Archives for “Art & culture” tag

This is Norway’s largest museum of cultural history with collections of objects from around the country and more than 150 buildings in the open air museum. It shows how locals used to live from 1500 until present, showing differences from region to region and from class to class.

The outdoor museum is simply spectacular and great to walk through in the summer. One of the main attractions is the Gol Stave Church (Gol Stavkirke) dating from 1200.

The indoor museum hosts various permanent and temporary art, crafts and cultural expositions all year long. Some of the most interesting I saw was the one around Easter time where you get to see how Easter is celebrated all over Norway, and the Sami culture is fascinating to see.

Since the museum tries very hard to reproduce many aspects of how people used to live, many of the houses – otherwise closed in the winter – are open during summertime for visitors and actors play the roles of inhabitants. They get dressed in national costumes and do the work specific for the area and age of the house, from farming to sewing, producing silver jewelry or pottery.

A small shop sells specialties with ‘old’ wrappings. And in another one of the houses, during summer, I tasted the traditional sweet ‘lefse’, warm with salty butter on top. Or you can catch a ride in a horse pulled carriage. For a list of activities, see here.

A bit hidden on a street behind Aker Brygge, and then up at the 3rd floor of an old building, in a regular apartment where an old man welcomes you at the entrance, I found a lovely place to spend a while on a Sunday afternoon (the museum is only open on Sundays).

Once in the apartment, my eyes don’t know on which wall to look first at, as there are posters, books and most interesting ‘magic’ objects all over. Then you notice the mannequins dressed nicely as magicians, the rabbit in a corner, the hat. Then come the shelves with playing cards from all ages and all sizes. The torture objects from magic shows, the tricks for sale and then you forgot where you started and have to look all over again.

I was there just in time for the 2PM magic demonstration during which a man tried to speak both Norwegian and English and involve the silent crowd in his tricks. I liked it that after the show they spent time answering the kid’s question and showing other little tricks to them. I even bought one the magic tricks and it gets quite entertaining at home.

Some of the most common images in the postcards from Oslo are with sculptures from Vigeland park. It is part of the Frogner park, covering about 320,000m2 and hosting 212 bronze sculptures realized by Gustav Vigeland. These works of art reside along an 850 meter-long axis divided into six sections: Main Gate, Bridge, Children’s Playground, Fountain, Monolith Plateau and Wheel of Life. You can read about the meaning of each on the park’s website.

Each sculpture depicts people performing different actions, all together being part of a Cycle of life that the author has visioned. The statues are playing, running, dancing, jumping, hugging but few of the statues have a bit of an abstract touch.

Besides admiring the statues, I enjoy sitting in the grass, having a barbecue, playing various ball or card games, trying to walk on a rope, walk around the beautifully arranged roses or feed the ducks by the river. Occasionally, I spotted people training for various ‘sports’, from skate boarding, roller blading to fancier fire eating or one wheel bikes driving.

The Vigeland Museum is situated south of the Vigeland Park and as their website states, the majority of the Museum’s exhibition space is a presentation of Vigeland’s oeuvre. The museum represents the studio where Vigeland worked until 1943 and is currently hosting various art exhibitions, besides the artist’s sculptures, wood-works, drawings and books. In the mausoleum, which has an amazing acoustic, they host concerts that are listed on the museum’s website.

Emanuel Vigeland is the brother of Gustav Vigeland, probably most famous for his sculptures in the Vigeland park. But back in 1926 Emanuel erected this building intended as a future museum for his sculptures and paintings, which then he decided to also turn into a mausoleum where his ashes should rest after his demise, in an urn above the small door, making you bow to him when exiting.

There are no windows to allow light inside the mausoleum, so the first thing to expect is darkness, and only a ray of light coming in through the low entrance door. But once your eyes get used to the lack of light, you discover that the walls are filled with fresco paintings depicting, much like the statues in the park, images from human life, from birth and all the way to death. There’s sadness, joy, despair, eroticism, macabre. I can’t find a single word that could probably fully describe the images. Probably everyone would feel them in different manners anyway. Also each corner hosts a bronze statue depicting women giving birth.

My most intense experience in the museum was caused by its acoustics actually. The shape of the room gives an incredible trajectory to the sound waves, adding a pleasant echo. You should check the museum’s program in advance and if ever see an acoustic show do not hesitate to run for it. It’s a unique experience and considering the museum’s size, places are limited so be there in time.

Opera House is usually the quickest accessible destination upon your arrival in the city. It is a 5 min walk from the central station.

Built from 2003 ’til 2007, the Opera House was the winner of the 2009 Mies van der Rohe award, the European Union prize for contemporary architecture. It is currently Norway’s biggest culture and stage institution.

It is meant to resemble a ship and the coolest thing about it is that you can walk up on the roof and see a lovely panorama over the city of Oslo and the fjord. I also get to see random street shows or gatherings or simply enjoyed the sun and the cool air, since it has been build right by the water.

For art lovers, it also offers a wide variety of shows from Ballet, Opera and concerts but also a multitude of exhibitions. Plus there’s a souvenir shop located inside. And if you’re more curious, take a trip around to have a peek inside the rooms where the scene settings and costumes are being manufactured. But the trip to the top of the roof is my absolute favorite thing about the Opera House.