The story of Ålesund Church

Notice something unusual about this church: its entrance is at the east end and its choir at the west, the reverse of the church that stood here before. That earlier church was lost on 23 January 1904, when the great Ålesund fire destroyed hundreds of buildings and nearly the entire town had to be rebuilt. It was a brick church in the shape of a cross, designed by Heinrich Ernst Schirmer and consecrated on 25 January 1855, a few years after Ålesund became a market town in 1848. After the fire, an architectural competition was held, and Sverre Knudsen was chosen to design the replacement on the same site.

On 13 July 1906 the new King Haakon VII laid the foundation stone. The result is a large stone church in the Art Nouveau style, seating about 800 people, with roughly 2,000 square metres of marble covering its façade. Look up at the tower, placed asymmetrically on the south side.

The church was consecrated on 15 September 1909.