Frognerparken: Human Sculptures in an Ethereal Setting
Through his literary work, Sidste Sang, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson titled Oslo, Tigerstaden, a Tiger City by conjuring 18th-century lyrical metaphors. The city, on the other hand, is far from unsafe! It is, in fact, an environmentally conscious harbour with Nobel peace prize venues, awe-inspiring museums, Viking seafaring tales, wide-forested hills and unique styles on the cutting edge of fashion. Oslo, encompassed by nature parks, seamlessly blends urban life with easy access to nature. Following the Norwegian way of life, I had made park visits a regular part of my stay. Although spending half a day in Frognerparken was a once-in-a-lifetime possibility that I will never forget.
It was one of those beautiful summer days when I decided to go for a walk around the royal palace neighbourhood. After touring the kingdom’s architectural grandeur, I walked into Oslo’s 110-acres of art paradise, where I heeded world-renowned sculptural artwork under fresh air and sunshine. Frognerparken, also known as Vigeland Park, is the world’s largest single-artist sculpture park.
The essence of Frognerparken is the extensive pattern of human statues interspersed with beautiful fauna and fountains. This splendid park, besieged by enormous sweeps of green, sunscape flora, is so astoundingly familiar that you simply can’t take your eyes off it. By all accounts, this open-air museum is a living, breathing tribute to Norwegian civilisation.
One of the best things about visiting Norway in the summer is that the sunlight rarely sets, allowing for more intense interaction with the items in view. This is especially true in Frognersparken, where one-of-a-kind shadow arts sway to the themes of their creator’s imagination. To reach this park, I boarded the bus outside Nobel Gate 32, and walked to Kafe Vigeland, expecting to see an overcrowded tourist playground. The broad plot, on the other hand, smoothly juxtaposes numbers despite their size. At the entrance to Frogner’s park, you are greeted, by a splintered staircase with two concrete sets of steps.
I shared the path with a few Asian tourists, European couples, and locals who were visiting the park to walk their dogs. Until I reached a massive, black, gorgeous iron block with two small side gates, which I descended to. Six women are depicted in the block, each looking in a different direction. Peering through the sculpted apertures of this feminine design, you’ll be astounded by the scope of what the park has to offer on the other side. Magnificent is an understatement, in my opinion!
I sped past the side gate and straight into serenity. Without a certain, Gustav Vigeland, the great Norwegian sculptor who chiselled hundreds of fantastic expressions into stones and metals, deserves credit. Vigeland began his adventure in 1884 when he apprenticed with a woodcarver before attending art institutions all around Scandinavia. Auguste Rodin in Paris was his primary inspiration, and his profoundly philistine and emotional sculpting skills reflect this impact. Vigeland was inspired to build Frogner Park in the early 1900s, a once-in-a-lifetime chance that kept him busy for the rest of his career.
He carved around 200 one-of-a-kind sculptures during this time, including an entrance, a bridge, a circular stairway, the Monolith, a few fountains, and a mosaic labyrinth with a stone forest. A definitive course portraying old-fashioned dispositions from lifelike portraitures rests against a cloud painted sky. The Monolith, located in the heart of the park, is the park’s crowning masterpiece. This 57-foot-tall solid granite column encircled by 121 figures represents different life periods, such as birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age, and death.
The Monolith, said to be ascending to heaven is made of a single granite block, weighs hundreds of tonnes, and is surrounded by several symbolic murals. Vigeland worked on this gem for fourteen years with the help of three other sculptors. The attention to detail and impetuosity of each statue left me astounded. Monolith and the Wheel of Life instinctively drew me into their fold. Wheel of Life is a unique sundial that sits at the apex of a 2700-foot axis.
This wheel depicts four human figures in a circle with a kid, symbolising eternity and rippling unity. The theme represents the continuation of life and advances to preponderate in the whole park. Each of the grounds’ other 200+ sculptures is a spectacular demonstration of humanistic predilections firmly rooted in our DNA. Vigeland used these sentiments to create some of the world’s best sculptures throughout 20 years from 1924 to 1943. Around 60 of them are bizarre bronze reliefs that mirror endoskeletons, children, and the wheel of life.
Each sculpture, from the eccentric “Man Attacked by Babies” to the mirthful “Monolith,” communicates inexpressible emotions while depicting fascinating subjects. Angry Boy, a man infested by Genii spirits, a child in each arm, sky gazing, dancing lady, sundial, raised girl, wailing babies, swinging child, ring, and dancing pair are all delightful surprises!
It was an emotional encounter with sculptures inspired by the human body’s dynamic movements. Vigeland turned a 17th-century baroque garden into a fairly-large public park with fantastic fountains, strategically situated to face the Norwegian Parliament, over two decades.
Each of these fountains is surrounded by twenty trees, illustrating four crucial life stages. Death and the afterlife are embodied in the last tree that has a skeleton. The Frogner Baths, the 17th-century Manor, Frogner Pond, Pavilion, and Stadium are all worth seeing. Each of the statues, fountains, and other sculptural embellishments took me a couple of hours to admire.
Gustav Vigeland designed the Nobel Peace Prize Medal while working on Frogner’s Park, demonstrating excellent craftsmanship. In the end, Frognersparken is a magnificent tribute to Gustav Vigeland, and the Oslo administration has retained the park in its original state, with minimal or no changes.
Frognersparken was picked as Norway’s first preserved heritage site on February 13, 2009. Along with neurobiological sculpting of the limbic system, the park’s garden landscapes also house the world’s largest Norweigan rose collection, with up to 14,000 plants from 150 kinds. I completed my garden tour by purchasing a glass of orange juice from the small food and beverage cafe near the exit gate and savouring every drop while brooding on how a visit to Frognersparken had turned out to be my favourite park experience of all time.
