The distant and mysterious Oslo, founded by the Vikings, is the greenest city in the world, which is ideal for both active and relaxing holidays. The capital of beautiful Norway, located in the south of the country, has a special atmosphere with a unique Scandinavian flavor.
A many-faced city with a thousand-year history is unlikely to compete with ancient megacities full of architectural and historical sights. However, tourists interested in what to see in Oslo will not be disappointed.
Viking Citadel
The glorious city, whose authorities carefully protect the virgin natural corners, is surrounded by mountain peaks covered with dense forests. Located in a picturesque place, at the very beginning of the Oslo Fjord, stretching over 100 kilometers, the capital of Norway is recognized as a mirror of the history and modernity of the state. The ancient Viking citadel, which experienced periods of prosperity and decline, is rightfully considered the most interesting city in the country.
How to get to the Norwegian capital Russian?
Currently, Oslo has a record influx of tourists who want to get acquainted with the cultural traditions and the most unusual corners of the Norwegian pearl. Russians often choose it as their vacation destination, and no one regrets an interesting trip to Scandinavia.
Thus, the Aeroflot company operates direct flights from the capital of our country, and planes on the Moscow-Oslo route depart twice a day. Travel time takes about three hours, and the cost of round-trip tickets is about $ 300. It is worth considering that flights with transfers in European cities will cost much more.
Those who are afraid to fly, choose ground transportation and go on a long journey by train. You need to know that there are no direct flights between Moscow and Oslo, and you will first have to get to Helsinki, then get by ferry to Stockholm, and from there take a high-speed train to the Norwegian capital. Travel time is 32 hours, and for round-trip tickets you will have to pay more than $ 540.
Park with ambiguous sculptures
Tourists go on exciting excursions, and one of the most interesting adventures awaits everyone in the famous and controversial Vigelandsparken. You can visit it for free. Time in Oslo differs from Moscow only by an hour in the summer (in winter - by two), so vacationers do not have to spend several days working out a new regime. Guests of the capital can immediately go to an unusual corner, covering an area of 30 hectares.
This is one of the most memorable places in Oslo, which causes conflicting feelings. The park was created by the famous Gustav Vigeland, who devoted about 40 years of his life to his creation. He brought to perfection each of 227 life-size sculptures and numerous details linking the space of the gigantic open-air complex into a single whole. All works of the author (park architecture, fountains, bridges, fences) are interconnected like links of one chain.
However, this is not an ordinary park in which tourists have fun, but a real sacred place, where some masterpieces symbolize the human fall and personify Satanic power. All sorts of states of people - this is the main theme of the complex, where the human sculpture depicts abstract feelings or emotions that are understandable to everyone at first sight.
Entrance and alley with statues
The main gate is made of snow-white granite and black painted iron. You can see bizarre patterns on them - stylized figures of men, personifying different stages of life. The gates consist of five large and two small portals decorated with square lanterns. If you look at the wings, you can see images of the Serpent - the biblical symbol of Satan.
Near the entrance is a tourist information center and several souvenir shops. Next is a long alley along which numerous sculptures of women, men and children are installed, reflecting the whole gamut of human feelings. The statue of the author himself, who did not live to see his offspring for a year, immediately rises. It is curious that this is the only work in the park that is “dressed”.
Unique project
Fascinated by philosophy and mysticism, the promising artist was interested in images that personified the demonic principle and the sins of people. The famous sculptor stated that the nature of man is much more complicated than all the evil forces. The Norwegian authorities considered Vigeland a crazy genius, burning with a desire to make a unique project for the city of Oslo.
Having received at his complete disposal tens of hectares of land at the beginning of the last century, he set to work on creating works that, under the terms of the contract, cannot be sold to anyone. The master did everything he pleased, and thus in the capital of Norway in 1940 a mysterious park appeared with a huge collection of provocative masterpieces made of granite, bronze and iron.
What guided the author of a strange place and what goals he pursued, now no one will answer. Perhaps he reflected his view of the human nature, focusing on bright and spectacular images. Most likely, the creator did not even think of creating real hell on earth, as many visitors perceive the Vigeland sculpture park, but only wanted to demonstrate the weakness of a person who cannot resist vices, but is trying to fight his demons.
According to modern scholars, the discovery of an unusual complex, where everything was designed by a Norwegian master, coincided with the slogans of racial theory that became unusually popular at that time. But the Oslo city administration assured that the park began to be built before Hitler came to power, and therefore does not see any connection between it and the propaganda of nationalism.
The philosophical meaning of each image
All the works of Vigeland, conveying various emotions, carry a philosophical meaning, and in each work you can see the life path of a person - from birth to care. Images of naked people confuse many visitors who do not understand the symbolism of the compositions.
The author of gloomy images wanted to convey to the audience the idea that the meaning of life lies in spirituality and the pursuit of light forces. In the language of gestures, poses, facial expressions, the contradictory personality embodied his thoughts about the person and his mission.
Central composition of the complex
The main composition of the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo is the work "Monolith", the basis of which is a stone platform with 36 groups, symbolizing the cycle of life. The highest point of the complex was created over 14 years.
In the center of the platform, a 17-meter post is installed, on which are placed figures of people climbing up. There are very different opinions regarding what kind of meaning Vigeland put into the composition: someone sees the prototype of the Tower of Babel, and someone believes that this is a person’s attempt to climb Olympus and thereby challenge the Creator.
However, as the guides will tell you, the Monolith, consisting of intertwined human bodies, embodies the natural desire of people to become better morally, to approach God, and only unity will help to find a way to salvation. The main theme of the composition is the human life cycle, and it is no coincidence that you can get here through the iron gate with the contours of figures depicting people at different ages.
Unusual fountain
You cannot walk past a fountain surrounded by 20 bronze trees shining in the rays of sunlight. Each of them is a symbol of certain stages that a person goes through. Arranged in a circle, they show that after natural departure, a new life is emerging, and no one is able to prevent the revival.
Visitors seem to fall into the other world, but in fact, the creator of the structure with a bas-relief edged parody the Garden of Eden, in which, instead of enjoying beauty, a person renounces God and turns into an ordinary tree.
Human-Decorated Bridge
A little further from the entrance to the Vigeland sculpture park you can see a hundred-meter bridge decorated with 58 bronze sculptures mounted on granite parapets. The figures of children and adults are naked, and visitors are unlikely to be delighted with ideal proportions, since the artist did not seek to show the beauty of the human body. People with different physical disabilities stand in groups and separately, and on their faces a grimace from intolerable suffering.
The author, for whom the park has become a real manifesto, reflecting the sculptor’s thoughts on life and death, believes that people have long renounced God, and their chosen path is incredibly difficult.
Sculptures of interest to visitors
Just below the bridge, under which the river flows, symbolizing the Styx and separating the world of the dead and the living, material and spiritual, there is a playground made in the shape of a circle. Eight statues of babies are installed on it, and the main figure is the figure of an unborn child, frozen upside down. The author considers the composition to be the place where life begins.
One of the most beloved among visitors is the sculpture, the name of which sounds like "The Angry Boy", but the statue of the baby, furiously stomping his feet on the ground, received the unofficial name "Mona Lisa Vigeland". Each guest of the park must be photographed with the grimacing boy, who is very popular, holding his hands, and the child’s hands polished to shine shine in the sun.
No less remarkable are creations mounted on four pillars. People enslaved by a lizard-like monster try to resist, but in the end they surrender under the powerful onslaught of a demon, tightly squeezing the human body.
Parody of an evil and gloomy world
The sculpture "Wheel of Life" causes a storm of emotions among visitors. The bronze work, which is a garland of people holding on to each other, symbolizes the life cycle from the cradle to death, from the grave to rebirth. The embodiment of eternal life is considered by many art critics to be a parody of a gloomy and soulless world in which a person loses hope for a better life.
Museum of the sculptor
In the south of Vigeland's sculpture park is the artist’s workshop, in which, after the death of the creator, no one changed anything. Now a popular museum is working in it, and all of its exhibits acquaint with the work of the famous Norwegian master, who created many creations and developed the design of the Nobel Prize. Today, his masterpieces adorn many European cities, but the main work of an incomprehensible genius is an extraordinary garden of people, glancing into which everyone comes out amazed.
Guest reviews of the unusual complex
Tourists who have visited the amazing Vigeland sculpture park admit that they fully felt the uniqueness of the local attraction, riddled with mysticism. Nobody leaves this place without impressions, and numerous works do not leave anyone indifferent. Most visitors are not ready to accept and understand the shocking art, and some compare the huge complex with the real underworld, into which they fell of their own free will. Therefore, especially impressionable natures should think about whether to go to a place that causes such heated debate, or see something else, more pleasant in Oslo.
One sight seems repulsive and extremely unpleasant, while others, mesmerized by the action, can not take their eyes off symbolic compositions. Sculptures of naked people seem frightening and very strange, but many people cannot understand the philosophical meaning of the works of the Norwegian. However, the master’s unique creation is a place that cannot be ignored. The ambiguous works of the great genius, who left behind a huge legacy, cause keen interest, and visitors look at them, thinking about what the author nevertheless wanted to say.