Asker kommune Askeroni
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Akershus within Norway
Asker within Akershus
Coordinates: 59°50′7″N 10°26′6″E / 59.83528°N 10.435°E / 59.83528; 10.435Coordinates: 59°50′7″N 10°26′6″E / 59.83528°N 10.435°E / 59.83528; 10.435
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 sq mi)
Area rank	385 in Norway
Population (2007)
• Total	52,210
• Rank	11 in Norway
• Density	538/km2 (1,390/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	www.asker.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

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).

  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.^[3][4]

  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.^[5][6][7]

  Notable residents

  Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Asker:^[8]

• - 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

  External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Asker

Look up Asker in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• 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)
• Visit Asker - official website and visitors guide for Asker
• 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)

Municipalities of Akershus Ås Asker Aurskog-Høland Bærum Eidsvoll Enebakk Fet Frogn Gjerdrum Hurdal Lørenskog Nannestad Nes Nesodden Nittedal Oppegård Rælingen Skedsmo Ski Sørum Ullensaker Vestby