Ship M/S REGINA MARIS Naval Cover 1971 POLAR ARCTIC Cachet Ålesund, NORWAY

Ship M/S REGINA MARIS Naval Cover 1971 POLAR ARCTIC Cachet Ålesund, NORWAY

It was sent 22 Jul 1971. It was franked with stamp "German Railway".

This cover is in very good, but not perfect condition. Please look at the scan and make your own judgement.

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Ålesund (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈôːɫəsʉn] (audio speaker iconlisten)) sometimes spelt in English as Aalesund, 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 Although sometimes internationally spelled by its older name Aalesund, this spelling is obsolete in Norwegian.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 99-square-kilometre (38 sq mi) 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 66,258. The municipality's population density is 109.1 inhabitants per square kilometre (283/sq mi) and its population has increased by 12.1% over the previous 10-year period.[4][5]

Contents

1 General information

1.1 Toponymy

1.2 Coat of arms

1.3 Churches

2 History

3 Geography

3.1 Climate

4 Government

4.1 Municipal council

4.2 Mayor

5 Economy

6 Transportation

7 Culture

8 Education

9 Gallery

10 Sport

11 Notable residents

11.1 Public Service & business

11.2 The Arts

11.3 Sport

12 In popular culture

13 Twin towns – sister cities

14 See also

15 References

16 External links

General information

Population development, 1951-2008

Befolkningsutvikling kommune 1504.svg

Source: Statistics Norway

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.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8]

Toponymy

A part of the town was originally known as Kaupangen Borgund. The Old Norse word kaupang 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 áll which means "eel" and the last element is sund which means "strait" or "sound".[9] Before 1921, the name was written Aalesund.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 1 April 1898. The red and silver arms show a fishing boat on the water with three fish swimming. 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.[10]

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

Churches

The Church of Norway has twelve 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.

Ålesund Church

Churches in Ålesund

Parish (sokn) Church name Location of the church Year built

Borgund Borgund Church Borgund 1130

Brattvåg Brattvåg Church Brattvåg 1977

Hildre Church Hildrestranda 1905

Ellingsøy Ellingsøy Church Ellingsøya 1998

Hamnsund Hamnsund Church near Søvik 1875

Haram og Fjørtoft Fjørtoft Church Fjørtofta 1878

Haram Church Austnes 1838

Lepsøy Chapel Lepsøya 1896

Sandøy Sandøy Church Sandøya 1812

Harøy Church Harøya 1934

Skodje Skodje Church Skodje 1860

Spjelkavik Spjelkavik Church Spjelkavik 1987

Vatne Vatne Church Vatne 1868

Volsdalen Volsdalen Church Nørvøya (in Ålesund city) 1974

Ålesund Ålesund Church Aspøya (in Ålesund city) 1909

Skarbøvik Church Heissa 1995

Ørskog Ørskog Church Sjøholt 1873

History

Ålesund, Norway, ca. 1895, before the fire

Legend has it that Gangerolf (outside of Norway better known as Rollo), 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 Rolle exist: in the town park in Ålesund, in the city of Rouen, France, and in Fargo, North Dakota, United States.

In 1835, Ålesund had 482 inhabitants.[6] By 1900, the population had increased to 11,777.[11]

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.[12]

Jugendstilsenteret - The Art Nouveau Centre of Norway

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 (Art Nouveau), 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 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

See also: Geography of Norway

The municipality of Ålesund occupies seven of the 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 Heissa and Oksnøya contain residential areas.

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 3,481 metres (11,421 ft) long, and was upgraded in 2009.

Situated 236 kilometres (147 mi) 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.[13]

The municipality covers an area of 93 square kilometres (36 sq mi). The population (2017) is 47,199, making the population density of 506.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,312/sq mi). The population of the agglomeration, which includes parts of the neighbouring Sula Municipality, is 48,460.[14] 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.[14] Other villages include Løvika and Spjelkavik, both on Uksenøya.

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 (46.6 °F) 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 (93.9 °F) 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.

Climate data for Ålesund 1991-2020 (15 m, Ålesund IV, extremes 2009-2020)

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Record high °C (°F) 15.7

(60.3) 16.5

(61.7) 14.1

(57.4) 22.4

(72.3) 26.2

(79.2) 25.7

(78.3) 31.5

(88.7) 28

(82) 24.8

(76.6) 22.7

(72.9) 20.3

(68.5) 16.5

(61.7) 31.5

(88.7)

Daily mean °C (°F) 3.3

(37.9) 2.7

(36.9) 3.8

(38.8) 6.4

(43.5) 9.3

(48.7) 12.2

(54.0) 14.5

(58.1) 14.8

(58.6) 12.3

(54.1) 8.4

(47.1) 5.7

(42.3) 3.6

(38.5) 8.1

(46.5)

Record low °C (°F) −10

(14) −9.8

(14.4) −7.6

(18.3) −3.5

(25.7) −1

(30) 2.3

(36.1) 5.6

(42.1) 6.3

(43.3) 1.3

(34.3) −2.1

(28.2) −7.2

(19.0) −8.7

(16.3) −10

(14)

Average precipitation mm (inches) 146

(5.7) 128

(5.0) 127

(5.0) 77

(3.0) 73

(2.9) 83

(3.3) 81

(3.2) 126

(5.0) 153

(6.0) 169

(6.7) 150

(5.9) 176

(6.9) 1,489

(58.6)

Source: Norwegian Meteorological Institute[15]

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Ålesund, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.[16] The municipality falls under the Sunnmøre District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Ålesund is made up of 77 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Ålesund Kommunestyre 2020–2023 [17]   

Party Name (in Nynorsk) Number of

representatives

  Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) 16

  Progress Party (Framstegspartiet) 13

  Green Party (Miljøpartiet Dei Grøne) 4

  Conservative Party (Høgre) 15

  Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti) 5

  The Christians Party (Partiet Dei Kristne) 1

  Pensioners' Party (Pensjonistpartiet) 2

  Red Party (Raudt) 1

  Centre Party (Senterpartiet) 10

  Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti) 2

  Liberal Party (Venstre) 2

  Ålesund List (Ålesundlista) 6

Total number of members: 77

Ålesund Kommunestyre 2016–2019 [18]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 2012–2015 [19]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 2008–2011 [18]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 2004–2007 [18]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 2000–2003 [18]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 1996–1999 [20]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 1992–1995 [21]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 1988–1991 [22]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 1984–1987 [23]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 1980–1983 [24]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 1976–1979 [25]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 1972–1975 [26]   

Ålesund Kommunestyre 1968–1971 [27]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1964–1967 [28]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1960–1963 [29]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1956–1959 [30]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1952–1955 [31]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1948–1951 [32]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1945–1947 [33]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1938–1941* [34]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1935–1937 [35]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1932–1934 [36]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1929–1931 [37]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1926–1928 [38]   

Ålesund Bystyre 1923–1925 [39]   

Aalesund Bystyre 1920–1922 [40]   

Mayor

The mayors of Ålesund (incomplete list):

2015–present: Eva Vinje Aurdal (Ap)

2007-2015: Bjørn Tømmerdal (H)

1999-2007: Arve Tonning (H)

1995-1999: Asbjørn Rutgerson (LL)

1994-1995: Asbjørn Måløy (Ap)

1990-1993: Kjell-Arne Slinning (KrF)

1988-1989: Leidulf Dahle (Ap)

1980-1987: Svein Tømmerdal (H)

1978-1979: Olav Helge Balsnes (H)

1976-1977: Johannes Giske (KrF)

1968-1975: Gustav M. Flisnes (DNF)

Economy

Aalesund (Norway) by night.

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. Ålesund and its surroundings also has a large furniture industry. Some well-known household items are manufactured here. 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 not any yards building ships in Ålesund any more, the last shipyard - Liaaen Shipyard evolved into ship repairs and since late 1990s has mainly been serving the offshore industry through the company Liaaen Technology[41] that merged and rebranded to Strata Møre in 2007. In the close by communities however shipyards continue to operate successfully: Vard, Ulstein Verft,[42] Kleven Maritime,[43] Havyard Group.[44]

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 offshore 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,[45] Bourbon,[46] Olympic,[47] Havila,[48] and Rem.[49] Serving the ship building industry a large number of equipment manufacturers has evolved: Rolls Royce,[50] Odim,[51] Sperre,[52] Optimar,[53] Ship Equip,[54] Jets[53] and many more.

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.[55] The Atlanterhavsparken aquarium is another tourist attraction.[56]

Transportation

MS Polarlys in Ålesund (December 2005)

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 kilometres (75 mi) 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 5 days a week from Amsterdam starting in April 2013.[57]

Lately, there have been suggestions[clarification needed] 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[citation needed].

Culture

The inner harbour in winter

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,[58] founded in 1931, is an outdoor folk museum devoted to the Norwegian coastal culture and way of life. Located on an area of 120 hectares (50 acres), 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.[59][60] Ålesund is the site of the annual Norwegian Food Festival.

Education

Ålesund is home to a sub-division of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), with approximately 1,800 students and 150 employees. The Ålesund School of Art (Norwegian: 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.[61]

Ålesund videregående skole, also known as Latinskolen, formerly Aalesund Lærd- og Realskole, is the oldest secondary school in Ålesund, having been established in 1863.[62] Of the six upper secondary schools in Ålesund, including Latinskolen, Fagerlia videregående skole is the largest with room for approximately 1,000 students.

Ålesund also features an International school for children aged 5–15.[63]

Gallery

The viewpoint Aksla on a summer night

Cruise port and Aspøy School

Downtown Ålesund.

Ålesundet

Ålesundet

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 kilometre (0.62 mi) outside the town centre. AaFK's supporter club is called "Stormen" and has about 2,000 members.

Notable residents

Main category: People from Ålesund

Edvard Moser, 2015

Erik Tørrissen, 2011

Public Service & business

Anton Ludvig Alvestad (1883–1956) Mayor of Ålesund, 1920–21 and Govt. minister

Reinert Torgeirson (1884–1969) a politician, poet, playwright and novelist

Erik Rolfsen (1905–1992) an architect; urban manager of Oslo, 1947–73

Monrad Norderval (1902–1976) Bishop of Nord-Hålogaland, 1961–1972

Dagfinn Flem (1906–1976) 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) 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) historian specializing in the Cold War

Edvard Moser (born 1962) 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) 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

Hedvig Mollestad, 2019

Bjørn Johan Muri, 2010

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 [64]

Arnold Eidslott (1926–2018) poet laureate, 1986 to 2018 and telegraphic engineer

Arild Rypdal (1934–2015) author of spying stories, a pilot and engineer

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) 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