Early in the1900s, Alesund had some catastrophic history. On the night of 23 January 1904, a fire destroyed the centre of the town. At that time most Norwegian homes were built of wood. Winds were intense that night and the fire would have created its own demand for air. About 850 homes were burned but only one person died. Over ten thousand people were left without shelter. Germany’s Keiser Wilhelm was the first to respond with aid by redirecting ships that were already loaded with supplies destined for another place. During WWII the town was occupied by the German army and became a target for resistance fighters.
There are several museums talking about the city’s history. Above is a shelter now open as a pedestrian walkway. Notice the thickness of the metal door. Its entrance is in the dark corner on the left of the modern building in the picture below. Thank you Goole Street View for the picture below.
The video below is from inside the tunnel. The video is in portrait mode so you might have to adjust your screen to see the top and bottom.
Here are posters from inside the tunnel promoting other museums
Jugendstilsenteret is a coffee shop and a museum of Art Nouveau. It also has a very dramatic movie about the 1904 fire. After a tour of the museum, we enjoyed some delicious cake and coffee before resuming our tour. The chief architect in charge of rebuilding the city was a recent graduate and was enthralled with Art Nouveau and approved its use in much of the rebuilding. The images below are from within this “coffee shop”
The fire of 1904 was supposedly caused by a cow kicking over a lantern, not one of the lovely fireplaces above.
Art Nouveau silverware and headwear
The video below will give you a feel for the size of the dining room and its furnishings. It is in Portrait mode.
At first, I thought the piece of furniture below was a desk but you cannot sit at it because there is no place for your legs to fit under it.
Do You know if that is an opening for the cat and resident mouser to sleep?
Those fireplaces sure are lovely (and that is an interesting titbit about how the fire started).. Love that penguin-lamp (?)
Hi Vidya
Penguins are usually associated with the cold Antarctic region. Although Norway 🇳🇴 is a cold region, hence the fireplaces, there are no penguins native to the northern hemisphere.
Surprisingly, most of the penguins in zoos around the world are actually penguins from Africa.