Kristiansand Cannon Museum
A 1941 coastal battery at Møvik
Batterie Vara was built for the German navy from 1941 onwards. After the war it was used by the Norwegian coastal artillery, and today Vest-Agder-museet displays one of the huge Krupp guns here.
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About the Cannon Museum
The Kristiansand Cannon Museum at Møvik preserves a coastal battery from the Second World War. At its heart is one of the 38 cm guns that the German navy installed here. The site also includes an ammunition railway.
Since 2012 the museum has been part of Vest-Agder-museet, the region's museum group. Parts of the site have been open to the public since 1993.
The battery
The German navy began construction in summer 1941, joined by Organisation Todt from 1942. Among the workers were Soviet prisoners of war, who were forced to labour here.
The site was first called "Batterie Kroodden" and later renamed "Batterie Vara" after General Felix Vara. Four 38 cm Krupp guns dating from 1940 were planned, and three of them became operational in 1942 and 1943.
Each gun weighs 337 tonnes in total and has a range of 55 km. The barrel alone weighs 110 tonnes and is almost 20 metres long. A sister battery stood at Hanstholm in Denmark, on the other side of the Skagerrak.
After 1945
From 1946 the Norwegian coastal artillery kept the battery in service. The last shots were fired in 1957, and the site was decommissioned in 1959.
The battery then became a museum. The ammunition railway was rebuilt in 2016, and in 2019 the gun was repainted in its 1943 camouflage colours.
Visiting
The season runs from late February to early November. Until the end of April and from late September the museum opens on Sundays. From early May to mid-September it opens every day, and in high summer, from late June to early August, it also stays open until 17:00 on weekdays. The ammunition railway runs from early July to early August.
Without a car, take bus M1 towards Flekkerøy. By car, head towards Vågsbygd and Flekkerøy and turn off before the Flekkerøy tunnel. For more places to visit in and around Kristiansand, see Sights and Around Kristiansand. A second, much older fortification stands by the city's eastern harbour: Christiansholm Fortress, dating from 1672.