Ålesund

Ålesund, sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality, as well as the principal shipping town of the Sunnmøre district. The town is a sea port and is noted for its concentration of Art Nouveau architecture. Although sometimes internationally spelled by its older name Aalesund, this spelling is obsolete in Norwegian. However, the local football club Aalesunds FK still carries that spelling, having been founded before the official change.

The 633 km2 municipality is the 184th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Ålesund is the 13th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 67,250. The municipality's population density is 111.2 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 9.1% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
In 1793, the port of Aalesund was granted limited ladested rights. Later, in 1824, it was granted full ladested rights. In 1835, Ålesund had 482 inhabitants. On 1 January 1838, the new formannskapsdistrikt law went into effect, granting limited local self-government to all parishes in Norway. Therefore, on that date, the small ladested of Aalesund became a small municipality with its own council. It was surrounded by the large rural municipality of Borgund. In 1848, it was upgraded to the status of a kjøpstad, a more important market town.

On 1 January 1875, part of Borgund Municipality (population: 902) was transferred to the town of Ålesund. In 1922, another part of Borgund Municipality (population: 1,148) was transferred to the town of Ålesund. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1968, most of the neighbouring municipality of Borgund (population: 20,132) was merged with the town of Ålesund. This merger vastly increased the land area of the municipality and more than doubled the population of Ålesund, for a new total population of 38,589. On 1 January 1977, the island of Sula and some small surrounding islets (population: 6,302) were separated from Ålesund to form the new Sula Municipality.

On 1 January 2020, the municipality of Ålesund was greatly enlarged when Haram Municipality, Skodje Municipality, Sandøy Municipality, and Ørskog Municipality were merged with Ålesund to form one large municipality of Ålesund.

On 1 January 2024, the northern part of the municipality that used to be part of the old Haram Municipality before 2020 was separated from Ålesund to become a separate municipality once again.

Toponymy
A part of the town was originally known as Kaupangen Borgund. The Old Norse word means "marketplace" or "town", thus the market town for Borgund. The Old Norse form of the current name was Álasund. The first element of that (probably) is the plural genitive case of which means "eel". The last element is which means "strait" or "sound". On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Aalesund with the digraph "Aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Ålesund, using the letter Å instead.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 1 April 1898. The arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a fishing boat on the water with three cod fish beneath the boat. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. A mural crown is depicted above the escutcheon. The arms symbolize the importance of fishing for Ålesund. The type of ship was typical for the fishing vessels in the 18th and 19th century and is taken from a drawing made in 1762. The waves and three fish were added to the drawing in the arms. The arms were designed by Andreas Bloch. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

The arms are shown in the Kaffe Hag album with the boat sailing right instead of sailing left.

Churches
The Church of Norway has eight parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Ålesund. It is part of the Nordre Sunnmøre prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre. The seat of the deanery is at Ålesund Church.

History
According to local legend, Ålesund was founded by Gangerolf (outside of Norway better known as Rollo), in the 9th century. the 10th-century founder of the dynasty of the dukes of Normandy, hailed from the community of Giske, north-west of Ålesund. At least three statues of Rollo exist: in the town park in Ålesund, in the city of Rouen, France, and in Fargo, North Dakota, United States.

By 1835, Ålesund had grown to a population of 482, and in 1848 it was given the status of a town. By 1900, the population had increased to 11,777.

In the night of 23 January 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, the 76-year-old Ane Heen, but more than 10,000 people were left without shelter. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany had often been on vacation to Sunnmøre. After the fire, he sent four warships with materials to build temporary shelters and barracks. After a period of planning, the town was rebuilt in stone, brick, and mortar in Jugendstil, 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. To honor Wilhelm, one of the most frequented streets of the town is named after him.

The town has an unusually consistent architecture, most of the buildings having been built from stone in Art Nouveau style, 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 in the Art nouveau network, a European network of co-operation created in 1999 for the study, safeguards and development of the Art nouveau.

The term "Little London" was often applied to the community during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany due to the Norwegian resistance work that took place here. Among other things, the city was central to the flights to Scotland and England.

Geography
The municipality of Ålesund occupies seven of the large outer islands in the county of Møre og Romsdal: Hessa, Aspøya, Nørvøya, Oksenøya, Ellingsøya, Humla, and Tørla. The town centre is located on the islands Aspøya and Nørvøya, while Hessa and Oksenøya contain residential areas. There are also many other smaller surrounding islands.

The second largest island, Ellingsøya, used to be accessible only by boat or by road via Skodje Municipality, but the undersea Ellingsøy Tunnel was built in 1987 to make traveling between the island and the town centre more convenient. The tunnel is 3481 m long, and was upgraded in 2009.

Situated 236 km north northeast of the city of Bergen, Ålesund is adjacent to the Hjørund and Geiranger fjords, the latter being on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

The municipality covers an area of 93 km2. The population (2017) is 47,199, making the population density of 506.6 PD/km2. The population of the agglomeration, which includes parts of the neighbouring Sula Municipality, is 48,460. The municipality also contains three smaller separate urban areas on the island of Ellingsøya: Hoffland, Årset, and Myklebost with a total population of 1,279. Other villages include Løvika and Spjelkavik, both on Oksenøya.

Climate
Ålesund has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb), also known as a marine west coast climate. The driest season is April- July. The wettest season is September – January, and the wettest month is December. The mean annual temperature of 8.1 °C is extremely warm for the latitude of 62°N. This is in a large part due to the mild autumns and winters, which can sometimes experience strong winds. The record low is from January 2010, and the record high is from July 2018. The warmest temperature ever recorded in the municipality is 34.4 C at a weather station a little east (inland) of the city itself. Atlantic lows can sometimes cause warm winter highs in Ålesund due to foehn effect from winds being forced over the mountains in Sunnmørsalpene.

Government
Ålesund Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Møre og Romsdal District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Ålesund is made up of 47 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordførar) of Ålesund:


 * 1837–1839: Peder Tonning
 * 1840–1840: Peder Jalles Øwre
 * 1841–1842: Niels Albert Vogt Tonning
 * 1843–1843: Lauritz Peder Tostrup
 * 1844–1844: Niels Albert Vogt Tonning
 * 1845–1845: Hans Lund Schjølberg
 * 1846–1848: Andreas Mathias Sanne
 * 1849–1852: Anton Magnus Søeberg
 * 1853–1853: Andreas Mathias Sanne
 * 1854–1855: Christian August Bendixen
 * 1856–1856: Andreas Mathias Sanne
 * 1857–1857: Christian August Bendixen
 * 1858–1860: Joakim Anderssen
 * 1861–1863: Andreas Mathias Sanne
 * 1864–1864: Johannes Aarflot
 * 1865–1867: Jens Thuesen
 * 1868–1870: Andreas Mathias Sanne
 * 1871–1871: Leonhard Elisar Holmboe
 * 1872–1875: Christian Henrichsen
 * 1876–1881: Johannes Aarflot (H)
 * 1882–1882: Joakim Andersen
 * 1883–1891: Johannes Aarflot (H)
 * 1892–1895: Ivar Waldemar Brøgger (H)
 * 1896–1896: Joachim Holmboe Rønneberg (H)
 * 1897–1898: Anton Johan Rønneberg (V)
 * 1899–1901: Ivar Waldermar Brøgger (H)
 * 1902–1904: Henrik Frisak (V)
 * 1905–1907: Johannes Aarflot, Jr. (H)
 * 1908–1909: Henrik Frisak (V)
 * 1910–1910: Jørgen Anton Johnsen Øwre (H)
 * 1911–1912: Kristian Friis Petersen (V)
 * 1913–1913: Kristian Fredrik Brøgger
 * 1914–1915: Anders N. Aarsæther
 * 1916–1916: Peter Elias Karolius Sæter (V)
 * 1917–1918: Tore Toresen Berset (V)
 * 1919–1919: Peter Elias Karolius Sæter (V)
 * 1920–1921: Anton Ludvig Alvestad (Ap)
 * 1922–1922: Tore Toresen Berset (V)
 * 1923–1925: Elias Røsvik (Ap)
 * 1926–1927: Tore Toresen Berset (V)
 * 1928–1928: Kristoffer Bernhard Hagen (V)
 * 1929–1930: Jacob Rørstad (V)
 * 1931–1931: Rasmus Theodor Berg (V)
 * 1932–1933: Kristoffer Bernhard Hagen (V)
 * 1934–1934: Harald Kristian Thoresen (Ap)
 * 1935–1935: Jon Petrus Hovde (V)
 * 1936–1936: Kristoffer Bernhard Hagen (V)
 * 1937–1937: Jon Petrus Hovde (V)
 * 1938–1940: Rasmus Theodor Berg (V)
 * 1940–1941: Nicolai Helseth (NS)
 * 1941–1945: Gustav Sveen (NS)
 * 1945–1945: Rasmus Theodor Berg (V)
 * 1946–1947: Harald Kristian Thoresen (Ap)
 * 1948–1949: Kristian Langlo (V)
 * 1950–1951: Bjarne Fjærtoft (V)
 * 1952–1953: Ole Grebstad (V)
 * 1954–1955: Paulus Giørtz (H)
 * 1956–1958: Oscar Andreas Ingebrigtsen (Ap)
 * 1959–1965: Dagfinn Flem (V)
 * 1966–1967: Karsten Larsen (H)
 * 1968–1975: Gustav M. Flisnes (DNF)
 * 1976–1977: Johannes Giske (KrF)
 * 1978–1979: Olav Helge Balsnes (H)
 * 1980–1987: Svein Tømmerdal (H)
 * 1988–1989: Leidulf Dahle (Ap)
 * 1990–1993: Kjell-Arne Slinning (KrF)
 * 1994–1995: Asbjørn Måløy (Ap)
 * 1995–1999: Asbjørn Rutgerson (LL)
 * 1999–2007: Arve Tonning (H)
 * 2007–2015: Bjørn Tømmerdal (H)
 * 2015–2023: Eva Vinje Aurdal (Ap)
 * 2023-present: Håkon Lykkebø Strand (FrP)

Economy
The town of Ålesund has the most important fishing harbour in Norway. The town's fishing fleet is one of the most modern in Europe. In the 1950s and 1960s, Ålesund was one of the chief stations of the herring fishery business.

In relation to the relatively large fishing fleet belonging to Ålesund and nearby harbours, a large shipbuilding and ship equipment industry has evolved. There are no longer any yards building ships in Ålesund proper; its last shipyard – Liaaen Shipyard - evolved into ship repairs and since the late 1990s has mainly been serving the offshore industry through the company Liaaen Technology that merged and rebranded to Strata Møre in 2007. In the neighbouring communities, however, shipyards continue to operate successfully: Vard, Ulstein Verft, Kleven Maritime, and Havyard Group.

When oil was found in the North Sea in the 1970s, the local fishing fleet ship owners seized the opportunity and rebuilt fishing vessels to serve the infant oil exploration and production industry. Soon they were able to build purpose-designed vessels at local shipyards to serve the North Sea oil adventure even better. Today this has become a cornerstone industry in and around Ålesund through leading offshore supply ship owning companies Farstad, Bourbon, Olympic, Havila, and Rem. Serving the ship building industry a large number of equipment manufacturers has evolved: Rolls-Royce, Odim, Sperre, Optimar, Ship Equip, Jets, and many more.

Ålesund and its surroundings also have a large furniture industry. Some well-known household items are manufactured here. To the east of Ålesund lies the Sykkylven Municipality where the Ekornes factory, producing furniture such as the StressLess chair, is located. 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. As the cultural center of the region and with close proximity to the fjords, Ålesund is a tourist attraction. The Atlanterhavsparken aquarium is another tourist attraction.

Transportation
From Øye at the head of Hjørundfjorden, a road strikes south to the Nordfjorden, and from Maråk on Geirangerfjorden another strikes inland to Otta. The Rauma Line starts at Åndalsnes, 120 km east of Ålesund, going to Dombås, then southwards on the Dovre Line 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) cruise ships, which arrive in Ålesund twice a day.

The town's airport, Ålesund Airport, Vigra, has several daily flights to/from Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, and Copenhagen. It used to have several weekly flights to/from Riga (Riga International Airport) (AirBaltic) and London (London Gatwick Airport) but these routes have since ceased. In November 2012 KLM announced it would fly to Ålesund five days a week from Amsterdam starting in April 2013.

Lately, there have been suggestions of a high-speed rail link to Oslo, Bergen, and Trondheim, as well as metro-style local services to meet the needs of the expanding population of the town.

Culture
The Norwegian Centre of Art Nouveau Architecture, Jugendstilsenteret, is situated in Ålesund. It is a museum and interpretive center, with exhibitions telling the story of the town fire and Art Nouveu/Jugendstil in Norway and Europe.

Sunnmøre museum, founded in 1931, is an outdoor folk museum devoted to the Norwegian coastal culture and way of life. Located on an area of 120 ha, it has more than 55 old and distinct houses from the past 300 years moved to the site, replicas of old Viking ships, and the Medieval Age Museum with artifacts from excavations of the old trading centre.

The local newspaper is Sunnmørsposten, founded in 1882 and published six days a week. The newspaper Arbeidernes blad was briefly published in Ålesund in 1898. Ålesund is the site of the annual Norwegian Food Festival.

Education
Ålesund is home to a branch campus of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), after the Ålesund University College merged with NTNU on 1 January 2016. This campus has approximately 1,800 students and 150 employees. The Ålesund School of Art (Ålesund Kunstskole) is a school for visual arts located in Ålesund. The Norwegian School of Management had a campus in Ålesund, but it closed on 1 August 2008.

Ålesund videregående skole, also known as Latinskolen, formerly Aalesund Lærd- og Realskole, is the oldest secondary school in Ålesund, having been established in 1863. Of the six upper secondary schools in Ålesund, Fagerlia videregående skole is the largest with room for approximately 1,000 students. Ålesund also has an international school for children aged 5–15.

Sport
The local football team, Aalesunds FK (Aalesunds Fotballklubb), was founded in 1914. The team played in the Norwegian top flight for the first time in the 2003 season. The club won its first Norwegian Cup in 2009 and won again in 2011. They played their home matches at Kråmyra Stadium until the 2005 season, when they relocated to the new Color Line Stadium, located approximately 1 km outside the town centre. AaFK's supporter club is called "Stormen" and has about 2,000 members.

Public Service & business

 * Anton Ludvig Alvestad (1883–1956), the mayor of Ålesund, 1920–21 and government minister
 * Reinert Torgeirson (1884–1969), a politician, poet, playwright and novelist
 * Erik Rolfsen (1905–1992), an architect; urban manager of Oslo, 1947–1973
 * Monrad Norderval (1902–1976), the Bishop of Nord-Hålogaland, 1961–1972
 * Dagfinn Flem (1906–1976), a politician, Mayor of Ålesund, 1958 to 1965
 * Birger Strømsheim (1911–2012), a WWII resistance member and heavy water saboteur
 * Margit Johnsen (1913–1987), a Norwegian merchant navy sailor; the only female recipient of the military award St. Olav's Medal with Oak Branch
 * Joachim Rønneberg DSO (1919–2018), an Army officer, broadcaster and WWII Commando
 * Rolf B. Wegner (born 1940), a lawyer and well known and popular former chief of police
 * Helen Bjørnøy (born 1954), a Lutheran minister, politician and County Governor of Buskerud
 * Odd Arne Westad FBA (born 1960), a historian specializing in the Cold War
 * Edvard Moser (born 1962), a psychologist and neuroscientist, winner 2014 Nobel Prize
 * Harald T. Nesvik (born 1966), a politician and member of the Storting since 1997
 * Paal Kibsgaard (born 1967), a petroleum engineer; chairman and CEO of Schlumberger
 * Peder Are Nøstvold Jensen (born 1975), q controversial counterjihad blogger known as Fjordman
 * Torry Larsen (born 1971), a Norwegian adventurer and Arctic explorer
 * Cecilie Skog (born 1974), a professional adventurer, guide and lecturer.
 * Sylvi Listhaug (born 1977), a Norwegian politician and Govt. minister
 * Erik Tørrissen (born 1988), a Norwegian politician and yachtsman

The Arts

 * Jacob Fjelde (1859–1896), an American sculptor of public monuments
 * Ambrosia Tønnesen (1859–1948), the first professional female sculptor in Norway
 * Pauline Fjelde (1861–1923), an American painter, embroiderer and textile artist
 * Sigvart Høgh-Nilsen (1880–1919), a Norwegian pianist and composer
 * Axel Revold (1887–1962), a Norwegian painter, illustrator and academic
 * Ole Barman (1897–1983), a novelist, short story writer, playwright and theatre director
 * Hartvig Kiran (1911–1978), an author, journalist, songwriter and composer
 * Mattis Mathiesen (1924–2010), a Norwegian photographer and film director
 * Arnold Eidslott (1926–2018), a poet laureate (1986 to 2018) and telegraphic engineer
 * Arild Rypdal (1934–2015), an author of spying stories, a pilot and engineer
 * Harald Grytten (born 1938), a philologist and historian
 * Oddbjørn Blindheim (born 1944), a jazz pianist and dentist
 * Svein Olav Blindheim (born 1954), a jazz double bassist, composer and writer
 * Geir Rönning (born 1962), a professional singer-songwriter
 * Annbjørg Lien (born 1971), a Hardanger fiddler, nyckelharpist, and violinist
 * Magne Hovden (born 1974), a writer, translator
 * Ernst Simon Glaser (born 1975), a classical musician (cello) and music teacher
 * Stian Omenås (born 1980), a jazz musician (trumpet), music conductor and composer
 * Hilde Marie Kjersem (born 1981), a jazz and pop singer, musician and songwriter
 * Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen (born 1982), a guitarist, vocalist and composer
 * Ingrid Helene Håvik (born 1987), a songwriter and vocalist, lead singer of Highasakite
 * Bjørn Johan Muri (born 1990), a Norwegian pop singer
 * Sigrid Solbakk Raabe (born 1996) known as Sigrid, a singer and songwriter



Sport

 * Knud Leonard Knudsen (1879–1954), a gymnast, team gold medallist, 1912 Summer Olympics
 * Harald Stenvaag (born 1953), a rifle shooter, silver and bronze medallist at the 1992 and 2000 Summer Olympics
 * Ann Kristin Aarønes (born 1973), a former footballer, 111 caps with Norway women
 * Ingrid Tørlen (born 1979), a beach volleyball player, competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics
 * John Arne Riise (born 1980), a former footballer with 546 club appearances and 110 caps for Norway
 * Leni Larsen Kaurin (born 1981), a football midfielder, 98 caps for Norway women
 * Bjørn Helge Riise (born 1983), a former footballer with 358 club appearances and 35 caps for Norway
 * Olav Lundanes (born 1987), an orienteering competitor, ten times gold medallist at the World Orienteering Championships
 * Nina Haver-Løseth (born 1989), a slalom ski racer, team bronze medallist, 2018 Winter Olympics
 * Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal (born 1990), a long-distance runner; competed at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics
 * Sebastian Foss Solevåg (born 1991), an alpine ski racer, team bronze medallist, 2018 Winter Olympics
 * Andrea Raaholt (born 1996), a Norwegian tennis player

In popular culture

 * Mark Kozelek wrote and performed an eponymous song about Ålesund under the Sun Kil Moon moniker, on the record Admiral Fell Promises.
 * Ålesund was shown briefly at about the 20:17 mark in the 1969 film, "It's Tough to Be a Bird", by Disney. The town is shown being stepped on by an enormous bird foot.

Twin towns – sister cities
Ålesund is twinned with:


 * 🇮🇸 Akureyri, Iceland (1949)
 * 🇮🇹 Borgo a Mozzano, Italy (1979)
 * 🇫🇮 Lahti, Finland (1947)
 * Peterhead, Scotland, United Kingdom (1967)
 * Randers, Denmark (1947)
 * 🇺🇸 Tacoma, United States (1986)
 * 🇸🇪 Västerås, Sweden (1947)