It was in the works for more than a decade, enduring controversy, unforeseen building problems, budget overruns and a pandemic. Oslo’s new main library finally opened to the public despite the pandemic, under the new name Deichman Bjørvika. Close to NOK 2.5 billion has gone into the project, which Oslo’s City government at one point […]
Oslo Philharmonic marks first century
September 27, 2019
Norway’s leading orchestra is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, highlighted by special “birthday concerts” this weekend. Now the Oslo Philharmonic hopes it may get a new concert hall as the ultimate birthday present, while a new book delves into the orchestra’s often turbulent history. Oslo Konserthus was sold out for Saturday’s concert featuring such […]
Bodø wins as a ‘Capital of Culture’
September 25, 2019
The Norwegian city of Bodø has become the first city north of the Arctic Circle and outside the EU to become a European Capital of Culture, in 2024. Civic boosters in Bodø have been celebrating, after attracting the biggest international event ever in Northern Norway. “We are incredibly glad today,” Bodø Mayor Ida Pinnerød told […]
‘Culture shapes a democracy’
November 30, 2018
Norway’s government minister in charge of culture, Trine Skei Grande, said she felt like it was her birthday, Christmas and the 17th of May (Norway’s national day) all at once: For the first time in 15 years, she’d be presenting the framework for national cultural policy for the future, and set off debate at the […]
Norwegians think their culture is best
May 30, 2018
Just two weeks after Norway’s annual display of enthusiastic patriotism comes news that a majority of Norwegians think their own culture is better than that of other countries. Norway was the only country of 15 Western European nations polled where more than half suggested cultural superiority. It was newspaper Vårt Land (Our Country), perhaps not […]
Bergen festival royally underway
May 26, 2017
Queen Sonja hailed Norway’s west coast capital of Bergen as a city “with deep cultural roots back to the Hanseatic time” when she opened the annual Festspillene (Bergen International Festival) on Wednesday. She claimed the festival “is a good example of how Bergen has formed its identity.” The nearly 80-year-old queen played a role in Bergen’s cultural […]
Crackdown on ‘bathing studies’
June 2, 2014
Education Minister Torbjørn Roe Isaksen announced on Monday he’d limit the types of courses available to Norwegian students going short-term programs abroad, to put an end to so-called “bathing studies.” Isaksen said students traveling to exotic locales to do courses like “winter sports and free-riding” and “physical activity and health” did little to improve students’ […]
‘Worst culture minister in a long time’
May 23, 2014
Lauded Norwegian author Torgrim Eggen lashed out against Culture Minister Thorhild Widvey this week, and was highly critical of the Conservative-led government’s cultural policy. Eggen presented his views on the direction of the arts in Norway at the Festival of Literature (Norsk Litteraturfestival) on Wednesday, Scandinavia’s biggest literary event. Eggen’s talk on the Government’s cultural […]
Culture Minister regrets museum call
February 14, 2014
Norway’s Culture Minister, Thorhild Widvey, may have to answer to a parliamentary committee over accusations of interfering with freedom of speech. On Friday the Conservative Party (Høyre) Minister admitted she regrets having personally called the Chairman of the Museums in Sør-Trøndelag (MIST), after the Trondheim Museum of Art’s outgoing director described the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet, […]
Debate over Sami ‘national’ day
February 6, 2014
Sami national day has been celebrated by indigenous people across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia on February 6 since the Sami Conference adopted the date in 1992. The day was chosen to commemorate the first international Sami congress in Trondheim in 1917, but debate remains over what the day should actually be called. Directly translated […]
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