Vigeland Sculpture Park

Nestled in the quiet Frogner neighbourhood, the Vigeland Sculpture park is home to Gustav Vigeland’s unique creations and a must-see attraction when you visit Oslo. While there are some larger sculpture parks around the world, Vigeland is the largest one where all the statues have been created by the same artist. Not only did Gustav Vigeland make all 212 bronze, granite and cast-iron sculptures displayed in the park, he also designed the outline of the park itself. Talk about a man with a vision!

Originally, the idea was that Vigeland’s statues would be placed in downtown Oslo. In particular one of the two centerpieces of the park, the Fountain, was supposed to be in front of the Norwegian Parliament and the other, the Monolith, was supposed to be above Oslo Central Station. But as Vigeland kept creating more and more statues and his fame increased, the city decided to keep all of them near the artist’s own studio, where there was an open parkland back then. Vigeland agreed and thus the Vigeland Sculpture Park was created!

When you’ll visit the park, you’ll notice there’s more to these statues than it meets the eye. There is the Fountain, for instance, one of the centerpieces of the park, where the 20 statues surrounding the running waters represent a different stage of human life, from toddler to old age. Or the Monolith, where 121 human figures are intertwined, reaching upwards to the heavens. Or the Wheel of Life, a sundial that represents eternity… So many smart details to pay attention to! All 212 statues depict human beings of different ages, sexes and sizes, stuck in different and sometimes perplexing poses. Vigeland wanted his statues to capture all the aspects of a person’s life, both in a literal and in a metaphorical sense. And he made them all naked, so that they remain timeless.

But although philosophical, the sculptures at Vigeland Park are also irreverent — and some of them are quite shocking! For example, there is a statue of a man throwing a woman over his head and a statue of another man fighting with… four babies! The statue is actually called Man Chasing Four Geniuses and the babies are supposed to represent evil spirits… although some say it’s supposed to represent the burdens and responsibilities of fatherhood.

Vigeland Park is unique in yet another way: not only is the park completely free to visit, it’s also open year round, 24/7.

https://gofjords.com/inspiration/norway/8-lesser-known-facts-about-vigeland-park.Zo7QQXugoxxC9a04QbVr

Photo: Antti T. Nissinen