Sculpture park of Vigeland in Oslo: description, history of creation. Attractions in Oslo

Far and mysterious Oslo, founded by Vikings, is the most green city in the world, which is ideal for both active and relaxed recreation. The capital of beautiful Norway, located in the south of the country, has a special atmosphere with a unique Scandinavian flavor.

The many-faced city with a thousand-year history is unlikely to compete with ancient megacities full of architectural and historical sights. However, tourists who are interested in the question of what to see in Oslo will not be disappointed.

The Viking Citadel

A glorious city, whose authorities carefully guard the virgin natural corners, is surrounded by mountain peaks covered with dense forests. Located in a picturesque place, right at the beginning of the Oslo Fjord, stretching for 100 kilometers, the capital of Norway is recognized as a mirror of the history and modernity of the state. The ancient Viking Citadel, which has experienced periods of prosperity and decline, is rightly considered the most interesting city in the country.

How to get to the Norwegian capital Russian?

Currently, there is a record influx of tourists in Oslo wishing to get acquainted with the cultural traditions and the most unusual corners of the Norwegian pearl. Russians often choose it as their holiday destination, and no one regrets an interesting trip to Scandinavia.

So, the company "Aeroflot" carries out direct flights from the capital of our country, and planes on the route Moscow - Oslo depart twice a day. The journey takes about three hours, and the round trip ticket costs about 300 dollars. It is worth considering that flights with a transfer in European cities will cost much more.

Those who are afraid of flying, choose land transportation and go on a long journey by train. It is necessary to know that direct flights "Moscow - Oslo" do not exist, and first you will have to get to Helsinki, then get on a ferry to Stockholm, and thence by high-speed train to the Norwegian capital. Travel time will be 32 hours, and for round-trip tickets, you will have to pay more than $ 540.

Park with ambiguous sculptures

Tourists go on fascinating excursions, and one of the most interesting adventures awaits everyone in the famous and ambiguous Vigelandsparken. You can visit it for free. Time in Oslo differs from Moscow only for an hour in the summer (in winter - two), so vacationers do not have to spend several days to work out a new regime. Guests of the capital will be able to immediately go to an unusual corner, occupying a territory of 30 hectares.

This is one of the most memorable places in Oslo, which causes contradictory 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 every one of 227 sculptures in full size and numerous details linking the space of a giant complex under the open sky into a single whole. All the author's works (park architecture, fountains, bridges, fences) are linked together like links in one chain.

However, this is not an ordinary park in which tourists are entertained, but a real sacred place where some masterpieces symbolize the human fall and represent the satanic power. All kinds of states of people - this is the main theme of the complex, where the human sculpture depicts abstract feelings or emotions that everyone understands at first sight.

Entrance and walkway with statues

The main gate is made of white granite and iron, painted black. They can see bizarre patterns - stylized figures of men, embodying different stages of life. The gate consists of five large and two small portals decorated with square lanterns. If you look at the sashes, you can see images of the Serpent - the biblical symbol of Satan.

Near the entrance there is a tourist information center and several souvenir shops. Next is a long alley, along which are installed numerous sculptures of women, men and children, reflecting the whole gamut of human feelings. Immediately there is a statue of the author himself, who did not live a year before the discovery of his child. It is curious that this is the only work in the park, which is "dressed".

Unique project

Fascinated by philosophy and mysticism, the perspective artist was interested in images that personified the demonic origin and sins of people. The well-known sculptor stated that the nature of man is much more complicated than all the devil's forces. The Norwegian authorities considered Vigeland a mad genius, burning desire to make a unique project for the city of Oslo.

Having received dozens of hectares of land at the beginning of the last century, he began work on creating works that, under the terms of the contract, can not be sold to anyone. The master did everything he pleased, and thus in the capital of Norway in 1940 appeared a mysterious park 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 essence, focusing on bright and spectacular images. Most likely, the creator did not even dream of creating a real hell on earth, as many visitors perceive the Vigeland sculpture park, but only wanted to demonstrate the weakness of a man who can not resist vices, but tries to fight his demons.

According to modern researchers, the discovery of an unusual complex, where everything was designed by a Norwegian master, coincided with the slogans of racial theory that were unusually popular at that time. But the city of Oslo assured that the park began to be built before Hitler came to power, and therefore sees no connection between him and the propaganda of nationalism.

Philosophical meaning of each image

All the works of Vigeland, conveying various emotions, bear a philosophical meaning, and in every work one can see the life path of a person - from birth to departure. 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 desire for light forces. By the language of gestures, poses, facial expressions, the contradictory personality embodied his reflections on the person and his purpose.

The central composition of the complex

The main composition of the Vigeland sculpture park in Oslo is the work "Monolith", whose foundation is a stone platform with 36 groups symbolizing the cycle of life. The highest point of the complex was created for 14 years.

In the center of the platform is a 17-meter column, on which are placed the figures of people climbing upward. There are many different opinions as to what the Vigeland has put in the composition: someone sees a prototype of the Tower of Babel, and someone thinks that this is a man's attempt to climb Olympus and thereby challenge the Creator.

However, as the guides tell, "Monolith", consisting of intertwined human bodies, personifies the natural desire of people to become better in moral terms, to approach God, and only unity will help to find a way to salvation. The main theme of the composition is the cycle of human life, and it is not accidental to get here through the iron gate with the contours of figures depicting people at different ages.

Unusual fountain

You can not pass by the fountain, surrounded by 20 bronze trees, shining in the rays of sunlight. Each of them is a symbol of certain stages that a person passes through. Located in a circle, they show that after a natural withdrawal a new life arises, and no one can stop the revival.

Visitors seem to fall into the other world, but in fact the creator of the building with bas-relief edifice parodied the Garden of Eden, in which, instead of enjoying beauty, a person renounces God and turns into an ordinary tree.

The bridge decorated with human figures

A little further from the entrance to the sculpture park of Vigeland, you can see a hundred-meter bridge decorated with 58 bronze sculptures set on granite parapets. Figures of children and adults are naked, and visitors are unlikely to be admired by ideal proportions, as the artist did not seek to show the beauty of the human body. People with different physical disabilities stand in groups and individually, and on their faces a grimace from unbearable suffering.

The author, for whom the park became a real manifesto that reflected the thoughts of the sculptor about life and death, believes that people have long renounced God, and the road chosen by them is incredibly difficult.

The statues that arouse the interest of visitors

Just below the bridge, under which flows the river, symbolizing Styx and separating the world of the dead and living, material and spiritual, is a children's playground, made in the form of a circle. There are eight statues of toddlers on it, and the main one 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 the visitors is a sculpture, whose name sounds like "The Evil Boy", but the statue of the kid, in fury stamping on the ground, received the unofficial name "Mona Lisa Vigeland." Each guest of the park is necessarily photographed with the grimacing boy, who is very popular, holding his hands, and the child's polished hands shine in the sun.

No less remarkable creations, set 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 the evil and gloomy world

Sculpture "The Wheel of Life" causes a storm of emotions among visitors. The bronze work, which is a garland of people holding each other, symbolizes the life cycle from cradle to death, from grave to revival. Impersonation of eternal life, many art critics consider a parody of a gloomy and soulless world in which a person loses hope for a better share.

Museum of the sculptor

In the south of the park of sculptures Vigeland is the artist's workshop, in which, after the death of the creator, no one changed anything. Now it has a popular museum, and all its exhibits introduce the work of a well-known Norwegian master who created many works and developed the design of the Nobel Prize. His masterpieces adorn many European cities today, but the main work of an unintelligible genius is the unconventional garden of people, looking into which everyone comes out stricken.

Feedback from visitors of the unusual complex

Tourists who have visited the amazing park of sculptures Vigeland, admit that they fully felt the uniqueness of the local landmark, penetrated by mysticism. From here no one leaves without impressions, and numerous works leave no one indifferent. Most visitors are not ready to accept and understand the shocking art, and some compare a huge complex with the real underworld, into which they fell of their own free will. Therefore, especially impressionable natures should consider whether to go to a place that causes such heated arguments, or to look in Oslo something else, more pleasant.

One spectacle seems repulsive and extremely unpleasant, while others, enchanted by the action, can not take their eyes off symbolic compositions. Sculptures of naked people seem frightening and very strange, and many people can not understand the philosophical meaning of the Norwegian's works. However, the unique creation of the master is a place that can not be overlooked. The ambiguous works of the great genius, who left a huge legacy behind him, arouse a keen interest, and visitors look at them, thinking about what the author meant all the same.