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is a city and municipality in the county of Møre og Romsdal, Norway. It is a sea port, 236 km north northeast of Bergen, and is noted for its unique concentration of Jugendstil architecture (the German name of Art Nouveau).
Ålesund was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Borgund was merged with Ålesund January 1, 1968. Sula was separated from Ålesund January 1, 1977.
Ålesund received city rights in 1848. It is the administrative center as well as the principal shipping city of the Sunnmøre district. Ålesund's conurbation has a population of 45.299.

Contents

Geography

History

The town fire of 1904

Ålesund being rebuilt, 1904-1907

Origin of the name

Economy

Culture

Tourism

Famous people from Ålesund

Twin towns

External links

Geography

Ålesund occupies seven of the outer islands of the west coast of Møre og Romsdal: Hessa, Aspøy and Nørvøy,
Oksenøy, Ellingsøy, Humla and Tørla which enclose the town. Ålesund has a pronounced maritime climate with mild and windy winters; the coldest month of the year, January, has a mean temperature of 1.3°C. The coldest temperature ever recorded at Ålesund Airport, Vigra is a mere -11 °C.

History

Legend has it that ''Gangerolf'' (outside of Norway better known as Rollo), the 10th century founder of the dynasty of the dukes of Normandy, hailed from the community of Giske, north-west of Ålesund.
There are (at least) three statues of Rollo: in the town park in Ålesund, in the city of Rouen, France and in Fargo, North Dakota, United States.

The town fire of 1904

Main articles: Ålesund Fire

In the night of January 23, 1904, the town was the scene of the Ålesund Fire, one of the most terrible of the many conflagrations to which Norwegian towns, once built largely of wood, have been subjected. Practically the entire town was destroyed during the night, a gale aiding the flames, and the population had to leave the town in the middle of the night with only a few minutes' notice. Only one person died in the fire, but more than 10,000 people were left without shelter.

Ålesund being rebuilt, 1904-1907

Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany had often gone on vacation to Sunnmøre. After the fire, he sent 4 ships with materials to build temporary shelters and barracks. After a period of planning, the town was rebuilt in stone, brick and mortar in Jugendstil (Art Nouveau), the architectural style of the time. The structures were designed by approximately 20 master builders and 30 Norwegian architects, most of them educated in Trondheim and Charlottenburg, Berlin, drawing inspiration from all over Europe. The town has an unusually consistent architecture, most of the buildings having been built between 1904 and 1907. Jugendstilsenteret is a national interpretation centre, visitors can learn more about the town fire, the rebuilding of the town and the Art Nouveau style. Ålesund is a partner city of the Art nouveau network, a European network of co-operation created in 1999 for the study, safeguards and development of the Art nouveau.

Origin of the name

The West Norse form of the name was ''Álasund''. The first element is (probably) the plural genitive case of ''áll'' m 'eel', the last element is ''sund'' n 'strait, sound'.
Until 1921 the name was written ''Aalesund''.

Economy

Ålesund has one of the largest and important fishing harbors in Norway. The town's fishing fleet is one of the most modern in Europe. Ålesund and surroundings also has a large furniture industry. Some well-known household items are manufactured here. In the 1950s and 1960s, Ålesund was one of the chief stations of the herring fishery business.
To the east of Ålesund lies the village of Sykkylven. The Ekornes factory, producing furniture such as the StressLess chair. Håhjem, another village near Ålesund, contains the headquarters of the Stokke company. Ålesund is also one of the harbours at which the Hurtigruten arrives two times per day.

Culture

The local football team, Aalesunds Fotballklubb (AaFK) was founded in 1914. The team played in the Norwegian premier league for the first time in the 2003 season. The team's new arena, Color Line Stadion, opened 16th April 2005 and is located approximately 1 km outside the town centre. Aafk's supporter club is called "Stormen" and has about 2,000 members.
Ålesund is home to a university college, Ålesund University College (Norwegian: ''Høgskolen i Ålesund'', with approximately 1800 students and 150 employees. The ''Ålesund School of Art'' (Norwegian: ''Ålesund Kunstskole'') is a school for visual arts located in Ålesund.
The local newspaper is Sunnmørsposten, founded in 1882 and published six days a week.

Tourism

Ålesund is adjacent to the Hjørund and Geiranger fjords, frequented by tourists. From Øye at the head of Hjørundfjord a road strikes south to the Nordfjord, and from Maråk on Geirangerfjord another strikes inland to Otta. From Åndalsnes, 120 km east of Ålesund, the railway line ''Raumabanen'' goes to Dombås, then southwards on the ''Dovrebanen'' railway to Lillehammer and Oslo. Ålesund is a port of call for passenger and freight vessels travelling between Bergen, Kingston upon Hull, Newcastle, Hamburg, and Trondheim, including the Hurtigruta (Norwegian Coastal Express), which arrives in Ålesund twice a day. Ålesund is the site of the annual Norwegian Food Festival.

Famous people from Ålesund

★ Arnold Eidslott, song writer

★ Helen Bjørnøy, politician

★ Hartvig Kiran, journalist, translator, author, song writer and composer

★ John Arne Riise, football player

★ Bjørn Helge Riise, football player

★ Arild Rypdal, author

★ Olav Nils Sunde, entrepreneur

Twin towns

Ålesund is twinned with:

★ Randers, Denmark: Twin-town since 1947

★ Västerås, Sweden: Twin-town since 1947

★ Lahti, Finland: Twin-town since 1947

★ Akureyri, Iceland: Twin-town since 1949

★ Peterhead, Scotland, United Kingdom: Twin-town since 1967

★ Borgo a Mozzano, Italy: Twin-town since 1979

★ Tacoma, U.S.: Twin-town since 1986
In addition, the city has good relations with the town of Eu, Normandy, France.

External links

★ Municipality website in 'Norwegian', 'English', 'Italian', 'German' and 'French'.

★ Ålesund Hospital