No Munch relief any time soon
December 15, 2011
NEWS ANALYSIS: It’s now likely to take years before Oslo’s vast and priceless collection of Edvard Munch’s art will be placed in the new and larger accommodation it’s long needed. City politicians, who formally trashed on Wednesday an earlier-approved plan to build a new Munch Museum on the city’s waterfront, now need to agree …
A peek inside Vigeland’s home
December 13, 2011
Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland lived and worked in the Oslo museum bearing his name for nearly 20 years, and the entire building underwent extensive refurbishment this year. His apartment remains as he left it when he died in 1943, and the museum occasionally offers guided tours. Views and News seized a recent opportunity to …
Viking ships stay berthed on Bygdøy
December 7, 2011
Norway’s authentic, famed Viking ships now seem unlikely to leave their berths in the Viking Ships Museum on Oslo’s Bygdøy peninsula, following a decision by the board of the University of Oslo to consider alternatives to another location.
For years, officials at the university have been urging a move from what they claim is an …
Vigeland Museum revitalized
November 27, 2011
MUSEUM GUIDE: Tucked away on the south side of Oslo’s famed Frogner Park is a large historic building that in many ways made the park itself possible. The Vigeland Museum, named for the artist behind the park’s enormous collection of sculptures, is where Gustav Vigeland lived and worked for nearly two decades. It reopened …
New art museum rising in Oslo
November 26, 2011
PICTURE STORY: After years of planning and construction, a new home for Oslo’s Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art now seems to suddenly be rising quickly on the capital’s western waterfront. We snapped some photos over the weekend, when the weather suddenly cleared as well.
The Oslo area was spared the extreme weather that moved …
Screams erupt over museum fiasco
November 17, 2011
The City of Oslo’s failure to agree on a location for construction of a new Munch Museum has set off screams of protest and frustration from art experts, historians, city patriots and a long list of academics and professionals. The head of the national architects’ association calls the museum fiasco “embarrassing.”
Feuding city politicians are …
War memorials listed in new register
November 11, 2011
For the first time, all of Norway’s roughly 3,000 war memorials have been compiled in a new register that soon will be available online. The list is a result of years of work spearheaded by Forsvarsmuseet (The Armed Forces Museum) in Oslo.
Museum officials have been trying since 1979 to launch an accurate register of …
Stars come out to honour Nansen
October 9, 2011
A year of memorials honouring Norwegian explorer and statesman Fridtjof Nansen was reaching a climax on Monday as royals, celebrities and even the secretary general of the United Nations gathered in Oslo to celebrate what would have been Nansen’s 15oth birthday. The program for October 10 was to last from morning until late in …
Museums get new names
September 12, 2011
Three museums that are part of the University of Oslo’s Natural History Museum are getting new names in connection with the university’s 200-year anniversary celebrations. The new names will honor scholars who made great contributions to the museum’s fields.
The Botanical Museum, for example, will be called Lids hus (Lids’ House), after Dagny Tande Lid …
Munch director still hopes for new museum
September 9, 2011
The director of Oslo’s famed but inadequate Munch Museum says he’s not giving up hopes that a new museum will still be built on the city’s eastern waterfront at Bjørvika.
Stein Olav Henrichsen said he was troubled by the Progress Party’s withdrawal of support for the new museum but remained firm that “we must get …
New Munch Museum loses support
September 6, 2011
Oslo’s conservative city government coalition was split after one of its members, the Progress Party, backed out of an earlier political agreement to support construction of a new Munch Museum at Bjørvika in Oslo. The new museum was initially proposed to house the collections of the existing Munch and Stenersen museums.
The decision at …
Revealing Munch’s genius at work
September 1, 2011
As they carefully rolled out a huge, historic canvas at the Munch Museum on Thursday, even the museum’s art experts seemed to be holding their breath. They’re about to display a large assortment of paintings and drawings by Norway’s most famous artist, Edvard Munch, many of which they’d never seen themselves.
The major exhibition opening …
30 Viking graves found in Setesdal
August 3, 2011
Thirty graves believed to originate from the Viking period have been discovered in the valley of Setesdal, southern Norway. The major discovery earlier this summer was made in connection with a road project in the area.
Newspaper Aftenposten reports that the burial area, near the settlement of Langeid, was first found in June as part …
Rough seas at two famed museums
July 15, 2011
Both the Norwegian Maritime Museum and its neighboring Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo have been navigating through stormy seas the past year, rocked by financial and personnel problems respectively. While the Kon-Tiki Museum faces smoother sailing, the Maritime Museum appears stuck in crisis.
Newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) reported earlier this week that the Maritime Museum has …
Tradition lives on at Folkemuseum
July 12, 2011
MUSEUM GUIDE: Norway’s capital is full of museums, and they’re often in the news. We’re following that news, and aim to focus regularly on a specific museum or attraction worthy of a visit.
THIS WEEK: The Norsk Folkemuseum, a lively place in the summer that’s full of tradition and offers an historic glimpse of the …
