Griffin

This is one of the four griffins that are 'on guard' on the roof of the National gallery in Oslo.

Photo by: Mark Wilkinson

The National Gallery in Oslo

The National Gallery (Nasjonalgalleriet) was built in 1836 and enlarged in 1903–07.

The National Gallery has Norway's largest collection of Norwegian, Nordic and international art from the beginning of the 19th century up until today. The main exhibition displays Norwegian and international paintings and sculptures from the 19th century up until today, including many of Edvard Munch's major works.

Photo by: Mark Wilkinson


This picture is from the other side of the building. You have seen parts of this before.

Photo by: Lothiane

Ringgata by night

We have showed you this building from Ringgata before, but from another angle and in another light though. You can also see the back of the Munch-museum in this picture! It is the building on the left side. :o)

Photo: by Stormel

At the Norwegian Film Institute

"Filmens hus" - The Norwegian film institute is in the center of Oslo. There is a film club there, where you can watch older movies and movies not normally shown at the ordinary cinemas. I was a member of that club when I was much younger, and I remember I watched several films by the Marx Brothers. Quite fun. :-)

In the building there is a museum, showing the history of Norwegian film making. Among other themes, you can see how Ivo Caprino made the dolls used in movies like "Flåklypa Grand Prix" (released under the English title "Pinchcliffe Grand Prix"). The dolls in the photo above is from one of the many films Caprino made based on Norwegian fairytales.

Astrup Fearnley Museum for Modern Art

Today, I went to the Astrup Fearnley museum for modern art. The exhibition "Lights On" shows contemporary art by up and coming Norwegian artists. I think it was a great and interesting exhibition that I would really recommend to anyone visiting Oslo these days. The admission is free, what can be better than that?

Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art is a private contemporary art museum that produces temporary exhibitions of international art. We welcome the public to an exciting exhibition program, which include the greatest names in the international arena of art.

The Munch Museum

This is the entrance to the Munch Museum at Tøyen in Oslo. If you visit Oslo I'd really recommend a visit. Nearby, you'll find several other museums worthwhile visiting. I'll probably visit them and tell you about them later.

I wish you all a great weekend!

Munch is back?

Yesterday, I went to the Munch museum with my son after he suggested it. The exhibition they show now is called Seasons - Changing landscapes. It is allowed to take photos, but not using a flash, so this photo is not very good.

It may seem like Munch is back, as the painting equipment was standing there ready. I asked a guard and he said that he wasn't sure what this was about, but they might be shooting something for TV. The painter was obviously on a break, at least we didn't see him.

What we did see however, was Edvard Munch's own recordings; film made by Munch himself. It was not very impressing, but still fun to see the old filming dating back probably a 100 years or so.


We got a question yesterday:

i'm going to visit olso next week, and m coming from asian country that not familiar with Cold weather, if possible, would you be kind enough to show some photo of people's clothing/dress code during this winter in Oslo, so that i wont be under/over dress.

Thank you for the question! I don't have any photos to show you of how to dress, but I would suggest bringing warm sweaters, like woolen sweaters or a fleece jacket. Right now it's not too cold (around 0 C), but you never know how it'll be in a week. We might have - 10 C and then you'll need something underneath the pants as well, like woolen tights/long underwear. And of course, a nice, big warm jacket/coat. Also, bring gloves and something to wear on your head (warm cap), otherwise you'll loose a lot of your body warmth. I found this page that gives some nice advice, also this page, hope that will help you! The 'dressing in layers' is really good advice.

I wish you a great time in Oslo! If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Vinmonopolet - early days

In Norway there are strict rules on where you can buy alcohol. Beer can be bought in a grocery store (but not after a certain time), but stronger alcohol such as wine and spirits, can only be bought at special stores called "Vinmonopolet".

This photo is from the museum Norsk Folkemuseum and displays how Vinmonopolet was back in the beginning of the 1920's.

Some history:

Norway faced major alcohol problems in the 19th century. Legislation was liberal, and advances in production techniques helped to encourage growing use of spirits. This peaked around 1830-40, when spirits accounted for 80-90 per cent of Norwegian alcohol consumption. Estimates suggest that each adult Norwegian drank about 13 litres of neat alcohol in the form of spirits during these years. Norway's alcohol consumption has never been higher, before or since.

Because of these problems there was a ban on alcohol in 1919. This was not popular with the wine-producing countries, and since Norway was (and is) selling a lot of fish to other countries they were more or less forced to find another solution.

A centralised monopoly would prevent the arbitrary local variations, which prevailed in Norway, it was claimed. This argument made a big contribution to the creation of Vinmonopolet as a private limited company under government control on 30 November 1922.

Covering both import and sales, the company's monopoly was intended to make wine available nationwide while taking account of the social concerns associated with alcohol use. When prohibition was repealed on fortified wine in 1923 and spirits in 1926, Vinmonopolet took over the sale of these commodities.

• Information about Vinmonopolet (in English)
• History about Vinmonopolet
• Vinmonopolet today
  

Horse and carriage

This is another photo from the museum "Norsk Folkemuseum" where you can take a walk along old buildings from different parts of Norway, learn about the culture and history.

As you can see, you can also get a ride with a horse and carriage.

The Oseberg Ship

This beautiful viking ship is the Oseberg ship. It was excavated in 1904-05 and was later placed in the Viking Ship museum I've showed you in the two previous posts.

The ship was found in a large burial mound in Tønsberg, a town in Vestfold county. I'm so impressed by how they managed to move the ship from the burial ground to Oslo in a time when they really didn't have all the modern equipment they would have used had it happened today. The ship was made in 820 AD and had been used for a while before it became the grave of two viking women. The ship was fully equipped with jewelry, weapons, household equipment, clothing and everyday items. Many of these are on display at the museum.


(I'm a bit late posting today, this was supposed to be the post for September 14th. Sorry about that.)

Anne Stine and Helge Ingstad

This statue is placed outside of the Viking Ship Museum, which you can see in the second picture in yesterday's post.

Helge Ingstad was a Norwegian explorer. His wife Anne Stine was an archaeologist. In 1961 they found remnants of a Viking settlement on Newfoundland and were the first to prove that Islandic/Norwegian vikings had found a way across the Atlantic ocean to North America about 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

The sign says: "They discovered the America of the vikings."

Read more on Wikipedia.

The Viking Ship Museum

This is the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. Quite a nice museum, situated in beautiful surroundings in Bygdøy. Some info:

The Viking Ship Museum displays the large Viking ships Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune, as well as founds from the chief grave at Borre in the Vestfold district. The three ships are the best preserved Viking ships known, found in royal burial mounds in the Oslo fjord. As burial ships, carrying the dead over to “the Other World”, the ships were equipped with unique treasures such as wagons, horses and especially textiles which are seldom preserved from the Viking age, now on exhibit at the museum.

Our knowledge of daily life in the Viking Age comes mainly from archaeological finds. The graves contained not only jewellery, weapons and vehicle tools, but also other tools and household goods. These finds are exhibited in the museum.

Links:

• The Viking Ship Museum
• The Viking Ship Museum, Wikipedia

Waiting...

This photo is from Norsk Folkemuseum, the museum I've showed you photos from earlier. First of all, I like how this woman looks like she's waiting for something or someone. I also like the walls behind her, the difference in building tecniques and colour. I especially love the warm, red brown colour.

Rocking...

This is an old rocking chair from inside one of the old houses at Norsk Folkemuseum. I'd love to have one. With a pillow I'm sure it must be comfortable.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Skigard (Old fence)

This is a photo taken at Norsk Folkemuseum. It's a (mostly) outdoor museum with old houses. I've showed you a photo from this museum earlier as well.

This is a fence built in a typical old Norwegian way. We call these "skigard" which is an old word for this kind of fence.

Nyckelharpa

The last few days we've had a wonderful summer weather in Oslo, and thus we went to Norsk Folkemuseum yesterday. I've been meaning to go there all summer, but uptil now the rain had stopped that idea.

This museum is a large outdoor area with old houses from all over Norway. You can also experience people making traditional food or playing traditional music.

I soon discovered this woman with a strange instrument. It is a "Nyckelharpa" (= key harp), an old instrument widely known and used in Sweden. I wish I could share the sound with you, it's so beautiful. If you're interested in reading about this instrument, please visit this really good page from the American Nyckelharpa Association. I found a lot of "nyckelharpa" on Youtube, you can listen there.

I hope the woman doesn't mind me putting her photo up here, but this is the one that best show the nyckelharpa. I think it's such a beautiful, fascinating instrument with a pleasant, melancholic sound.

Later, I could hear her playing again, this time she was walking first in some sort of procession: