Asker
| Asker kommune Askeroni |
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| — Municipality — | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Norway | ||
| County | Akershus | ||
| District | Viken | ||
| Administrative centre | Asker | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor (2007) | Lene Conradi (H) | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 101 km2 (39 sq mi) | ||
| - Land | 97 km2 (37.5 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 385 in Norway | ||
| Population (2007) | |||
| - Total | 52,210 | ||
| - Rank | 11 in Norway | ||
| - Density | 538/km2 (1,393.4/sq mi) | ||
| - Change (10 years) | 15.7 % | ||
| Demonym | Askerbøring[1] | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| ISO 3166 code | NO-0220 | ||
| Official language form | Bokmål | ||
| Website | asker.kommune.no | ||
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Asker is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Viken traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Asker. The municipality is a suburb of Oslo, the national capital. Asker was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).
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General information
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Asker farm, since the first church was built here. The name (Old Norse: Askar) is the plural form of ask which means "ash tree".
Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 7 October 1975. The arms show a green background with three silver-colored tree trunks (Norwegian: askekaller) and are thus canting arms. The trees are ashes, which were cropped every year to provide food for the animals. The trees thus developed after many years a very typical shape, which was characteristic for the area.[2][3]
Geography
Its main parts are Asker, Gullhella, Vollen, Vettre, Blakstad, Borgen, Drengsrud, Dikemark, Vardåsen, Engelsrud, Holmen, Høn, Hvalstad, Billingstad, Nesøya, Nesbru, and Heggedal. Asker is a notably coastal place with many beautiful beaches, but it is also a place of hills and woods. The district is known for many important businesses. It is also known for gardening. The Skaugum estate, where Crown Prince Haakon of Norway lives with his family, is situated here. The first IKEA store outside of Sweden opened in Asker in 1963 .
Culture
Although Asker is principally a rural municipality, the expansion of Oslo has resulted in its becoming an affluent suburb. Thus numerous celebrities now reside in the area. According to SSB (Statistics Norway), Asker ranks as the 2nd wealthiest municipality in Norway based on median household income.
Asker is also the home of the Frisk Tigers, who won the Norwegian Hockey championship in 1975, 1979, and 2002. Asker Skiklubb is the largest sports club in Norway. It has a long history dating back to 1889. Many of Asker's famous people have been successful individuals associated with the sports club.
Asker, more notably Blakstad, was a stronghold for the Baglers, who contended with the Birkebeiners during a civil war during the Viking period.
The city is the home of Asker svømmeklubb. Asker women's football club has been home to many international players including four who played in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China.
Politics
Asker is politically dominated by the conservatives, and the mayor is Lene Conradi who is a member of the Conservative Party of Norway (Høyre).
History
The Maud
In 1916 (or 1917) the Maud, which had been built in local shipyards, was launched into Oslofjord. The ship which had been constructed and built especially for Roald Amundsen and was to sail through the Northeast Passage. After being seized by creditors in Seattle, Washington, United States, she was sold to the Hudson's Bay Company as a supply vessel. After being renamed the Baymaud she sailed to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada where, in 1930, she sprung a leak and sank. In 1990, the ship was sold by the Hudson's Bay Company to the town with the expectation that she would be returned to Asker. Although a Cultural Properties Export permit was issued, the price tag to repair and move the ship was 230 million kroner ($43,200,000) and the permit expired.[4][5][6]
Notable residents
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Sister cities
The following cities are twinned with Asker:[7]
- Eslöv, Skåne County, Sweden
- Garðabær, Höfuðborgarsvæðið, Iceland
- Jakobstad, Länsi-Suomi, Finland
- Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
- Rudersdal, Region Hovedstaden, Denmark
- Tórshavn, Tórshavnar kommuna, Faroe Islands
References
- ↑ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. http://www.sprakrad.no/Sprakhjelp/Rettskriving_Ordboeker/Innbyggjarnamn.
- ↑ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". http://www.ngw.nl/int/nor/a/asker.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
- ↑ "Askers kommunevåpen". Asker kommune. http://www.asker.kommune.no/Ditt-Asker/Askers-kommunevapen/. Retrieved 2008-12-17. (Norwegian)
- ↑ "Underwater Treasure of Cambridge Bay". http://explorenorth.com/library/weekly/aa082799.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
- ↑ "Saving the Maud". Nunavut News/North Monday. 2007-08-20.
- ↑ "Cambridge Bay at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre". http://pwnhc.learnnet.nt.ca/research/archrep/central.htm.
- ↑ "Vennskapskommuner". Asker kommune. http://www.asker.kommune.no/Ditt-Asker/Vennskapskommuner/. Retrieved 2008-12-17. (Norwegian)
External links
- Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
- Akershus travel guide from Wikitravel
- Asker municipality's official website (Norwegian)
- Asker Museum (Norwegian)
- Asker public library
- Asker skiklubb (Norwegian)
- Frisk Asker Tigers (Norwegian)
- Budstikka (local newspaper for Asker and Bærum) (Norwegian)
- Asker videregående skole (School for Upper Secondary Education) (Norwegian)
- The Open University in Asker (Folkeuniversitetet) (Norwegian)
- Church of Asker (Norwegian)
- Asker Svømmeklubb (Norwegian)
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