Ålesund (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈôːɫəsʉn] ⓘ), sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway.

However, the local football club Aalesunds FK still carries that spelling, having been founded before the official change.

[7] On 1 January 1838, the new formannskapsdistrikt law went into effect, granting limited local self-government to all parishes in Norway.

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.

[16] 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 Rollo exist: in the town park in Ålesund, in the city of Rouen, France, and in Fargo, North Dakota, United States.

After a period of planning, the town was rebuilt in stone, brick, and mortar in Jugendstil, 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.

The town has an unusually consistent architecture, most of the buildings having been built from stone in Art Nouveau style,[16] between 1904 and 1907.

The municipality of Ålesund occupies seven of the large 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 Hessa and Oksenøya contain residential areas.

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.

[20] 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.

Atlantic lows can sometimes cause warm winter highs in Ålesund due to foehn effect from winds being forced over the mountains in Sunnmørsalpene.

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Ålesund is made up of 47 representatives that are elected to four year terms.

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[51] that merged and rebranded to Strata Møre in 2007.

In the neighbouring communities, however, shipyards continue to operate successfully: Vard, Ulstein Verft,[52] Kleven Maritime,[53] and Havyard Group.

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,[55] Bourbon,[56] Olympic,[57] Havila,[58] and Rem.

To the east of Ålesund lies the Sykkylven Municipality where the Ekornes factory, producing furniture such as the StressLess chair, is located.

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.

In November 2012 KLM announced it would fly to Ålesund five days a week from Amsterdam starting in April 2013.

[citation needed] 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.

Located on an area of 120 hectares (300 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.

[73] Of the six upper secondary schools in Ålesund, Fagerlia videregående skole is the largest with room for approximately 1,000 students.