Ålesund Municipality

Ålesund 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 Although sometimes internationally spelled by its older name Aalesund, this spelling is obsolete in Norwegian.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 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 is and its population has increased by 8.9% over the previous 10-year period.

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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 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 kjøpstad, a more important market town.
On 1 January 1875, part of Borgund Municipality was transferred into the Ålesund. In 1922, another part of Borgund Municipality 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. On 1 January 1968, most of the neighbouring Borgund Municipality 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 were separated from Ålesund Municipality to form the new Sula Municipality.
On 1 January 2020, Ålesund Municipality was greatly enlarged when Haram Municipality, Skodje Municipality, Sandøy Municipality, and Ørskog Municipality 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 Haram Municipality before 2020 was separated from Ålesund to become a separate Haram 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 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 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 within Ålesund Municipality. It is part of the Nordre Sunnmøre prosti in the Diocese of Møre. The seat of the deanery is at Ålesund Church.

Parish	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Borgund	Borgund Church	Borgund	1130
Ellingsøy	Ellingsøy Church	Ellingsøya	1998
Sandøy	Sandøy Church	Sandøya	1812
Sandøy	Harøy Church	Harøya	1934
Skodje	Skodje Church	Skodje	1860
Spjelkavik	Spjelkavik Church	Spjelkavik	1987
Volsdalen	Volsdalen Church	Nørve	1974
Ålesund	Ålesund Church	Aspøya	1909
Ålesund	Skarbøvik Church	Hessa	1995
Ørskog	Ørskog Church	Sjøholt	1873

Geography

The municipality of Ålesund occupies seven of the large outer islands in the county of Møre og Romsdal: Hessa, Aspøya, Nørve, Uksenøya, Ellingsøya, 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 to the north of Haram Municipality. The exclave includes the islands of Harøya, Finnøya, Sandøya, and Ona. The town centre, Ålesund, 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 on the border with Ålesund Municipality, Vestnes Municipality, and Fjord Municipality.
Giske Municipality lies to the west, Haram Municipality lies to the north, Vestnes Municipality lies to the northeast, Fjord Municipality lies to the southeast, Sykkylven Municipality lies to the south, and Sula Municipality lies to the southwest. The northern island exclave area of Ålesund Municipality lies about north of the rest of the municipality. That area is bordered by Aukra Municipality to the east, Molde Municipality to the southeast, and Haram Municipality 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 Ellingsøya 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 Giske Municipality to the west. The northern island of Harøya is connected to the mainland via the Nordøyvegen bridge and tunnel network.
Situated north northeast of the city of Bergen, Ålesund is adjacent to the Hjørundfjorden and Geirangerfjord which are tourist attractions. The Geirangerfjord is part of the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites: West Norwegian Fjords.

Government

Ålesund Municipality is responsible for primary education, 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 Sunnmøre District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Ålesund Municipality 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 mayor of Ålesund Municipality 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
1882–1882: Joakim Andersen
1883–1891: Johannes Aarflot
1892–1895: Ivar Waldemar Brøgger
1896–1896: Joachim Holmboe Rønneberg
1897–1898: Anton Johan Rønneberg
1899–1901: Ivar Waldermar Brøgger
1902–1904: Henrik Frisak
1905–1907: Johannes Aarflot, Jr.
1908–1909: Henrik Frisak
1910–1910: Jørgen Anton Johnsen Øwre
1911–1912: Kristian Friis Petersen
1913–1913: Kristian Fredrik Brøgger
1914–1915: Anders N. Aarsæther
1916–1916: Peter Elias Karolius Sæter
1917–1918: Tore Toresen Berset
1919–1919: Peter Elias Karolius Sæter
1920–1921: Anton Ludvig Alvestad
1922–1922: Tore Toresen Berset
1923–1925: Elias Røsvik
1926–1927: Tore Toresen Berset
1928–1928: Kristoffer Bernhard Hagen
1929–1930: Jacob Rørstad
1931–1931: Rasmus Theodor Berg
1932–1933: Kristoffer Bernhard Hagen
1934–1934: Harald Kristian Thoresen
1935–1935: Jon Petrus Hovde
1936–1936: Kristoffer Bernhard Hagen
1937–1937: Jon Petrus Hovde
1938–1940: Rasmus Theodor Berg
1940–1941: Nicolai Helseth
1941–1945: Gustav Sveen
1945–1945: Rasmus Theodor Berg
1946–1947: Harald Kristian Thoresen
1948–1949: Kristian Langlo
1950–1951: Bjarne Fjærtoft
1952–1953: Ole Grebstad
1954–1955: Paulus Giørtz
1956–1958: Oscar Andreas Ingebrigtsen
1959–1965: Dagfinn Flem
1966–1967: Karsten Larsen
1968–1975: Gustav M. Flisnes
1976–1977: Johannes Giske
1978–1979: Olav Helge Balsnes
1980–1987: Svein Tømmerdal
1988–1989: Leidulf Dahle
1990–1993: Kjell-Arne Slinning
1994–1995: Asbjørn Måløy
1995–1999: Asbjørn Rutgerson
1999–2007: Arve Tonning
2007–2015: Bjørn Tømmerdal
2015–2023: Eva Vinje Aurdal
2023–present: Håkon Lykkebø Strand

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.

Twin towns – sister cities

Ålesund has sister city agreements with the following places: