Ålesund

Almost the entire town was built between 1904 and 1907, after fire took the old one, and it was rebuilt in Art Nouveau, turrets, spires and ornamented facades on a scale no other Norwegian town can show. The consistency is the point: one style, one short period, one town centre spread across the islands of Hessa, Aspøya and Nørve. Jugendstilsenteret interprets the fire and the rebuilding, and Ålesund belongs to the European Art Nouveau network. During the German occupation it was nicknamed Little London for the resistance traffic running from here to Scotland and England.