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Asker kommune

County	Akershus
District	Viken
Municipality	NO-0220
Administrative centre	Asker
Mayor (2005)	Morten Gunnar Strand (H)
Official language form	Bokmål
Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage	Ranked 385 101 km² 97 km² 0.03 %
Population  - Total (2004)  - Percentage  - Change (10 years)  - Density	Ranked 11 51,484 1.11 % 15.7 % 523/km²
Coordinates	59°50′N, 10°26′E
www.asker.kommune.no Data from Statistics Norway

Coordinates: 59°50′N, 10°26′E

Asker is a municipality in the county of Akershus, Norway and a suburb of Oslo.

Contents 1 Geography 2 Culture 3 The name 4 Coat-of-arms 5 Politics 6 Famous residents 7 External links

Its main parts are Asker, Gullhella, Vollen, Vettre, Blakstad, Borgen, Holmen, Høn, Hvalstad, 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.

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.

Asker is also the home of the Frisk Asker Tigers, who won the Norwegian Hockey championship in 2002. Asker Skiklubb is a nationally well known sports club. 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.

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Asker, since the first church was built here. The name (Norse Askar) is the plural form of ask 'ashtree'.

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1975). It shows three ashtrees.

Asker is politically dominated by the conservatives, and the mayor is Morten Strand from Høyre (Conservatives)

• Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
• Einar Gerhardsen, prime minister
• Harriet Backer (1845-1932), painter
• Dina Aschehoug (1861-1956), painter
• Tryggve Andersen (1866-1920), writer
• Nini Roll Anker (1873-1942), writer
• Arne Garborg (1851-1924), poet, lived there for a period
• Alf Prøysen (1914-1970), writer/musician, lived there for a period
• Halvard Hanevold, Olympic Gold in Biathlon
• Anders Jacobsen - professional footballer
• Pål Arne Fagernes (1974-2003), Javelin thrower and boxer
• Valgerd Svarstad Haugland politician, Christian Democratic Party
• Vigdis Hjorth, Author
• Franz Josef Weern Composer
• Hallvard Flatland, TV-host
• Anders Lange, politician (Founder of FrP, the Progress Party)
• Lauritz Askvold, painter
• Erik Bye (1926-2004), journalist, singer, TV personality
• Morten Harket, singer in a-ha.
• Wencke Myhre, singer
• Arne Bendiksen, singer and songwriter

• Asker municipality's official website
  • Asker Museum
• Asker public library
• Asker skiklubb
• Frisk Asker Tigers
• Budstikka (local newspaper for Asker and Bærum)
• Asker videregående skole
• The Open University in Asker (Folkeuniversitetet)
• Church of Asker

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