posted on 27th May 2011 under Culture, History, Nature, Spring
The Vigeland Sculpture Park is the most striking part of Oslo’s Frogner Park. Gustav Vigeland’s (1869-1943), 212 sculptures attracts over 1 million visitors a year – even more: Vigeland also designed the layout of the entire park. It’s a popular recreational area with a human message presented through the many sculptures depicting the life cycle, and is a must see when you visit Oslo.
The history of Vigeland Park is internationally unique: There is no other park of the same size, which has been developed by one single artist. The photos in this post are from spring time –let me start with the artist himself, surrounded by tulips:
This park is more than trees, lawns and awesome statues by Gustav Vigeland. It’s love. Love for summer, fall, winter and spring, love for nature, changing colors through the year, love for children, for barbecuing, football, Frisbee even the dogs and the ducks (click pics to bigify & enjoy):
The Tree of Life:
The sculptures are formed in bronze, granite and wrought iron. All together, the collection consists of 600 figures with the human life cycle from birth to death as its theme. Vigeland modeled the figures in full size in plaster, while he left the carving in granite and the casting in bronze to his talented craftsmen. He was also responsible for the architectural setting and the landscaping of the more than 70 acres of park area. This fountain at the center was the starting point of the parks design:
The Fountain is the earliest sculpture unit in the park. In the center of the basin, six giants hold the large saucer-shaped vessel aloft and from it a curtain of water spills down around them. Water, a universal symbol of fertility, is used within the fountain complex in a meaningful juxtaposition with the twenty “tree groups” on the surrounding parapet, the latter evidently symbolizing the “tree of life”.
From the Monolith view point:
The word monolith means literally “one stone”. It took Vigeland over 10 months to make the original model in clay then it was done life size in plaster. The stone monolith was begun in 1929 and took 14 years carve all the figures. It contains 121 figures climbing up towards the sky and is meant to represent man’s desire to connect with the divine.
Below you see the view from the monolith platform back over these two smaller fountains and in the background you can see the Tree of Life and the view across the park centered towards the cathedral in the distance. Vigeland originally wanted to use another church which did not lay exactly on the axis of the park – and because of that he wanted them to move the entire church. This was not done but the church in the background was built intentionally to line up with the park. So great were his visions!
As you can see in the photos above there are many tulips and spring flowers, but an army of gardeners which maintain the park change the flowers several times to match the seasons. This park is lovely to visit and popular throughout the year both with tourists and the locals. Are you tempted to take a guided tour now?? Come and visit us and we will be more than happy to show you around.
Comments (11)
posted on 21st May 2011 under Culture, History, Nature, Spring
Finally its spring here in Oslo, and summer is just around the corner. Everything is blooming and soon we will be swimming in the ocean, and sunbathing all around the fjord. Spring in Norway is quite intense due to the abundance of water (melting snow) in conjunction with plenty of sunlight and quickly rising temperatures (typically in May). Be aware that daylight varies greatly during the year. In Oslo, the sun sets at around 3:30 PM in December. North of the Arctic Circle one can experience the midnight sun and polar night (winter darkness). Today the sunrise in Oslo was at 04:27 and sunset in Oslo at 22:01 – that’s over 17 hours of daylight and the days will only get longer until the 21 of June. At Oslo’s latitude, summer nights exist in the form of prolonged twilight during June and July, these gentle “white nights” can be a nice and unusual experience for visitors.
«Spikersuppa» in “The National Mall of Norway”:
Eidsvolls plass (Eidsvoll Square) is a square and park in Oslo, located from the Parliament, along Karl Johans street, through «Spikersuppa» or “Studenterlunden” down to The National Theatre. It has been referred to as “The National Mall of Norway“.
Left: Spikersuppa & behind the trees: The Parliament
Left: view from Karl Johan into «Spikersuppa» behind the trees – Right: National Theatre at the end of “Mall of Norway”
In 1956, a plan by architect Arnstein Arneberg was set into motion, creating a decorative pool of water at Eidsvolls Square. Funded by the company Christiania Spigerverk (Christania nail factory), it was nicknamed «Spikersuppa» “nail soup” – an old folk myth similar to stone soup in other countries). The pool has a fountain in the middle and a group of trees as well as statue of children playing by the water and deer:
From ice cream to ice skating:
«Spikersuppa» – surrounded by trees with a pond, a fountain and benches on either side – is a popular place to sit and enjoy an ice cream in spring and on warm summer days, the pond is filled with children. However – talking about significant change of seasons in Norway; in winter the water is frozen, making the pond a popular skating rink:
«Spikersuppa» – Above: fountain in spring – Below: skating rink in winter time.
Let me end the story with some more photos (click to bigify & enjoy!) at “The National Mall of Norway“. All four seasons have it charm, but spring is the most colourful – don’t you think?
Spring in Oslo: Flowers all around “The National Mall of Norway” : -)
Norwegians really know how to enjoy the spring season. As all of you have seen we are outdoors quite a lot in winter as well, but having this intense difference between cold winters and warm summer we are all out charging our batteries in the spring and summer months to recover from and prepare for the long dark winter. The contrast also serves to intensify our appreciation of all the seasons. It is in the differences and the contrast which makes the enjoyment so intense.
Comments (8)
posted on 17th May 2011 under Culture, Habits, History, Spring
17th of May, Norway’s National and Constitution Day (signed in 1814), is celebrated as the most Norwegian there is. Nationalism, patriotism and childlike enthusiasm are shown, as we celebrate our freedom (after the occupation during World War 2 and 100 years of union with Sweden) and of course the signing of our Constitution. Adding to that, for a nation located at The Arctic Circle – after a long, dark and cold winter – we are celebrating spring! Special also, and we are damn proud of it: The children are in the center of the activities and the parades are free of military presence of any sort.
The Parades:
There are local parades and activities at every school, in every little town and village all across the land. We all are dressed in our best outfit – many in the national costume (Bunad) and all waiving a Norwegian flag:
The largest parade of course is the school children’s parade marching down Karl Johan’s Street passing the Palace where the Royal Family will stand for many hours waving at the excited crowd. This is known as a day for the children, and on this day the King, Queen, Crown Prince and Crown Princeess are available to greet the children the entire length of the parade:
Russ – The reveling Norwegian high school graduates:
This year is the last year we will have school children in the house as Diane’s son is a Russ this year. As you can read in my earlier posts, a Russ is a member of the graduating class. The Russ celebrates finishing their education from around the 21 of April until the 17th of May. In this period they wear the Russ uniform – normally red or blue overalls:
- and there are many parties, concerts, busses if one is involved in a bus project, and of course the endless list of pranks which Russ perform. As a reward for completing a prank you get a knot in the golden tassel on the Russ hat.
Some examples of the Russ pranks or dares are: going 24 hours without sleeping, sitting under your desk an entire class, walk with loaves of bread for shoes an entire school day, do a 5 minute poledance on the underground train, kissing a policeman or -woman, standing up every five minutes in a class and call out “cheers” (skål) or running through the teacher’s lounge in your underwear. You get the idea – most are fun and harmless and the teachers get in their fair share of the fun too!
I think what really makes our national day special is the way it involves the whole family, with the children in focus from one to hundred years. Sharing this with you brings me down the memory lane and I feel the anticipation of a child before the 17th of May celebration begins: pocket money for ice cream, soda and hotdogs, the children parade and the fun at school in my best costume without wool tights and boots – finally in our summer shoes. Please join me in wishing everyone a happy 17th of May.
If you like to read more about the most Norwegian day there is, here are my privies posts:
17th of May – Norway’s National Day in Oslo
17th of May Parade in Norway
17th of May Norway’s Constitution Day in Oslo
17th of May Constitution or National day in Norway
Comments (9)
The Vigeland Sculpture Park is the most striking part of Oslo’s Frogner Park. Gustav Vigeland’s (1869-1943), 212 sculptures attracts over 1 million visitors a year – even more: Vigeland also designed the layout of the entire park. It’s a popular recreational area with a human message presented through the many sculptures depicting the life cycle, and is a must see when you visit Oslo.
The word monolith means literally “one stone”. It took Vigeland over 10 months to make the original model in clay then it was done life size in plaster. The stone monolith was begun in 1929 and took 14 years carve all the figures. It contains 121 figures climbing up towards the sky and is meant to represent man’s desire to connect with the divine.
