Ålesund (, sometimes spelled Aalesund in English) is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

County A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 ...

. It is part of the traditional district of

Sunnmøre Sunnmøre (, ) is the southernmost traditional district of the western Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. Its main city is Ålesund. The region comprises the municipalities () of Fjord, Giske, Hareid, Herøy, Sande, Haram, Stranda Mu ...

and the centre of the

Ålesund Region The Ålesund Region (, ) is a metropolitan region in Møre og Romsdal county in western Norway. It consists of a number of municipalities that are centered around the city of Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in M ...

. The town of Ålesund is the

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of Ålesund Municipality, as well as the principal shipping town of the Sunnmøre district. The town is a sea

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

and is noted for its concentration of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

. Although sometimes internationally spelled by its older name ''Aalesund'', this spelling is obsolete in Norwegian. However, the local football club

Aalesunds FK Aalesunds Fotballklubb, commonly known as Aalesund or AaFK, is a Norwegian professional association football, football club from the town of Ålesund (town), Ålesund, that competes in the Norwegian first division, the second tier of the Norwegi ...

still carries that spelling, having been founded before the official change. The municipality is the 245th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Ålesund Municipality is the 17th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 58,509. The municipality's

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 ...

is and its population has increased by 8.9% over the previous 10-year period.

History

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 () 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 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. The small seaport-municipality was entirely surrounded by the large rural Borgund Municipality. In 1848, the small municipality was upgraded to the status of a , a more important market town. On 1 January 1875, part of Borgund Municipality (population: 902) was transferred into the

Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Asp� ...

. In 1922, another part of Borgund Municipality (population: 1,148) was transferred into the growing Ålesund Municipality. 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 1968, most of the neighbouring Borgund Municipality (population: 20,132) was merged with Ålesund Municipality. This merger vastly increased the land area of the municipality and more than doubled the population of the municipality, 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 Municipality to form the new

Sula Municipality Sula () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, district. The administrative centre is the village of Langevåg. Other villages ...

. On 1 January 2020, Ålesund Municipality was greatly enlarged when

Haram Municipality Haram is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative center is Brattvåg, the industrial center of Sunnmøre. Other important villages in the municipality include Austnes, Eidsvik, ...

Skodje Municipality Skodje ( or ) is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1849 until its dissolution in 2020 (except for a short time from 1965-1977). The area is now part o ...

Sandøy Municipality Sandøy is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1867 until its dissolution in 2020. The area is now divided between Aukra Municipality and Ålesund Municipality on the border of the traditiona ...

, and

Ørskog Municipality Ørskog is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020. The area is now part of Ålesund Municipality in the traditional district of Sunnmøre. The administrative c ...

were merged with Ålesund to form a new, much larger Ålesund Municipality. On 1 January 2024, the northern part of the municipality that used to be part of the old

before 2020 was separated from Ålesund to become a separate

once again.

Toponymy

A part of the town was originally known as ''Kaupangen Borgund''. The

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

word means "

marketplace A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from ...

" or "

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 ...

", 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 In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

of which means "

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

". The last element is which means "

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

" or "

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

". 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 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 after this reform, the name was spelled ''Ålesund'', using the letter Å instead.

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 April 1898. 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

fishing boat A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals (e.g. shrimps/prawns, krills, coleoids, etc.) in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial, arti ...

on the water with three

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

fish beneath the boat. The charge 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 ...

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 ...

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

mural crown A mural crown () is a Crown (headgear), crown or headpiece representing city walls, fortified tower, towers, or fortresses. In classical antiquity, it was an emblem of tutelary deities who watched over a city, and among the ancient Rome, Romans ...

is depicted above the escutcheon. The arms symbolize the importance of

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

for Ålesund. The type of

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

was typical for the

fishing vessel A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to fishing, catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals (e.g. shrimps/prawns, krills, coleoids, etc.) in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial ...

s in the 18th and 19th century and is taken from a drawing made in 1762. The

waves United States Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve), better known as the WAVES (for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), was the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. It was established on July 21, 1942, ...

and three

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

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 The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

has eight parishes () within Ålesund Municipality. It is part of the Nordre Sunnmøre prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the Diocese of Møre. The seat of the deanery is at Ålesund Church. Alesund kirke

Geography

The municipality of Ålesund occupies seven of the large outer islands in the county of

: Hessa, Aspøya,

Nørve Nørve (or ''Nørvøya'') is an island in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is the largest of the islands containing the city center of Ålesund, the others being Aspøya and Hessa, located to the west. The island o ...

Uksenøya Uksenøya is an island in the Sunnmøre region of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The island is located in Ålesund Municipality on the north side of the Storfjorden. Oksenøya has an area of and it has a population of 27,334 (in 2015). This ...

Ellingsøya Ellingsøya is a island in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. With an area of , Ellingsøya is the second largest island in the municipality after Uksenøya. The island is located northeast of the town of Ålesund, north o ...

, Humla, and Tørla plus a large area on the mainland along the north side of the Storfjorden. The municipality also includes a small island

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

to the north of

. The exclave includes the islands of

Harøya Harøya is a swampy island in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. At , it is the largest island in the municipality. The island is located between the islands of Finnøya (to the northeast) and Fjørtofta (to the southwest) ...

, Finnøya, Sandøya, and Ona. The town centre,

, is located on the islands Aspøya and Nørve, while Hessa and Uksenøya contain residential areas. There are also many other smaller surrounding islands. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Lauparen, a

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

on the border with Ålesund Municipality,

Vestnes Municipality Vestnes is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Vestnes is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the ...

, and

Fjord Municipality Fjord is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnmøre. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stordal. Other villages in the municipality include Valldal, E ...

Giske Municipality Giske is an island List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality lies north-northwest of the Ålesund (town), town of Ålesund in the Districts of Norway, traditional distr ...

lies to the west,

lies to the north,

lies to the northeast,

lies to the southeast,

Sykkylven Municipality Sykkylven is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre is the village of Aure, Sykkylven, Aure. Othe ...

lies to the south, and

lies to the southwest. The northern island

area of Ålesund Municipality lies about north of the rest of the municipality. That area is bordered by

Aukra Municipality Aukra is List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, region of Romsdalen. The administrative centre is the village of Aukrasanden, Falkhytta, which ...

to the east,

Molde Municipality Molde Municipality () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal ...

to the southeast, and

to the southwest. The open sea lies to the west and north. Many of the islands in Ålesund Municipality are connected to the mainland via tunnels and bridges. The undersea Ellingsøy Tunnel was built in 1987, connecting

to the town centre more convenient. The tunnel is long, and was upgraded in 2009. The Vigra Fixed Link tunnel and bridge network connects Ålesund Municipality to

to the west. The northern island of

is connected to the mainland via the

Nordøyvegen Nordøyvegen () is a road network in Sunnmøre in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The bridge and tunnel network connects the islands of the former Sandøy Municipality (now part of Ålesund Municipality) and the islands of Haram Municipality to t ...

bridge and tunnel network. Situated north northeast of the city of

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, Ålesund is adjacent to the

Hjørundfjorden Hjørundfjorden is a fjord in the traditional district of Sunnmøre in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located mostly within Ørsta Municipality, although part of the mouth of the fjord lies in Sykkylven Municipality and the innermost ...

and

Geirangerfjord or is a fjord in the Sunnmøre region of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located entirely in Stranda Municipality. It is a branch off the Sunnylvsfjorden, which itself is a branch off the Storfjorden (). The small village of Geirange ...

which are tourist attractions. The Geirangerfjord is part of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's list of

World Heritage Sites World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

West Norwegian Fjords The West Norwegian Fjords is the common name of two fjords in Norway listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO: the Geirangerfjord and the Nærøyfjord. Geography Location The World Heritage Site consists of two areas apart, located in sout ...

Government

Ålesund Municipality is 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,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

and other

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 and utilities. The municipality is 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 ...

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. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Sunnmøre District Court and the

Frostating Court of Appeal The Frostating Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Trondheim. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal. These areas constitute the ...

Municipal council

The

() 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 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

() of Ålesund is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position: * 1838–1839: 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 Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

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 Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

, Ulstein Verft, Kleven Maritime, and Havyard Group. When oil was found in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

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 North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...

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

where the Ekornes factory, producing furniture such as the StressLess chair, is located. Håhjem, another village near Ålesund, contains the headquarters of the

Stokke Stokke is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution on 1 January 2017. The area is now part of Sandefjord Municipality. The administrative ...

company. Ålesund is also one of the harbours at which the

Hurtigruten ''Hurtigruten'' (), formally Kystruten Bergen-Kirkenes ("coastal route Bergen-Kirkenes"), is a Norwegian public coastal route transporting passengers that travel locally, regionally, and between the ports of call, and also cargo between ports ...

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.

Twin towns – sister cities

Ålesund has

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

agreements with the following places: *

Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...

, Iceland (1949) * Borgo a Mozzano, Italy (1979) *

Lahti Lahti (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Päijät-Häme. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lahti is approximately , while the Lahti sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mo ...

, Finland (1947) *

Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...

, Scotland, United Kingdom (1967) *

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is List of cities and towns in Denmark, Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 64,511 ().Tacoma Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, northwest of Mount ...

, United States (1986) *

Västerås Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...

, Sweden (1947)

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All rele ...

Municipality website

Jugendstil Centre/Art Nouveau Centre

Ålesund Hospital
*
Webcam from Ålesund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aalesund Municipality Municipalities of Møre og Romsdal 1838 establishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Art Nouveau architecture in Norway