Oddernes

Oddernes lies beside the lower Otra in southern Norway, where a medieval stone church stood on the east side of the river. The church probably dates from the twelfth century and served the surrounding farms long before a town was laid out nearby. Its nave was extended westward in the 1630s, while the older masonry of the chancel and its rounded apse remained part of the building.

In 1641 Christian IV founded Kristiansand on land belonging to Oddernes, planning a new market town by the sea with a regular grid of streets. Oddernes Church served the inhabitants until the new town acquired its own church in 1645. The older parish thus remained part of the setting of a royal foundation intended to strengthen trade and authority on Norway's southern coast.