Kragerø Department of Culture

Kragerø is Telemark's most southern municipality with a distance of 194 km to Oslo and 145 km from Kristiansand. The municipality has a little less than 11,000 inhabitants and has a total land area of 307 km ². The population is largely concentrated in some areas f.ex. at the town area, the Helle area and the Sannidal area.There are also scattered settlements throughout the district. Kragerø became a township in 1666. In 1960 Kragerø merged with Skåtøy and Sannidal. A total of 495 islands and islets in the archipelago, cover an area of 36 square kilometers. .Approximately 6,500 acresof archipelago parks and recreational areas are secured to the public. There are approximately 4000 holiday homes in the municipality. All in all there are a total of approx. 190 lakes within the municipal boundaries of approx. 17 square kilometres and with 133 islands - most of them being quite small. Kragerø has a large agriculture which consists of smaller units. The cultivated land is largely fragmented by forest and mountain ridges with the exception of Jomfruland (Virgin Island). This has heavy driven land where only roughly 6,520 acresof it is cultivated land. Productive forest areas in Kragerø are estimated at approx. 165,000 acres. The forest is dominated by fir trees. Major industries are manufacturing and tourism. Kragerø municipality is the municipality's largest employer. Amongst other major businesses we can mention; Weifa, Naper Information Industry, the Norwegian Speaker Factory, Kjættingfabriken A / S and Vafos Brug. Otherwise there are a lot of small industries in the municipality.