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Asker

Asker kommune
Municipality
SNC10692.JPG
Coat of arms of Asker kommune
Coat of arms
Official logo of Asker kommune
Akershus within
Norway
Asker within Akershus
Asker within Akershus
Coordinates: 59°50′7″N 10°26′6″E / 59.83528°N 10.43500°E / 59.83528; 10.43500Coordinates: 59°50′7″N 10°26′6″E / 59.83528°N 10.43500°E / 59.83528; 10.43500
Country Norway
County Akershus
District Viken, Norway
Administrative centre Asker
Government
 • Mayor (2016) Lene Conradi (H)
Area
 • Total 101 km2 (39 sq mi)
 • Land 97 km2 (37 sq mi)
Area rank 385 in Norway
Population (2014)
 • Total 59,037
 • Rank 11 in Norway
 • Density 585/km2 (1,520/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 15.7 %
Demonym(s) Askerbøring
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).

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".

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.

In 1998, just before the millennium, the 'Askerbøringer' (the inhabitants of Asker) elected the beautiful area of Semsvannet including the mountain ridge Skaugumsåsen – to be their Place of the Millennium.

Its main parts are Asker, Gullhella, Vollen, Vettre, Blakstad, Bleiker, Borgen, Drengsrud, Dikemark, Vardåsen, Engelsrud, Holmen, Høn, Hvalstad, Billingstad, Nesøya, Nesbru, and Heggedal. Asker is a coastal place with many beaches, but also contains 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 .


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