Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Festivals & Events
Midsummer Jazz
JAZZ
(
www.midtsommerjazz.no
,
in Norwegian)
Takes place on a weekend in late June.
Ålesund Boat Festival
BOATS
(
www.batfestivalen.no
, in Norwegian)
AweekofwaterypleasuresinthefirsthalfofJuly.
Jugendfest
MUSIC
(
www.jugendfest.no
, in Norwegian)
Norwegian and international bands all over town on
one weekend in the second half of August.
Norwegian Food Festival
FOOD
(
www.matfestivalen.no
,
in Norwegian)
A treat for all gourmands in the last week of
August.
FRIENDLY FIRE?
Ålesund owes her appearance to a devastating fire. On 23 January 1904, it swept
through the wooden buildings (only the jail and now-demolished church were made
of stone), leaving 10,000 residents homeless out of an estimated population of
12,000. Help came swiftly from across the North Sea as the German emperor Kaiser
Wilhelm II sent shiploads of provisions and building materials. Skilled workmen ar-
rived from all over Norway, many trekking for days, and Ålesund was rebuilt in re-
cord time. Teams of young, committed Norwegian architects, trained for the most
part in Germany, designed the town in the characteristic art nouveau (Jugendstil)
style of the time, while bringing to the movement traditional Viking, Celtic and other
local motifs and ornamentation as they designed buildings graced with turrets, spires,
gargoyles and other fanciful features. The best examples are along Apotekergata,
Kirkegata, Øwregata, Løvenvoldgata and, especially, Kongensgata.
