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Alesund, the name was formerly spelled Aalesund, is a fishing port, located in Møre og Romsdal fylke (county), western Norway. The city lies at the mouth of Stor Fjord and is set on two islands, Nørvøya and Aspøy, which are connected by bridges.

It dates from the 9^th century when Rollo (Rolf) the Ganger built a castle nearby, but township status was not acquired until 1848. The fire of 1904 was undoubtedly the greatest disaster in the history of this coastal town. An entire 850 houses that made out the downtown core burned to the ground, leaving approximately ten thousand people homeless. Only one person died in the fire: a 76-year-old woman, who ironically lived next door to the fire station. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany made major contributions to the city after the fire.

The architects who were to rebuild the town had mostly gotten their education overseas, and largely from Germany, England and Scotland, where Art Nouveau was in style. These foreign influences were then combined with Norwegian national and national romantic styles, giving Alesund its unique flavour of Art Nouveau.

Until the 1950's, Alesund was a veritable Klondyke for fish, fishermen and their boats, and klippfisk (traditional Norwegian split, dried cod). But as fishing changed so did Alesund, which added fish processing and fish farming.

Towers, turrets and medieval-romantic frontages, often with more than a trace of Nordic mythology, give the town a harmony, which extends to the painted wooden warehouses along Brosundet, the deep inlet of the inner harbour.

In 1998 Alesund celebrated its 150th anniversary!

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