Ålesund, a treasure trove of Art Nouveau [1]

The fishing town of Ålesund was mostly constructed from wood. On a cold night on 23rd of January 1904, as a winter hurricane rattled the city, and during the night, a fire broke out in the Ålesund fish preserving factory and quickly spread to the nearby houses, strong winds driving the violent expansion of the fire.

 

When morning broke, more than ten thousand people had lost their homes; only a single house was left standing.

 

After the fire the entire town was rebuilt with strong initial help from Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, who seems to have had a particular fondness for Norway. More than thirty architects collaborated in rebuilding the entire city in stone, brick and mortar; there was to be no more building with wood. The architects chose the contemporary “Jugendstil”, or Art Nouveau, as a design template, drawing inspiration from all over Europe.

 

Most of the buildings were built in the following three years, and have given Ålesund its unusually consistent architecture.

 

Done