Ørsta is the bigger and more industrial of the two rival towns, with around 10,000 inhabitants. It sits at the head of Ørstafjorden and has been a separate municipality since 1883, when it split from Volda.
While Volda got the university and the hospital, Ørsta became the commercial centre for southern Sunnmøre. It is also the birthplace of Ivar Aasen, the linguist who created Nynorsk, Norway's second official written language, based on rural dialects rather than the Danish-influenced city language. He was born in 1813 on the farm Åsen in Hovdebygda, right between the two towns. The Ivar Aasen-tunet, a museum dedicated to his work, was designed by the celebrated architect Sverre Fehn and opened in 2000. Even if you have no interest in linguistics, the building itself is worth a stop.
What makes the rivalry entertaining is how completely intertwined these two towns are. They share an airport, placed with diplomatic precision on the border between them at Hovden. It is called Ørsta-Volda lufthamn. The proposed merged municipality was going to be called Volda-Ørsta. Even the name order was a negotiation. They share a local newspaper, emergency services, and much of daily life. When a footballer transfers from one club to the other, the local press calls it going to "the arch-rival." They are basically the same place. They just refuse to admit it.
While Volda got the university and the hospital, Ørsta became the commercial centre for southern Sunnmøre. It is also the birthplace of Ivar Aasen, the linguist who created Nynorsk, Norway's second official written language, based on rural dialects rather than the Danish-influenced city language. He was born in 1813 on the farm Åsen in Hovdebygda, right between the two towns. The Ivar Aasen-tunet, a museum dedicated to his work, was designed by the celebrated architect Sverre Fehn and opened in 2000. Even if you have no interest in linguistics, the building itself is worth a stop.
What makes the rivalry entertaining is how completely intertwined these two towns are. They share an airport, placed with diplomatic precision on the border between them at Hovden. It is called Ørsta-Volda lufthamn. The proposed merged municipality was going to be called Volda-Ørsta. Even the name order was a negotiation. They share a local newspaper, emergency services, and much of daily life. When a footballer transfers from one club to the other, the local press calls it going to "the arch-rival." They are basically the same place. They just refuse to admit it.