Åsgårdstrand (historically spelled ''Aasgaardstrand'') is a small port

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in both

Horten Horten () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Horten (town) ...

and

Tønsberg Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...

municipalities in

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The town is located along the shore of the

Ytre Oslofjord Ytre Oslofjord () is part of a fjord in eastern Norway. The Ytre Oslofjord is the outer part of the Oslofjord which is south of point where the Hurumlandet peninsula splits the fjord between the Drøbak Sound (the strait where the fjord narrows ...

, about south of the town of Horten, about to the north of the town of Tønsberg, and about south of the capital city of

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. The villages of Borre and

Skoppum Skoppum is a village in Horten Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The village is located about to the southwest of the town of Horten, about to the west of the village of Borre, about to the northwest of the town of Åsgårdstrand, ab ...

both lie a short distance northwest of Åsgårdstrand. The town has a population (2023) of 2959 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of . Most of the town lies within

Horten Municipality Horten () is a municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. Other population centers in Horten Municipality include the t ...

, but a area of the town with 56 residents crosses over into the neighboring Tønsberg Municipality. The village of Åsgårdstrand was established as a ladested (small town/seaport) in 1650. On 1 January 1838, the small town was established as a municipality (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). On 1 January 1965, Åsgårdstrand was merged with

Borre Municipality Borre is a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1988. Borre was merged with Horten in 1988, and the new municipality bore the name Borre until after a public referendum reg ...

plus a small area of Sem Municipality to form the new

(the name was later changed to Horten Municipality). After the merger, Åsgårdstrand lost its status as a ladested (small town/seaport). On 1 January 2010, the council for

formally designated Åsgardstrand as a

(). Åsgårdsstrand is a summer resort destination with a number of restored old homes. It is home to various cafés, galleries, and a beach.

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

’s former home is now owned by the municipality and open to the public. It is also home to Borre Kystled, a hiking trail which leads to Borre National Park.

History

Åsgårdstrand was designated as a ladested (seaport/center of trade) in 1650 under the town of

. In 1660 it was transferred to being under the town of

Holmestrand is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Holmestrand Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality. It is located along the shore of the Ytre Oslofjord, about northwest of the Horten ...

. In 1752, the town was given the rights of doing business with national goods. From the beginning of the 19th century, Åsgårdstrand, was a lively export harbor for lumber, of which most was exported to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. By the end of the sailing ship era, the trade stagnated. On 1 January 1838, Åsgårdstrand became a self-governing urban municipality under the newly-passed

law. Merchant and ship owner Anders Riddervold was elected as the first mayor. Dating from the 1880s, the town had been increasingly known as an important center for artists and painters. A number of internationally noted painters has either visited or lived in the town including

, Christian Krogh, and

Hans Heyerdahl Hans Olaf Halvor Heyerdahl (8 July 1857 – 10 October 1913) was a Norwegian Realist painter. His work was characterized by naturalism and focused largely on portraits and landscape paintings. Biography Heyerdahl was born in Smedjebacken, Swed ...

. In 1898, Edvard Munch bought a house in Åsgårdstrand where he spent the first of many summers (the house is now operated as a small museum which is associated with the Vestfold Museum). Since the 1920s, Åsgårdstrand has been a popular vacation and recreational spot. Visitors come to the small town each summer and spend their holidays in one of the four hotels. In 2007, the town was designated as a "Tourist Town", which gives the shop owners in the oldest part closest to the sea the right to stay open every day of the week. In order to become a Tourist Town the number of visitors needs to greatly exceed the number of residents throughout the year. In June every year, Åsgårdstrand celebrates Midsummer (the longest day of the year) with a large fire on the shore.

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted on 1 January 1950. The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''"Gules, a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are ...

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

"'' (). This means the arms have a red

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is a

. The mermaid has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used.

Name

The town (and municipality) is named after the old ''Aasgaarden'' farm (). The first element is the

accusative case In grammar, the accusative case ( abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "he ...

of the word which means "rocky ridge" which likely refers to the farm's location on Raet. The last element is which means "farm" or "dwelling". The

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

means "beach". Thus the name means something like the "beach belonging to the farm on the rocky ridge." On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled ''Aasgaardstrand'' with the

digraph Digraph, often misspelled as diagraph, may refer to: * Digraph (orthography), a pair of characters used together to represent a single sound, such as "nq" in Hmong RPA * Ligature (writing), the joining of two letters as a single glyph, such as " ...

" Aa" and "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled ''Åsgårdstrand'', using the letters Å and å instead.

Municipal self-government (1838–1965)

The town of Åsgårdstrand was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

law). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1965, the town of Åsgårdstrand (population: 488) was merged with

(population: 6,037) and the Stang area of Sem Municipality (population: 126) to form the new

. While it existed, this municipality was responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

was

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council

The

of Åsgårdstrand was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

Mayors

The

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

() of Åsgårdstrand: * 1838-1838: Anders Riddervold * 1839-1840: Jacob Skjelderup Bache * 1841-1844: Andreas Næss * 1845-1845: Jacob Skjelderup Bache * 1846-1846: Johan Wesmann * 1847-1849: Andreas Næss * 1850-1851: Johan Wesmann * 1854-1854: Anders Olaus Moldenhauer * 1855-1856: Niels Christian Nielsen * 1857-1857: H. Rumi * 1858-1858: Niels Christian Nielsen * 1859-1859: Anders Olaus Moldenhauer * 1860-1877: Carl August Folcker * 1878-1886: Niels Christian Nielsen ( H) * 1887-1887: Lauritz Isaksen * 1888-1888: Enoch Svensen * 1889-1889: Lauritz Isaksen * 1890-1896: Eilert Martin Evensen * 1897-1897: Nils O. Semb ( H) * 1898-1898: Eilert Martin Evensen * 1899-1900: Nils O. Semb ( H) * 1901-1904: Bredo F. Thurmann Nielsen ( H) * 1905-1905: Preben Crøger Gjertsen * 1906-1906: L. M. Larsen * 1907-1907: Preben Crøger Gjertsen * 1908-1909: Johan Arnt Hansen * 1910-1910: I. G. Carlsen * 1911-1913: Johan Arnt Hansen * 1914-1916: Gustav Ernst Ramm ( H) * 1917-1919: Edvard Christian Sperre * 1920-1922: Gustav Ernst Ramm ( H) * 1923-1923: Herman Olaussen Hassum * 1924-1925: Edvard Christian Sperre * 1926-1936: Jens Hedvin Jacobsen ( H) * 1937-1945: James Russell Johansen ( H/ NS) * 1945-1945: Kaspar Lie Mathisen ( V) * 1946-1948: August F. Christensen ( H) * 1949-1949: Frode Chr. Brekke ( H) * 1950-1951: August F. Christensen ( H) * 1952-1960: Rolf Helland Larsen ( H) * 1960-1963: Odd Aasen ( H) * 1963-1964: Rolf Helland Larsen ( H)

Notable people

* Hans Anton Apeness (1842–1930), a lumber merchant born in Åsgårdstrand (a street in

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

has been named after him) * Einar Thorstein Diesen (1894–1962), a broadcaster from Åsgårdstrand * Jahn Ekenæs (1847–1920), an art painter who lived in Åsgårdstrand * Øivin Holst Grimsgaard (1900–1989), an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

born in Åsgårdstrand *

(1857–1913), an art painter who lived in Åsgårdstrand * Jens Kristensen (born 1975), an

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

born in Åsgårdstrand * Per Lasson Krohg (1889–1965), an art painter born in Åsgårdstrand (son of Oda and

Christian Krohg Christian Krohg (13 August 1852 – 16 October 1925) was a Norwegian naturalist painter, illustrator, author and journalist. Krohg was inspired by the realism art movement and often chose motifs from everyday life. He was the director and s ...

) * Ingerid Paulsen Kuiters (born 1939), an illustrator who lives in Åsgårdstrand *

Svein Døvle Larssen Svein Døvle Larssen (20 April 1928 – 23 January 2015) was a Norwegian newspaper editor. He spent most of his career in the Conservative press in the county of Vestfold, and was also an elected politician for the Conservative Party of Norway, Con ...

(born 1928), a former editor of '' Tønsbergs Blad'' who lives in Åsgårdstrand *

(1863–1944), an art painter with a summer house in Åsgårdstrand * Ola Abrahamsson (1883–1980), an art painter with a summer house in Åsgårdstrand (a street in Åsgårdstrand was named after him) * Nils Johan Semb (born 1959), a Norwegian national soccer team head coach from 1998–2003 who lives in Åsgårdstrand * Marthin Hamlet (born 1992), a

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

and

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

raised in Åsgårdstrand

References

External links

Åsgårdstrand Portal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aasgaardstrand Horten Artist colonies Norwegian artists groups and collectives Cities and towns in Norway Former cities in Norway Former municipalities of Norway Populated places in Vestfold 17th-century establishments in Norway Populated places established in 1650