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OSLO |
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Despite tourist-office endeavours, OSLO retains a low profile among
European cities, and even comparisons with other Scandinavian capitals
are usually a little less than favourable. Inevitably, though, you'll
pass through - the main train routes heading west to the fjords, north
to the Arctic, south to the coast and east to Sweden are routed through
the city - but take heart: Oslo is definitely worth seeing. The city has
some of Europe's best museums, fields a street life that surprises most
first-time visitors, and helps revive travellers weary of the austere
northern wilderness.
Oslo is the oldest of the Scandinavian capital cities, founded,
according to the Norse chronicler Snorre Sturlason, around 1048 by
Harald Hardråde. Several decimating fires and 600 years later, Oslo
upped sticks and shifted west to its present site, abandoning its old
name in favour of Christiania - after the seventeenth-century Danish
king Christian IV responsible for the move. The new city prospered and
by the time of the break with Denmark (and union with Sweden) in 1814,
Christiania - indeed Norway as a whole - was clamouring for independence,
something it finally achieved in 1905, though the city didn't revert to
its original name for another twenty years. Today's city centre is
largely the work of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
an era reflected in the wide streets, dignified parks and gardens, solid
buildings and long, consciously classical vistas, which combine to lend
it a self-satisfied, respectable air. Seeing the city takes - and
deserves - time. Its half a million inhabitants have room to spare in a
city whose vast boundaries encompass huge areas of woods, sand and water,
and much of the time you're as likely to be swimming or trail-walking as
strolling the city centre
The City
Oslo's main street, Karl Johans gate , leads west up the slope from Oslo
S train station. It begins unpromisingly with a clutter of tacky shops
and hang-around junkies, but steps away at the corner of Dronningens
gate is the curious Basarhallene , a circular building of two tiers,
whose brick cloisters once housed the city's food market. The adjacent
Domkirke (daily 10am-4pm; free) dates from the late seventeenth century,
though its heavyweight tower was remodelled in 1850; plain and dour from
the outside, the cathedral's elegantly restored interior is in
delightful contrast, its homely, low-ceilinged nave and transepts awash
with maroon, green and gold paintwork.
Continuing along Karl Johans gate, it's a brief stroll up to the
Stortinget , the parliament building, an imposing chunk of neo-Romanesque
architecture that was completed in 1866. It's open to the public, but
the obligatory guided tour (July to mid-Aug Mon-Sat 10am, 11.30am & 1pm;
mid-Sept to June Sat only 11am & 12.30pm; free) shows little more than
can be gleaned from the outside. In front of the parliament, a narrow
park-piazza flanks Karl Johans gate; in summer it teems with promenading
city folk, while in winter people flock to its floodlit open-air skating
rinks.
Lurking at the western end of the park is the neoclassical
Nationaltheatret , built in 1899 and fronted by a stodgy statue of
playwright Henrik Ibsen. Beyond, up the hill, is the Royal Palace , a
monument to Norwegian openness; built between 1825 and 1848, when other
monarchies were nervously counting their friends, it still stands
without railings and walls and the grounds - Slottsparken - are open to
the public. The daily changing of the guard (1.30pm) is a snappy affair,
well worth a look. An equestrian statue of the king who built the palace,
Karl XIV Johan, stands in front of the main facade inscribed with his
motto, "The people's love is my reward".
Back on Karl Johans Gate, the nineteenth-century buildings of the
University fit well in this monumental end of the city centre. Among
them you will find Norway's largest and best collection of art at the
National Gallery , Universitetsgata 13 (Mon, Wed & Fri 10am-6pm, Thurs
10am-8pm, Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 11am-4pm; free). An accessible collection,
it may be short of internationally famous painters - with the notable
exception of the Impressionists - but there is ample compensation in the
museum's comprehensive display of Norwegian paintings. Highlights
include some wonderfully romantic, nineteenth-century landscapes by the
likes of Johan Christian Dahl and Thomas Fearnley, and two rooms devoted
to Edvard Munch, featuring the original version of the famous Scream as
well as The Sick Child , the first of an important series of depictions
of Munch's dying sister.
Heading south from the University buildings, you can't miss the
monolithic brickwork of the Rådhus (May-Aug Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm;
Sept-April Mon-Sat 9am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm; free), the massive City Hall,
opened in 1950 to celebrate the city's 900th anniversary. Few people had
a good word to say about the place when it was first built, but popular
irritation has moved on to other, more modern targets, and the Rådhus
has worn well, its twin towers a grandiose but somehow rather amiable
statement of civic pride. The interior - best seen on one of the
frequent free guided tours - celebrates all things Norwegian; the main
hall or Rådhushallen is decorated with vast murals by several of the
country's leading artists.
On the seaward side of the Rådhus is the central harbour, bordered to
the west by the old, yellow Oslo V railway station - now the main
tourist office - and Oslo's former shipyard, cleverly remodelled to hold
the hi-tech shopping halls of the Aker Brygge development. In the
opposite direction, running east from the Rådhus, is Rådhusgata , which
leads to the city's other harbour, Vippetangen, the gridiron streets on
either side of it a legacy of seventeenth-century Oslo - though sadly
it's only the layout that survives. To the south of Rådhusgata is
Akershus Castle (May to mid-Sept Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 12.30-6pm; late
April & mid-Sept to Oct Sun only 12.30-4pm; 20kr; free guided tours Mon-Sat
11am, 1pm & 3pm, Sun 1pm & 3pm), the most significant memorial to
medieval Oslo. Built on a rocky knoll overlooking the harbour around
1300, it was modernized in the seventeenth century by Christian IV. A
visit to the castle takes in the royal chapel and mausoleum, but it's
all rather bland. Very much more diverting is the Resistance Museum ,
beside the castle entrance (daily 10/11am-3/4pm; 20kr), where excellent
displays detail the history of the war in Norway, from defeat and
occupation through resistance to final victory. Surrounding the castle
are the sprawling earth and stone ramparts and bastions of the Akershus
Festning fortress, which date from the seventeenth century and which
were designed to resist artillery bombardment - the part of the fortress
adjoining the castle offers fine views over the central harbour. |
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