Art Nouveau Walk

One stormy winter night in 1904, a fire raged through Ålesund. By morning, 850 houses were in ruins and more than 10,000 people were homeless. In the course of a record-breaking three years, the town rose from the ashes. This is how Ålesund became an art nouveau city with a rare architectural expression.

The guide will meet you on the quay and take you on a short walk through the city centre before visiting and touring Jugendstilsenteret (the Art Nouveau Centre). Stroll back to your Havila Voyages ship.

No other city in Norway has so many art nouveau houses next to one another, and the city is renowned internationally for its architecture. There are towers and spires and flowering vines that twist along the buildings’ colourful facades wherever you turn.  A guided city walk will give you an insight into Ålesund's history and its people, and art nouveau details will be pointed out. 

The walk goes from Havila Voyages past the harbour with its fishing boats and pleasure boats and on to Apotekertorget (Pharmacy Square) where the city took shape almost 200 years ago. Here we visit the Jugendstilsenteret (the Art Nouveau Centre). Travel through time in the "From ashes to Art Nouveau" time machine, a multimedia exhibit that takes the audience back to the city fire in 1904. 

We also visit a local artist in his studio. We continue along Borgundfjorden, which has traditional cod fishing before we return through Kongens gate, one of the most beautiful pedestrian streets in Norway, with sumptuously decorated house facades.