early winter is the wettest period and April to July is the driest. The all-time high temperature was 11 August 1975; the all-time low is recorded 8 February 1966. The March record high recorded 27 March 2012 was new national heat record for March. Most of the record lows are old; 8 of 12 record lows from before 1970 (November 2021). In February and March 1970 a snow depth of was recorded at Landvik. In recent times, snow usually melts fast along the coast, but the right weather setup can sometimes give large snowfalls. The weather station in Landvik, inland from the town of Grimstad, has been recording since 1957.
Attractions The Maritime Museum, the comprehensive City Museum and the Norwegian Horticultural Museum, are all popular among tourists, as are the wealth of exhibitions and concerts that the town hosts. The town is also a popular destination for summer vacationers, and supports a robust shopping milieu during the Christmas season.
During summer, Grimstad plays host to the Norwegian Short Film Festival, which attracts film enthusiasts from far and near. Another popular attraction is the Agder Teater at Fjæreheia, an open-air stage located in a disused stone quarry. Shopping is also available in Oddensenteret along the harbour. (The view from Oddensenteret is seen in the panorama photo above.)
The Homborsund Lighthouse is located within the municipality. Grimstad is also home to the Nøgne Ø brewery.
Sports The 1997 World Orienteering Championships were held in Grimstad. The FK Jerv is the most important football club, and plays for first time at the top division in 2022.
Notable people
The arts Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906), a playwright who wrote his first drama, Catalina in Grimstad in 1848/49 Andreas Isachsen (1829–1903), an actor and playwright Knut Hamsun (1859–1952), a Nobel lauriate author who lived in Norholm from 1918 Clara Thue Ebbell (1880–1971), an author of young adult fiction