Molde
Molde is a town and the seat of Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord.
Molde has a maritime, temperate climate, with cool-to-warm summers, and relatively mild winters. It is nicknamed The Town of Roses.
The settlement emerged as a shipping port for lumber to the Netherlands in the late 1500s. Formal trading rights were granted at some point before 1604, and the town was incorporated through a royal charter in 1742. Bolsøy Municipality, which later merged with Molde town, was established on 1 January 1838.
The town continued to grow throughout the 17th to 19th centuries, becoming a centre for the Norwegian textile and garment industry, as well as the administrative centre for the region, and was a major tourist destination until World War I. After World War II, Molde experienced accelerated growth, merging with Bolsøy Municipality and parts of Veøy Municipality and Nord-Aukra Municipality on 1 January 1964, making the municipality much larger than the urban area of the town of Molde. On 1 January 2020, the municipality was expanded again through the incorporation of the neighboring Midsund Municipality and Nesset Municipality, making the area of the municipality quite large in comparison to the town.
The town has a population of 22,410 and a population density of.
History
The city's current location dates from the late Medieval times but is preceded by an earlier Medieval township on Veøya, an island to the south of present-day Molde. The settlement at Veøya probably dates from the Migration Period, but is first mentioned in the sagas by Snorri Sturluson as the location of the Battle of Sekken in 1162, where king Håkon the Broad-shouldered was killed fighting the aristocrat Erling Skakke, during the Norwegian civil wars.However, settlement in the area can be traced much further back in time—evidence given by two rock slabs carved with petroglyphs found at Bjørset, west of the city center.
At the eve of the 15th century, the influence of Veøya waned, and the island was eventually deserted.
Originating from the two farms Reknes and Molde, a minor port called Moldefjæra emerged around 1600, based on trade with timber and herring.
The town gained formal trading rights before 1604 under the supervision of Trondheim. After the Treaty of Copenhagen in 1660, Molde became the administrative center of Romsdal amt, and was incorporated as a city through a royal charter in 1742. Molde continued to grow throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, becoming a center for the Norwegian textile and garment industry. Tourism later became a major industry, and Molde saw notabilities such as the German emperor Wilhelm II of Germany and the Prince of Wales as regular summer visitors. Molde consisted of luxurious hotels surrounding an idyllic township with quaint, wooden houses, lush gardens, and parks, esplanades, and pavilions, earning it the nickname the Town of Roses. This was interrupted when one-third of the city was destroyed in a fire on 21 January 1916. However, Molde recovered and continued to grow in the economically difficult interbellum period.
A second fire, or series of fires, struck from the German air-raids in April and May 1940, which destroyed about two-thirds of the town. Molde was in effect the capital of Norway for a week after King Haakon, Crown Prince Olav, and members of the government and parliament arrived at Molde on April 23, after a dramatic flight from Oslo. They were put up at Glomstua, then at the western outskirts of the town, and experienced the bombing raids personally. The Norwegian gold reserve was also conveyed to Molde, and was hidden in a clothing factory.
However, German intelligence was well aware of this, and on April 25 the Luftwaffe initiated a series of air-raids. For a week the air-raid siren on the chimney of the dairy building announced the repeated attacks. April 29 turned out to be the worst day in the history of Molde, as the city was transformed into a sea of flames by incendiary bombs. Until then the church had escaped undamaged, but in the final sortie a firebomb became stuck high up in the tower, and the wooden church was obliterated by fire.
After World War II, Molde experienced tremendous growth. As the modernization of the Norwegian society accelerated in the post-reconstruction years, Molde became a center for not only administrative and public services, but also academic resources and industrial output. After the consolidation of the town itself and its adjacent communities in 1964, Molde became a modern city, encompassing most branches of employment, from farming and fisheries to industrial production, banking, higher education, tourism, commerce, health care, and civil administration.
Municipality
The town of Molde was established as an urban municipality on 1 January 1838. It was surrounded by the rural Bolsøy Municipality. On 1 July 1915, a part of Bolsøy Municipality was transferred into the city of Molde. On 1 January 1952, another part of Bolsøy Municipality was transferred into the city of Molde.During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the Molde merged with the Sekken, Veøya, and Nesjestranda parts of Veøy Municipality, all of Bolsøy Municipality, and the Mordal area of Nord-Aukra Municipality to form a new, larger Molde Municipality.
On 1 January 2020, the neighbouring Midsund Municipality and Nesset Municipality merged with Molde to form a much larger Molde Municipality.
Name
The municipality is named after the old Molde farmstead since this was where the town was built. The name's origin is somewhat uncertain. It could be the plural form is which means "fertile soil" or "earth". The other possibility is that it comes from the word which means "skull" or "mold". Pronunciation varies between the standard Molde and the rural Molle. A person from Molde will refer to themself as a Moldenser.Geography
Molde Municipality includes part of the Romsdal peninsula as well as many islands including the islands of Otrøya and Midøya. To the southeast, Molde Municipality stretches about inland. The town of Molde consists of a long and wide strip of urban land running east–west along the north shore of the Moldefjord, an arm of the Romsdalsfjord, on the Romsdal peninsula. The city is sheltered by Bolsøya and the Molde archipelago, a chain of low-lying islands and islets, to the south, and the wood-clad hills of Moldemarka to the north. The city centre is located just west of the river Moldeelva, which runs into the city from the north, originating in the Moldevatnet lake, through the valley Moldedalen. Despite the river being minor and seasonal, it supported several sawmills in the 16th and 17th centuries. This gave rise to the original town itself through a combination of a good harbour, proximity to the sea routes, vast timber resources, and a river capable of supporting mills. In 1909, the river housed the first hydro electric power plant capable of providing sufficient electricity for the city, and the upper reaches of the river still provide drinking water for most of the city.The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Kleneggen. Its panoramic view of some 222 partly snow-clad peaks, usually referred to as the Molde panorama, is one of Molde's main attractions, and has drawn tourists to the city since the 19th century. Molde is nicknamed the Town of Roses, a name which originated during Molde's era as a tourist destination of international fame in the late 19th century.
Neighbouring municipalities are Aukra, Gjemnes, and Hustadvika ; Ålesund ; Vestnes and Rauma ; and Tingvoll and Sunndal.
Points of interest
Some points of interest in and near Molde Municipality:- Salmon, sea trout and sea char are found in the rivers throughout the area, especially the Rauma, Driva, and Eira, already legendary among the British gentry in the mid-19th century. Trout is abundant in most lakes. Cod, pollock, saithe, mackerel and other species of saltwater fish are commonly caught in the Romsdalsfjord, both from land and from boat. Skiing is a common activity among the inhabitants of Molde in the winter, on groomed tracks, in resorts or by own trail. There are several rock climbing, ice climbing, bouldering, glacier and basejumping areas in the immediate vicinity of Molde.
- The Atlantic road was voted the Norwegian Construction of the Century in 2005. It is built on bridges and landfills across small islands and skerries, and spans from the small communities of Vikan and Vevang to Averøya, an island with several historic landmarks, such as the Bremsnes cave with Mesolithic findings from the Fosna culture, the mediaeval Kvernes stave church, and Langøysund, now a remote fishing community, but once a bustling port along the main coastal route. Langøysund was the site of the compromise between King Magnus I and the farmers along the coast in 1040. The compromise is regarded as Norway's Magna Carta, and is commemorated though the Pilespisser monument.
- Trollkirka is a marble grotto leading up to an underground waterfall. The grotto is situated 30 minutes outside Molde, followed by a 1-hour hike up a steep trail. Trollveggen is Europe's tallest vertical, overhanging mountain face, with several very difficult climbing routes. Trollstigen is the most visited tourist road in Norway. The road twists and turns its way up an almost vertical mountainside through 11 hairpin bends to an altitude of. Mardalsfossen is the highest waterfall in Northern Europe and the fourth highest waterfall in the world, cascading 297 metres down into the valley. The total height of the waterfall is.
- Bud is a fishing village on the very tip of the Romsdal peninsula. It gained importance during the Middle Ages as a trading post, and hosted the last free Privy Council of Norway in 1533, a desperate attempt to save the country's independence and stave off the Protestant Reformation, led by Olav Engelbrektsson, archbishop of Nidaros. The massive Ergan coastal defences, a restored German coastal fort from World War II, and a part of the Atlantic Wall, is situated in Bud. The fishing communities of Ona, Bjørnsund and Håholmen are located on remote islands off the coast, only accessible by boat or ferry.