Møre og Romsdal
Møre og Romsdal is a
county in the northernmost part of the
Vestlandet region of
Norway, and borders the counties of
Sør-Trøndelag,
Oppland and
Sogn og Fjordane. The county administration is located in
Molde. The county was formely known as
Romsdalen amt.
Ragnvald Eysteinsson, earl of Møre and Romsdal to
890 is via his son
Gange Rolf ancestor of most of the royal families of Europe.
The county is conventionally divided into traditional districts. These are
Nordmøre (northernmost),
Romsdal (in the middle) and
Sunnmøre (to the south). Despite commercial and cultural relations between the districts, there have always been traditional rivalry between them. Historically speaking, connections have been stronger between Nordmøre and Sør-Trøndelag to the north, Romsdal and Oppland to the east, and Sunnmøre and Sogn og Fjordane to the south, than internally. Differences in dialects between the three districts bear clear evidence of this. Due to geographical features—the county has many populated islands and is intersected by several deep fjords—Møre og Romsdal has been very dependent on boat traffic, and its main car ferry company,
MRF, has existed since 1921.
Nordmøre
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Aure (county's biggest wooden church;
Liquid natural gas (LNG) pipeline from offshore gas field, w/refinery,
methanol plant)
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Averøy (site of district's largest grotto, the
Bremsnes cave, with traces of 10,000 yr old settlements of the
Fosna culture)
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Eide (traditional and modern
limestone (
marble)
quarries and related crafts industry; the
Atlanterhavsvegen coastal road)
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Frei (location of
955 AD Viking battle
Battle of Rastarkalv, between
Haakon the Good and the sons of
Erik Bloodaxe)
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Gjemnes (south anchorage of
KRIFAST suspension bridge
Gjemnessundbrua with 108 m high towers and a free span of 623 m)
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Halsa (traditional wooden boat building; Hollywood whale
Keiko's voluntary retirement home and final resting place)
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Kristiansund (district capital, the county's oil industry capital, known for its export of
cod for
bacalao to Spain and Portugal)
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Rindal (traditionally known for very
snowy winters and lots of
cross-country skiing, former home of several ski factories)
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Smøla (home of the
Kulisteinen from AD
1034, the
rune stone with the first known mention of the country's name "Norway")
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Sunndal (county's largest-area municipality, deep U-shape valley, location of Europe's soon-to-be-largest
aluminium works)
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Surnadal (location of
Surna, one of the country's richest and most popular
salmon rivers, a European scale tourist attraction)
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Tingvoll (medieval stone church from ca 1180 AD; 4000–5000 yr old artistic
rock carvings; self-declared "ecology municipality")
Romsdal
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Aukra (site of Norway's best-known shipwreck and rescue operation of the 1900s, of cargo vessel
Rokta April 4, 1938)
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Fræna (70
m deep limestone grotto
Trollkirka, lit. "
Troll's Church"; marble industry; heavy machinery producer
Moxy Trucks)
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Midsund (site of stone wall constituting westernmost coastal part of border between
Denmark-Norway and Sweden 1658–1660)
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Molde (district capital and county administrative capital, host of the annual
Molde International Jazz Festival since 1961)
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Nesset (childhood home of
Nobel prize laureate and playwright
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson; also:
Mardalsfossen waterfall)
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Rauma (with
Åndalsnes, terminus of county's only railroad,
Raumabanen, connected to
Dovrebanen at
Dombås,
Oppland)
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Sandøy (county's smallest-area municipality; 871 isles, 5 inhabited; known for its
Ona lighthouse of 1867, and local
pottery)
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Vestnes (traditional shipbuilding, now evolved into modern shipyards;
dairy industry exporting unique cheese
Ridderost)
Sunnmøre
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Giske*
Haram (Municipality-Center is Brattvåg, being the industrial sweetspot of Sunnmøre, housing both Rolls-Royce and Aker Yards Factories. 'Rolls-Royce Deck Machinery Brattvåg' is the World's largest winch-manufacturer)
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Hareid*
Herøy*
Norddal*
Sande*
Skodje*
Stordal*
Stranda*
Sula*
Sykkylven*
Ulstein*
Vanylven*
Volda (educational and cultural centre, home of Norway's first rural lower secondary school; respected site of media education)
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Ørskog*
Ørsta (birthplace of
linguist Ivar Aasen and hymn writer
Anders Hovden; known for mountainous terrain and a diverse economy)
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Ålesund (the largest city in the region, known for its many
Art Nouveau buildings partly sponsored by German
Kaiser Wilhelm after 1904 fire)
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Location of Møre og Romsdal Municipalities |
Møre og Romsdal has a total of 38 municipalities:
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Political map of Møre og Romsdal, showing the municipalities
