What to See in Mandal - Top Sights and Attractions

Church in Mandal, Norway. Mandal Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Lindesnes Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the town of Mandal. It is one of the two churches for the Mandal parish which is part of the Lister og Mandal prosti in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark. The white, wooden church was built in a long church design in 1821 using plans drawn up by the architect Jørgen Gerhard Løser. It was designed in an empire/neoclassical style. The church seats about 1,000 people, making it the largest wooden church in Norway.

The sanctuary is a large hall supported by colossal columns. A small, cylindrical pulpit is placed above the altarpiece, a rather unusual location compared to most churches in Norway. The church is notable for its distinctive rectangular shape with a simple tower on the roof above the main entrance.^[1]

Civic center in Mandal, Norway. Buen kulturhus is a cultural multi-purpose house located in the town of Mandal in the municipality of Lindesnes in Agder, Norway. The building opened in 2012 and includes a library, an art gallery, cinemas, halls adapted for theater, dance, concerts, and other events as well as a culture school.

There is also a café serving breakfast and lunch menus and outdoor playground near the building. On the eastern side the roof is covered with turf.

The total cost of building Buen kulturhus was 210 million Norwegian kroner and it was designed by the architecture firm Danish 3XN based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Nearby in the river Mandalselva is "Denne rogna klekkes snart", an artwork by Maria Koolen Hellmin. A pedestrian bridge across the river connects the building with the center of Mandal.^[2]

Andorsengården is a town yard in Store Elvegate 5/6 in Mandal center in Agder.

The farm began in 1801 and completed in 1805 by Mathias Knutzen. It is listed in a walled timber that is paneled exterior. Architecturally, it fits well into Mandal's other old wooden buildings, although only Mandal church is built in a similar way in Mandal city.

The building was erected in the boom during the Napoleonic wars. As a result of economic downturns, in 1822 Mathias Knutzen had to sell the building to Consul Gulow Andorsen for 1,500 specie dollars. This was a small sum compared to the fact that Knutzen himself had spent 44,000 specie dollars on the listing. The building now got its current name after Gulow Andorsen.

In 1909, the two daughters bought by shipowner Christian Salvesen, Maria and Magda Salvesen, the building. They were grandchildren of Gulow Andorsen. The building was given in 1954 to the municipality of Mandal.

Andorsengården consists of two continuous buildings - the main house and the economy building. The main building has 20 rooms, some of which are large halls. In the time of Knutzen, the time of the Andorsen family and the Salvesen family, greater social gatherings were held in these halls and parties for the city's society. Today the main building houses the Mandal Museum. The Mandal Library moved across the river and into Buen Kulturhus on February 6, 2012, after living on the main house's ground floor since 1956.

The main building is linked to the economy building with a cold. This side building was originally used for storage stalls, but today contains parts of the Mandal Museum. The museum also has an art collection on the second floor of the main building containing works by artists with close connection to the city, such as Adolph Tidemand, Olaf Isaachsen, Amaldus Nielsen and Gustav Vigeland.

Outside Andorsengården, towards the Mandals River, lies Andorsenhagen which includes a sheltered flower garden according to old pattern. Prior to the preparation of Bryggegata (in the 60s), the property went all the way down to the Mandal River.