A day in Oslo's museums and sculpture park
July 5th 2007 02:30
It’s another morning of sharp, contrasting blue, yellow and white but the snow has peeled back to uncover patches of bright grass and dark brown soil and there’s a fine, barely visible dust of palest green on the branches of the trees.
Today I take the tour bus from beside the huge red-brick Rathus (Town Hall) to see some of the parks and museums of outlying Oslo. Oslo has a plethora of magnificent museums and fascinating attractions – impossible to see and absorb them all in just one visit, let alone just one day. The tour takes me to five. We begin at Vigeland Park, Norway's most famous and popular attraction, visited by over one million people each year. Oslo is a city of sculptures – people, animals, ancient ship-parts, abstract plinths, obelisks and stone chunks – they’re everywhere. They hide behind bushes in Karl Johan’s central garden, stare out over the fjiord from Aker Brygge, crouch on the hillside in the park by the palace and guard in every room of the National Art Gallery – it’s a sculpture-lover’s dream. But the park designed by Gustav Vigeland and peopled with over 200 of his statues, is sculpture paradise. At the gate our guide, a statuesque figure herself, with hair like iron filings, the stance of a solid stone block, a concrete-coloured military great-coat and a flinty expression, explains the rules “When I am talking, you are silent” Who could speak anyway? We follow her, dumb-struck and awe-struck, through rows of restlessly flexing, twisting, leaping, thrusting, crouching, clutching, clinging, embracing bronze, granite and cast iron humanity. There are old men and women with expressions of despair and hopelessness, ecstatic lovers, anguished parents, bereft-looking babies, rebellious youths, playful children, all individual and perfect in every detail. They’re knotted together in groups and bound together in pairs. They’re tossed on top of one another in bunches and clusters. They sit back to back and lie front to front. They stalk off alone. They stand in splendid isolation.
After Vigeland Park we climb into the hills for a brief look at the Holmenkollen ski park and its museum, which shows 4000 years of ski history. While the intrepid brave the jump simulator to experience a leap from the towering Olympic ski jump, I sit in the sunshine and listen to the shouts and laughter of the skiers whizzing down the slopes below.
Next stop is the Viking Ship Museum. The ships were found in Royal burial grounds beside Oslo Fjiord and were buried more than 1100 years ago to take their royal owners to the other side. They were clearly not Viking giants – these vessels are tiny.
Staying with the maritime theme, we move on to the Kon Tiki Museum, a place we Polynesians can relate to. After all, didn’t Thor Heyerdahl follow the same Pacific stars catch the same winds and tides as our sea-faring ancestors and in a similarly flimsy craft?
In contrast, our last museum call is at the Fram, resting place of the world’s strongest ship. Built in 1892, it has traveled further North and South than any other ship and was used fro three great polar expeditions by Fridjof Nansen, 1893-1896, Otto Svendrup, 1898-1902 and Raold Amundsen, 1910-1912.
Back in town, I dash up Universitetsgata to the National Gallery, with its wonderful collection of sculptures (including Rodins) Norwegian paintings from the Romantic Period and last but by no means least Edvard Munch’s unforgettable The Scream. This museum also has a very beautiful, (French designed and executed in the 1800s) downstairs gallery, now a café, with marble pillars and sculpted ceilings, where I sip coffee and munch a very good Norwegian pastry while reflecting on the day’s wonderful sights and experiences.
Today I take the tour bus from beside the huge red-brick Rathus (Town Hall) to see some of the parks and museums of outlying Oslo. Oslo has a plethora of magnificent museums and fascinating attractions – impossible to see and absorb them all in just one visit, let alone just one day. The tour takes me to five. We begin at Vigeland Park, Norway's most famous and popular attraction, visited by over one million people each year. Oslo is a city of sculptures – people, animals, ancient ship-parts, abstract plinths, obelisks and stone chunks – they’re everywhere. They hide behind bushes in Karl Johan’s central garden, stare out over the fjiord from Aker Brygge, crouch on the hillside in the park by the palace and guard in every room of the National Art Gallery – it’s a sculpture-lover’s dream. But the park designed by Gustav Vigeland and peopled with over 200 of his statues, is sculpture paradise. At the gate our guide, a statuesque figure herself, with hair like iron filings, the stance of a solid stone block, a concrete-coloured military great-coat and a flinty expression, explains the rules “When I am talking, you are silent” Who could speak anyway? We follow her, dumb-struck and awe-struck, through rows of restlessly flexing, twisting, leaping, thrusting, crouching, clutching, clinging, embracing bronze, granite and cast iron humanity. There are old men and women with expressions of despair and hopelessness, ecstatic lovers, anguished parents, bereft-looking babies, rebellious youths, playful children, all individual and perfect in every detail. They’re knotted together in groups and bound together in pairs. They’re tossed on top of one another in bunches and clusters. They sit back to back and lie front to front. They stalk off alone. They stand in splendid isolation.
Vigeland sculpture
Vigeland sculpture
After Vigeland Park we climb into the hills for a brief look at the Holmenkollen ski park and its museum, which shows 4000 years of ski history. While the intrepid brave the jump simulator to experience a leap from the towering Olympic ski jump, I sit in the sunshine and listen to the shouts and laughter of the skiers whizzing down the slopes below.
The ski jump jump at Holmenkollen
Next stop is the Viking Ship Museum. The ships were found in Royal burial grounds beside Oslo Fjiord and were buried more than 1100 years ago to take their royal owners to the other side. They were clearly not Viking giants – these vessels are tiny.
A viking ship
Staying with the maritime theme, we move on to the Kon Tiki Museum, a place we Polynesians can relate to. After all, didn’t Thor Heyerdahl follow the same Pacific stars catch the same winds and tides as our sea-faring ancestors and in a similarly flimsy craft?
The kon Tiki
In contrast, our last museum call is at the Fram, resting place of the world’s strongest ship. Built in 1892, it has traveled further North and South than any other ship and was used fro three great polar expeditions by Fridjof Nansen, 1893-1896, Otto Svendrup, 1898-1902 and Raold Amundsen, 1910-1912.
Inside the Fram
Back in town, I dash up Universitetsgata to the National Gallery, with its wonderful collection of sculptures (including Rodins) Norwegian paintings from the Romantic Period and last but by no means least Edvard Munch’s unforgettable The Scream. This museum also has a very beautiful, (French designed and executed in the 1800s) downstairs gallery, now a café, with marble pillars and sculpted ceilings, where I sip coffee and munch a very good Norwegian pastry while reflecting on the day’s wonderful sights and experiences.
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