Art & Architecture of Ålesund

Guided walk with an architect. Your tour starts at the pier and you will have a short walk with a professional architect. Signe Elvik Svoen, Conservator for the Art Nouveau center, will be your guide for today. This walking part is a chance for you to see and feel the city a bit, to listen to the stories of the guide explaining the heritage of Alesund.  Ålesund has been given the name The City of Art Nouveau. This is not because it is the only city in Norway with a large number of Art Nouveau buildings, but rather because of the density of Art Nouveau buildings in the city center. After the fire of 23 January, 1904, almost the entire city center lay in ruins. The fire happened at the time when new impulses arrived from Europe with architects and builders who had studied abroad.  The rebuilding of Ålesund was a unique opportunity to develop a new and urban Norwegian architecture in stone and brick, inspired by the prevailing European trend, Art Nouveau. The result was not only a new sty