Oslo Day 3

Today would be my last full day in Oslo so I wanted to make the most of it. I planned the day like a military operation as I still had a few more museums I wanted to see before my City Pass expired.

Usually I have something in particular that I want to see when I visit a museum. Otherwise I could wander aimlessly for a couple of hours or more. Today I was starting at the Akershuss Fortress which I knew would be closed but the Resistance museum which is part of the complex would be open.

 As I was going through the entrance a tractor was just leaving laden with snow. Farmers are hired during the winter months to bring their tractors into town to clear the snow and ice.

The resistance Museum is a small museum and follows the rise of the Norwegian Resistance Army during WW2 after the Nazis invaded in April 1940. This sculpture is built from German 'Mauser' rifles in the shape of a swastika and repre sents the totally unexpected assault on Norway. The occupation was supported by Quizling and his Norwegian Nazi party. he declared himself Prime Minister on the day of the invasion and his name has become a synonym for the word treason ever since.

Although much of the information was in Norwegian there was a very good explanatory guide in English.

It made for some very sad reading as well as focusing on the many brave souls who fought tirelessly to free their country. I don't have an in depth knowledge of the war and really had no idea how much the UK did to help the Norwegian Resistance. It was a very enlightening and informative museum and well worth a visit.
 

The next Museum I visited was the Nobel Peace Centre. Although Alfred Nobel was Swedish he wanted the Norwegians to take on the role of choosing who should receive the Peace prize each year. Nobel had made a great deal of money from his inventions, in particular - dynamite. He never married or had children so he left a large legacy when he died. He felt he hadn't achieved anything in his lifetime and he wanted recognition for those who had achieved greatness in their own field. In his will he left instructions that all his assets, factories and shares were to be sold and the money to be put into a fund. The interest from the fund was to finance five annual prizes 'for the greatest benefit of mankind': for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for peace. His will clearly stated that the Nobel Prize laureates could be from anywhere in the world which did not please the Swedish nationalist politicians.

The winner of the Peace prize receives a gold medal, a diploma and a sum of ten million Swedish Kroner. The ceremony for the Peace prize takes place in Oslo City Hall and the winner is invited to make a speech  so they can share their message with the whole world.

In this room there was information about all the Nobel Peace prize laureates.

Next to the Nobel Peace Centre is the National Gallery. This is much larger than the other museums so I made sure I knew which galleries I wanted to visit and just kept it to those.

I wanted to see the gallery of modern design.

The 'egg' chair by Jacobson. A well known design classic.

Scandinavian designs are known for their sleek and minimal lines so I was interested to see what had been chosen to be an exhibit in the museum. I also had a look in the art galleries but by now I was flagging a bit and decided to go and have a sit down and a rest.

After a rest I walked along the waterfront.

These are sauna boats. You hire them  to slowly take you out onto the fjord whilst you enjoy the heat of the sauna and then to cool down you jump into the fjord. Maybe on a warm day it sounds more appealing but then who wants a sauna on a warm day? It's obviously not for me.

Further along the waterfront is the Astrup Fearnley Museum,  a contemporary art museum. I was more interested in   the architecture of the building than its contents which didn't appeal at all. The building was designed by Renzo Piano who designed the Shard in London. There are two buildings which straddle an inlet of the fjord.

Inside one half of the museum is the area for exhibitions. Whilst the other half of the building houses the permanent collection.

I thought there would be a bridge across to the other building but there isn't. This just takes you across the reception area to another room.

A nice smiling face to greet me as I walked across to the permanent collection part of the museum.

Michael Jackson and Bubbles by Jeff Koons

The gallery was large and full of light.

The large window looks out over the fjord. I didn't make a note of the name of this installation but it was a pile of sweets. You could take one if you wished.

There was just one more museum I had on my list and that was the History Museum. The Viking Museum is being renovated and won't be open until 2027 so they have opened a Viking Gallery in the History Museum and that was where I was heading next.

I was so glad I made the effort to see this museum as although there were not that many exhibits, the ones that were on display were fascinating. For those of you who are interested I have included the Museum's explanations of the artefacts.

There was another room in the museum that grabbed my attention and that was the gold coin room.

On 9th April 1940, Norway was invaded by Germany. The gold reserves held in the vault of the national bank of Norway in Oslo were a prime target. Director Nicolai Rygg had foreseen the invasion and had packed the gold into transport crates. While German bombers controlled the airspace above the capital that morning, 26 lorries secretly transported the gold to the town of Littlehammer 2000 km north of Oslo. This marked the start of Operation Heavy Luggage, a plan to save Norway's gold reserves from the occupying forces.From there, over the mountains to Andalsnes by train. One third of the gold was shipped out of the country on board the British cruiser HMS Galatea. The rest of the gold was moved to Molde. Under intensive bombing another third was salvaged on board the HMS Glasgow. The last third had to be transported on lorries and fishing vessels to Tromso, outside of German occupation. From Tromso the gold was shipped to Britain and on to the USA and Canada. The ships transported a total of 50 tonnes of gold out of the country. A large part in gold bars and foreign gold coins but several tonnes were also in Norwegian gold coins minted by the Royal Norwegian Mint in Kongsberg. In 1987 the gold coins were returned to Norway.

This portal holds 15000 Norwegian gold coins from 1874-1910. The coins are part of the central Bank of Norway's gold that was part of Operation Heavy Luggage.

By now it was late afternoon. I had spent over 6 hours walking around Oslo's Museums and my feet were begging for a rest. I walked back to the hotel and spent the next hour enjoying the sauna, steam room and pool. A great way to finish a day's sightseeing.