is the capital and largest city in Norway
. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by a fire in 1624. The Danish–Norwegian king Christian IV rebuilt the city as Christiania (later spelled Kristiania). Oslo, then an alternative name, became official again in 1925. The diocese of Oslo is one of the five original dioceses in Norway, which originated around the year 1070.
Oslo is
the cultural, scientific
, economic and
governmental centre of Norway. The
city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and
shipping. It is also an important centre of maritime knowledge in
Europe, and is home to approximately 980
companies and 8,500 employees within the maritime sector—among
which are some of the world's largest shipping companies,
shipbrokers and insurance brokers.
Oslo is considered a
global city and
ranked "Beta World City Plus" in studies performed by the
Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network in 2008.
Oslo has for several years been listed as one of the most expensive
cities in the world alongside cities such as Tokyo, Copenhagen and
Paris. In 2009 Oslo regained its status as the world's most
expensive city.
Oslo is a pilot city of the Council of Europe and the European
Commission
intercultural
cities programme.
It is estimated that 26%—or around 152,000—of Oslo's core
population are immigrants. As of 2009, the
metropolitan area of Oslo had a
population of 1.4 million; of whom, 876,391 lived in the contiguous
conurbation. Furthermore, the city's population currently increases
at a record rate of over 2% annually, making it one of the fastest
growing cities in Europe.
Urban region
The population of the municipality of Oslo is 580,229 (as of 1 July
2009).
The
urban area extends beyond the boundaries
of the municipality into the surrounding county of Akershus
,
(municipalities of Bærum
, Asker
, Røyken
, Lørenskog
, Skedsmo
, Gjerdrum
, Sørum
, Oppegård
) its agglomeration
total 876,391 inhabitants. The metropolitan area of Oslo,
also referred to as the
Greater Oslo
Region ( ), has a land area of with a population of 1,403,268
as of 1 July 2009. The Inner Oslo Fjord Region, or the Capital
Region made up by the 5 counties of Oslo, Akershus, Buskerud,
Vestfold (west bank of the Oslo fjord) and Østfold (east bank) has
a population of 1.86 million people.
Karl Johans Gate
The city
centre is situated at the end of the Oslofjord
from where the city sprawls out in three distinct
"corridors" from its centre; inland north-eastwards and southwards
lining both sides of the fjord giving the city area more or less the shape of a large,
reclining "Y" when seen from the north.
To the north and east wide
forested hills
(
Marka) rise above the city giving the location the shape
of a giant
amphitheatre.The urban
municipality
(
bykommune) of Oslo and county (
fylke) is the
same entity, making Oslo the only city in Norway where two
administrative levels are integrated. Of Oslo's total area, is
built-up and is
agricultural. The open
areas within the built-up zone amount to .
The city of Oslo was established as a municipality on 3 January
1838 (see
formannskapsdistrikt).
It was separated from
the county of Akershus to become a
county of its own in 1842. The rural municipality of
Aker was merged with Oslo on 1 January
1948 (and simultaneously transferred from Akershus county to Oslo
county). Furthermore, Oslo shares several important functions with
Akershus county.
Oslo's share of the national GDP is 17%; the metropolitan area's
share is 25%. Oslo is one of the
most
expensive cities in the world.
General information
Name
The origin of the name
Oslo has been the subject of much
debate.
It
is certainly derived from Old Norse and
was in all probability the name of a large farm at the site of the
first settlements in Bjørvika
.
It is commonly held that
Oslo means “the mouth of the
Lo river”, referring to an alternative name of the river
Alna, but this is most likely apocryphal; not only is it
ungrammatical (the correct form would be
Loos, cf.
Nidaros), but the name
Lo is not
recorded anywhere before
Peder
Claussøn Friis first used it in the same work in which he
proposed this etymology. The name
Lo is now believed to be
a
back-formation arrived at by Friis
in support of his spurious etymology for
Oslo.
During the
Middle Ages the name was
initially spelled
“Áslo” and later
“Óslo”.
The
earlier spelling suggests that the first component ás
refers either to the Ekeberg
ridge
southeast of the town (“ås” in modern Norwegian), or to the
Aesir. The most likely interpretations
would therefore be either “the meadow beneath the ridge” or “the
meadow of the gods”. Both are equally plausible.
A fire in 1624 destroyed much of the medieval city, and when the
city was rebuilt it was moved westwards in order to be nearer the
Akershus Fortress. King
Christian IV of
Denmark and Norway renamed the reborn city
Christiania.
According to an official spelling reform (that changed
ch to
k) the form was changed to
Kristiania in 1877.
(The same year were the city names
Christiansand and Christiansund changed to
Kristiansand
and Kristiansund
—and the name of the county Christians Amt
was changed to Kristians Amt (see Oppland).) The new form was used in all official
documents and publications of the Norwegian State, but not by the
municipality itself. The city continued to use the old form
until 1897, then they also changed to
Kristiania (without
any formal or official decision).
This original name
was
restored by a law of 11 July, 1924, effective 1 January, 1925;
a decision which caused much debate in its time.
| "When I was young, the capital of
Norway was not called Oslo. It was called Christiania. But
somewhere along the line, the Norwegian decided to do away with that
pretty name and call it Oslo instead." |
| Roald
Dahl, Boy |
When the city in general now took up the name of Oslo again, the
eastern district of the city that had preserved the old name became
known simply as
Gamlebyen (
Old
Town). As of 2009, history is about to come full circle as the
City Council has announced its
intention to rename the
city
centre today known as
Oslo Sentrum (
Central
Oslo) to possibly Kristiania or Christiania. This central area
will roughly correspond to the area built up as the "new city"
after the 1624 fire. There is some debate whether to use the
historical name Christiania—in use for over 300 years—or the
spelling Kristiania, introduced in 1897 and used for only 27 years.
The spelling "Kristiania" is considered ahistorical by historians.
The old square of Christian IV's city was named
Christiania
torv in 1958, and this name (with the old
ch-form) is still in use on signs and maps.
The city was once referred to as
Tigerstaden (the City of
Tigers) by the author
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson around
1870, due to his perception of the city as a cold and dangerous
place. This name has over the years achieved an almost official
status, to the extent that the 1000-year anniversary was celebrated
by a row of tiger sculptures around
city hall. The prevalence of homeless
and other beggars in more recent times led to the slight rewording
of the nickname into
Tiggerstaden (the City of Beggars).
Another harsh picture of the city was drawn by
Knut Hamsun in his novel
Sult (
Hunger) from 1890 (cinematised in 1966 by
Henning Carlsen).
City seal
Coat of Arms of Oslo.
Oslo is
the only city in Norway, besides Bergen
, that does
not have a formal coat-of-arms, but
uses a city seal instead. The seal of Oslo shows the city's
patron saint,
St. Hallvard. The seal shows St.
Hallvard with his attributes, the
millstone and
arrows, with a
dead woman at his feet. He is seated on a throne with lion
decorations, which at the time was also commonly used by the
Norwegian Kings. Seating
him on such a throne made him equal to the kings.
The oldest known seal of Oslo showed the same composition as
today's seal, except for the human figure reclining at the feet of
St. Hallvard. In the original seal, it represented an armed
warrior, one of the evil men who killed Hallvard. Due to its bad
state of preservation, the image was misinterpreted as the woman he
tried to defend. The seal was probably made around 1300 and was in
use for nearly three centuries. After the
Protestant Reformation, the city
continued the use of St. Hallvard on its seal. The second seal of
Oslo dates from around 1590. It shows the same basic design, but
the saint holds his attributes in the opposite hands. Also the
stars and some other smaller details were lost. This seal was used
until around 1660.
At that time the church of St. Hallvard had become a ruin and the
legend was no longer well known. The third seal of Oslo, made in
1659, therefore still showed the basic design, but the saint was
transformed into a female figure. She still held the arrows and had
a dead
knight (with harness and
helmet) lying at her feet. The millstone had become
thinner and looked more like a
ring. This image can still be seen on a
cast iron stove plate dating from 1770.
These plates became
very popular in Denmark
in the 18th century and the figure was presented as
Queen Margaret I, who unified
the three Kingdoms of Sweden, Norway, and
Denmark, which are represented by the ring (union) and the
three arrows. The dead knight was to symbolise her opponent,
Albrecht of Mecklenburg.
During the 18th and early 19th century, the image kept changing.
The ring has been shown as a
snake biting its
own tail, the throne was replaced by a
lion,
and the warrior at Hallvard's feet definitely became a woman.
In 1854, A. T. Kaltenborn wrote about the Norwegian municipal arms
and also was shown a medieval seal of Oslo. He recognised it as
depicting the
legend of St. Hallvard, but did
not interpret the reclining figure correctly. He persuaded the city
to have a new seal made, based on the alleged medieval composition.
Finally a new design was made by the German E. Doepler in 1892. He
changed only one item on the instead of naked as on the seal. His
composition was also used on a proper shield, designed in 1899 by
Reidar Haavin. In 1924, the present design was made, still with the
incorrect woman instead of the original warrior, but now stark
naked.
History
Christiania in July of 1814, as seen
from Ekeberg.
According to the
Norse sagas, Oslo was
founded around 1049 by King
Harald
Hardråde. Recent archaeological research has uncovered
Christian burials from before 1000, evidence of a preceding urban
settlement. This called for the celebration of Oslo's millennium in
2000.
It has been regarded as the capital city since the reign of
Håkon V (1299-1319), the first
king to reside permanently in the city.
He also started the
construction of the Akershus Fortress
. A century later Norway was the weaker part
in a personal union with Denmark, and Oslo's role was reduced to that of provincial
administrative centre, with the monarchs residing in Copenhagen
. The fact that the University
of Oslo
was founded as late as 1811 had an adverse effect
on the development of the nation.
Oslo was destroyed several times by fire, and after the fourteenth
calamity, in 1624, King
Christian IV of Denmark ordered it
rebuilt at a new site across the bay, near Akershus Fortress and
given the name
Christiania. But long before this,
Christiania had started to establish its stature as a
centre of commerce and culture in Norway. The
part of the city built from 1624 is now often called
Kvadraturen because of its octagonal layout. In 1814
Christiania once more became a real capital when the union with
Denmark was dissolved.
Many landmarks were built in the 19th
century, including the Royal Palace
(1825-1848); Stortinget
(the Parliament) (1861-1866), the University, Nationaltheatret
and the Stock
Exchange. Among the world-famous artists who lived here
during this period were
Henrik Ibsen
and
Knut Hamsun (the latter was awarded
the
Nobel Prize for literature).
In 1850,
Christiania also overtook Bergen and became
the most populous city in the country. In 1878 the city was
renamed to
Kristiania. The original name of Oslo
was restored in 1925.
Christiania Torv is a square that
contains some of Oslo's most historic buildings.
Oslo's centrality in the political, cultural and economical life of
Norway continues to be a source of considerable controversy and
friction. Numerous attempts at decentralization have not
appreciably changed this during the last century. While continuing
to be the main cause of the depopulation of the Norwegian
countryside, any form of development is almost always opposed by
neighbours, and—as a consequence—the growth of a modern urban
landscape has all but stopped. Specifically, the construction of
highrise in the city centre has been met
with
skepticism. It is projected,
however, that the city will need some 20,000 additional apartments
before 2020, forcing the difficult decision of whether to build
tall or the equally unpopular option of sprawling out.
A marked reluctance to encourage the growth of the city for fear of
causing further depletion of the traditional farming and fishing
communities has led to several successive bursts of construction in
both infrastructure and building mass, as the authorities kept
waiting in vain for the stream of people to diminish. Neoclassical
city apartments built in the 1850s to 1900s dotted with remnants of
Christian IV's renaissance grid dominate the architecture around
the city centre, except where slums were demolished in the 1960s to
construct modernist concrete and glass low-rises, now generally
regarded as embarrassing eyesores. The variety in Oslo's
architectural cityscape does however provide for some striking and
often hauntingly beautiful sights.While most of the forests and
lakes surrounding Oslo are in private hands, there is great public
support for not developing those areas. Parts of Oslo suffer from
congestion, yet it is one of the few European capitals where people
live with the wilderness literally in their back yard, or with
access to a
suburban train line that
allows the city's many hikers and
cross-country skiers to simply step off
the train and start walking or skiing.
Geography
Oslo
occupies an arc of land at the northernmost end of the Oslofjord. The fjord, which is
nearly bisected by the Nesodden
peninsula opposite Oslo, lies to the south; in all
other directions Oslo is surrounded by green hills and
mountains. There are 40 islands within the city limits,
the largest being Malmøya
( ), and scores more around the Oslofjord.
Oslo has 343 lakes, the largest being Maridalsvannet ( ). This is
also a main source of drinking water for large parts of Oslo.
Although
Eastern Norway has a number
of mighty rivers, none of these flows into the ocean at Oslo.
Instead Oslo has two smaller rivers: Akerselva (draining
Maridalsvannet) and Alna (Oslo's longest river). Akerselva
traditionally separates Oslo's East and West end, and flows into
the fjord in Bjørvika. River Alna flows through Groruddalen, Oslo's
major suburb and industrial area. The highest point is Kirkeberget,
at . Although the city's population is small compared to most
European capitals, it occupies an unusually large land area, of
which two thirds are
protected areas
of forests, hills and lakes. Its boundaries encompass many parks
and open areas, giving it an airy and often very green appearance.
It is not uncommon to encounter wild moose in relatively urban
areas of Oslo, especially during wintertime.
Climate
Oslo has a
humid continental
climate (Dfb according to the
Köppen climate
classification system).Because of the city's northern latitude,
daylight varies greatly from more than 18 hours in midsummer to
around 6 hours in midwinter. Despite its northerly location, the
climate is relatively mild throughout the year because of the
Gulf Stream.
Oslo has pleasantly mild to warm summers with average high
temperatures of and lows of around . Temperatures exceed quite
often, and heatwaves are common during the summer. The highest
temperature ever recorded was on 21 July 1901. Due to the fjord's
being a relatively enclosed body of water, the water temperatures
can get quite high during long warm periods. During the summer of
2008, the water reached a temperature of . Spring and autumn are
generally chilly. Winters are cold and snowy with temperatures
between up to . The coldest temperature recorded is in January
1942. Temperatures have tended to be higher in recent years.
Annual precipitation is with moderate rainfall throughout the year.
Snowfall can occur from November to April, but snow accumulation
occurs mainly from January through March. Almost every winter, ice
develops in the innermost parts of the Oslofjord, and some winters
the whole inner fjord freezes. As it is far from the mild Atlantic
water of the west coast, this large fjord can freeze over, although
this has become rare.
Parks and recreation areas
Oslo has a large number of parks and green areas within the city
core, as well as outside it.
The large park Vigeland
Park
is located a few minutes walk away from the city
centre. This is the biggest and most reputed park in
Norway.
- St. Hanshaugen Park
is an old public park on a high hill in central
Oslo. The park has a small tower at the top and a stage used
for outdoor concerts. 'St.Hanshaugen' is also the name of the
surrounding neighbourhood as well as the larger administrative
district (borough) that includes major parts of central Oslo.
- Tøyen Park stretches out behind the Munch Museum, and is a
vast, grassy expanse. In the north there is also the natural
viewing point known as Ola Narr. The Tøyen area also includes the
Botanical garden and Museum
belonging to the University of Oslo.
Oslo (with neighbouring Sandvika-Asker) is basically built in a
horseshoe shape on the shores of the Oslofjord and limited in most
directions by hills and forests. This means that any point within
the city is relatively close to the forest. There are two major
forests with immediate access:
Østmarka (literally
"Eastern Forest", on the eastern perimeter of the city), and the
very large
Nordmarka (literally "Northern Forest",
stretching from the northern perimeter of the city deep into the
hinterland).
Swimming pools
The city of Oslo runs eight public
swimming pools. Tøyenbadet is the largest
indoor swimming facility in Oslo and one of the few pools in Norway
offering a 50-metre main pool. The outdoor pool Frognerbadet also
has the 50-metre range.
Royal Palace.
Politics and government
Oslo is the capital of Norway, and as such is the seat of Norway's
national government.
Most government offices, including that of
the Prime Minister, are
gathered at Regjeringskvartalet, a cluster of buildings
close to the national Parliament—the
Storting.
Constituting both a municipality and a county of Norway, the city
of Oslo is represented in the Storting by seventeen
Members of Parliament. Six MPs are from
the
Labour Party; the
Conservative Party and
the
Progress Party have
three each; the
Socialist
Left Party and the
Liberals have two each; and one is
from the
Christian
Democrats.
The combined municipality and county of Oslo has had a
parliamentary system of government
since 1986. The supreme authority of the city is the City Council
(
Bystyret), which currently has 59 seats. Representatives
are popularly elected every four years. The City Council has five
standing committees, each having
its own areas of responsibility. These are: Health and Social
Welfare; Education and Cultural Affairs;
Urban Development; Transport and
Environmental Affairs; and Finance. The council's
executive branch (
Byrådet)
consists of a
head of government
(
byrådsleder) and six commissioners (
byråder,
sing.
byråd) holding ministerial positions. Each of the
commissioners needs the confidence of the City Council and each of
them can be voted out of office.
Since the local elections of 2003, the
city government has been a coalition of the
Conservative Party and the Progress Party. Based mostly on support
from the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, the coalition
maintains a majority in the City Council. After the 2007 local
elections on 10 September, the conservative coalition remained in
majority. The largest parties in the City Council are the Labour
Party and the Conservatives, with 18 and 16 representatives
respectively.
The Mayor of Oslo is the head of the City Council and the highest
ranking representative of the city. This used to be the most
powerful political position in Oslo, but following the
implementation of parliamentarism, the Mayor has had more of a
ceremonial role, similar to that of the President of the Storting
at the national level. The current Mayor of Oslo is
Fabian Stang.
Administrative divisions
Following the latest reform of 1 January 2004, the city is divided
into fifteen
boroughs
(
bydeler) that are to a considerable extent self governed.
Each borough is responsible for local services not overseen by the
City Council, such as
social services,
basic
healthcare, and
kindergartens.
- Gamle Oslo
- Grünerløkka
- Sagene
- St. Hanshaugen
- Frogner
- Ullern
- Vestre Aker
- Nordre Aker
- Bjerke
- Grorud
- Stovner
- Alna
- Østensjø
- Nordstrand
- Søndre Nordstrand
- Sentrum
- Marka
Sentrum (the city centre) and
Marka (the rural/recreational areas surrounding
the city) are separate geographical entities, but do not have an
administration of their own. Sentrum is governed by the borough of
St. Hanshaugen. The administration of Marka is shared between
neighbouring boroughs.
Economy
Oslo Business Centre
Oslo Sjølyst
Oslo is an important centre of maritime knowledge in Europe and is
home to approximately 980 companies and 8,500 employees within the
maritime sector, some of which are the world's largest shipping
companies, shipbrokers, and insurance brokers.
Det Norske
Veritas
, headquartered at Høvik
outside
Oslo, is one of the three major maritime classification societies in the
world, with 16.5% of the world fleet to class in its
register. The city's port is the largest general cargo port
in the country and its leading passenger gateway. Close to 6,000
ships dock at the Port of Oslo annually with a total of 6 million
tonnes of cargo and over five million passengers.The
gross domestic product of Oslo
totaled NOK268.047 billion (€33.876 billion) in 2003, which
amounted to 17% of the national GDP. This compares with NOK165.915
billion (€20.968 billion) in 1995.
The metropolitan area, bar Moss
and Drammen
, contributed 25% of the national GDP in 2003 and
was also responsible for more than one quarter of tax revenues. In comparison, total tax
revenues from the oil and gas industry on the
Norwegian Continental Shelf
amounted to about 16%. The region has one of the highest
per capita GDP in Europe, at
NOK391,399 (€49,465) in 2003.
If Norway were a member of the European Union, the capital region would have
the fourth strongest GDP per capita, behind Inner London, Brussels-Capital
and Luxembourg
.
Oslo is one of the
most
expensive cities in the world. As of 2006, it is ranked tenth
according to the Worldwide
Cost of
Living Survey provided by Mercer Human Resource Consulting and
first according to the
Economist Intelligence Unit. The
reason for this discrepancy is that the EIU omits certain factors
from its final index calculation, most notably housing. Although
Oslo does have the most expensive
housing market in Norway, it is
comparably cheaper than other cities on the list in that regard.
Meanwhile, prices on
goods and
services remain some of the highest of any city.According to a
report compiled by
Swiss bank
UBS in the month of August 2006, Oslo and London were the world's
most expensive cities. Total pay packets were the biggest in Oslo
along with Copenhagen and Zurich.
Demographics
Gronland street
An estimated 26% of Oslo's population consists of immigrants (about
152,000 inhabitants).
Pakistanis make up 20,036 of the city's
inhabitants, followed by Somalis
(9,708), Swedes
(7,462),
and Sri Lankan Tamils
(7,128)—these being the four largest ethnic minority groups. Other large immigrant
groups are people from Poland
, Vietnam
, Turkey
, Morocco
, Iraq
and Denmark.
The population of Oslo is currently increasing at a record rate of
nearly 2% annually (17% over the last 15 years), making it the
fastest-growing Scandinavian capital. The increase is due, in
almost equal degree, to high birth-rates and immigration.
In
particular, immigration from Poland and the
Baltic states has increased sharply
since the accession of these countries to the EU in 2004.
Education
Institutions of higher education
Norwegian School of Management
Nydalen
University of Oslo
Transport
Air
Sea
There are
daily ferry connections to Kiel
(Germany
), Copenhagen (Denmark), Frederikshavn
(Denmark) and Nesodden.
Public ferries run daily to and from the islands scattered in the
Oslo harbour basin.
Train
Oslo
Sentralstasjon
is the main railway station in Oslo.
From
there, there are connections to far away destinations Trondheim
, Bergen, Stavanger
, Stockholm
(Sweden), Gothenburg
(Sweden) and
Copenhagen (Denmark), as well as several local and regional
destinations in southern Norway and
Sweden. In 2004 Norwegian Trains were Europe's third most
punctual national train company. For the first 4 months in 2005 the
punctuality was 92.9%. During winter in particular, weather
conditions such as snow and blizzards may cause delays and
cancellations on the routes crossing the central mountains.
Public transport
The public transportation system in Oslo is managed by the
municipal transport company
Ruter. This
includes
metro,
tram,
bus and
ferry, but not the local train lines, which are
operated by the state
railway
company NSB. All
public transport in Oslo, including local
trains, operates on a common ticket system, allowing free transfer
within a period of one hour with a regular ticket. Tickets also
transfer to the local and inter-city trains, unless a traveler
intends to cross the city border. In 2004, 160 million journeys
were made using public transport, of which 85% was handled by Oslo
Sporveier's own subsidiaries and 15% by private bus and ferry
operators under cost-based contracts.
A rental bicycle station in the city
centre.
The tram system,
Oslotrikken, is made
up of six lines that criss-cross the inner parts of the city and
extend outward toward the suburbs. Trams run partly on in the
streets and partly on separate roads. The metro system—known as the
T-bane—connects the eastern and western
suburbs and comprises six lines which all converge in a tunnel
beneath downtown Oslo.
The metro lines are identified by numbers
from 1 to 6, with two lines running into the municipality of
Bærum in the
west. The tramway lines are numbered 11 to 13 and 17 to
19.
A new,
partially underground loop line was opened
in August 2006, connecting Ullevål
in the northwest and Carl Berners
plass
in the east. Two new stations, Nydalen and
Storo, have been operational for a couple of years already; the
third station, Sinsen, opened 20 August 2006, completing the loop.
In conjunction with the opening of the circle line, there will be a
major upgrade of the
rolling stock,
with delivery taking place between 2007 and 2010. An
RFID ticketing system with
automatic turnstile barriers has been under introduction for
several years, but has been greatly delayed. The transition to the
new system is now underway, with the new RFID cards available to
the public.
A public bicycle rental programme has been in operation beginning
in April every year since 2002. With an electronic subscription
card, users can access bikes from over 90 stations across the
city.
Road
A motorway leading into the city
centre.
As Oslo is Norway's capital and biggest city, several national
highways meet or passes through it.
European route E6 runs through Oslo in the
eastern suburbs on its way from Southern Sweden to
Northern Norway.
European route E18 runs through downtown
Oslo (including a tunnel under Akershus festning) on its way from
Stavanger and Kristiansand to Stockholm.
European route E16 from Bergen doesn't go
into Oslo proper, but ends on E18 at Sandvika a few kilometers west
of Oslo. Oslo also has a system of "ring roads" connecting east and
west.
Ring 3, the outer one, runs from the E6
junction in the east via Ullevål to E18 on the border to Bærum municipality in the west. Ring 2 runs from
Gamlebyen in the east to E18 at Skøyen in the west. Ring 1 is the
downtown "through road". The
ring roads make
navigation easier and improve trafic flow. E18, E6, Ring 2 and Ring
3 are connected by an elaborate system of tunnels and bridges in
the Økern-Ekeberg area. At present (2008) a new underwater tunnel
for E18 is under construction in Bjørvika to divert traffic from
the street level.
Access into the city centre requires the payment of a
toll at one of 19 entry points around the
ring road. It costs 25
NOK to enter the cordoned zone at all times
of day, seven days a week. A 20%-price reduction is available to
car owners using the
AutoPASS-system. Since
2 February 2008, coins are no longer accepted at the Toll Station,
and all cars must pass through the automatic lanes without
stopping. Drivers fitted with the electronic
AutoPASS system will be debited as they pass; all
other drivers will receive an invoice in the mail.
Initially revenues from the road tolls funded the public road
network, but since 2002 theses revenues finance mainly new
developments for the public
transport
system in Oslo. There has been discussion whether to continue
to use the cordon after 2007, based on the funding decisions,
extensions, accommodation of time-differentiated pricing or
replaced by another form of pricing altogether, perhaps to make
congestion-pricing possible.
Media
The newspapers
Aftenposten, Dagens Næringsliv, Finansavisen, Verdens
Gang, Dagbladet, Dagsavisen, Morgenbladet, Vårt Land, Nationen and
Klassekampen are published in Oslo.
The main
office of the national broadcasting company NRK
is located at Marienlyst in Oslo, near
Majorstuen. TVNorge (TVNorway) is
also located in Oslo, while TV2 (based
in Bergen) and
TV3 (based in London
) operate
branch offices in central Oslo. There is also a variety of
specialty publications and smaller media companies.
Culture
The
Nobel Peace Prize is handed
out in Oslo every year by the
Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Literature
Oslo National Theater
Several Norwegian authors from Oslo City have been awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature,
namely
Bjørnstjerne
Bjørnson in 1903,
Knut Hamsun in
1920 and
Sigrid Undset in 1928 for
Kristin Lavransdatter. Though he was not awarded a Nobel
Prize for his plays, as the first of these were awarded after he
published his last play in 1899, playwright
Henrik Ibsen is probably the most famous figure
in
Norwegian literature. Ibsen
wrote plays such as
Peer Gynt,
A Doll's House and
The Lady from the
Sea.
Also of importance to the Norwegian literary culture is the
Norse literature, and in
particular the works of
Snorre
Sturlason , as well as the more recent
folk
tales, collected by
Asbjørnsen and
Moe in the 19th century.
Norwegian literature attained international acclaim in the 1990s
with
Jostein Gaarder's novel
Sophie's world (Sofies verden) which
was translated into 40 languages. Other noteworthy writers with an
international profile include
Erik
Fosnes Hansen (Psalm at Journey's End) and
Åsne Seierstad whose controversial work,
The Bookseller of Kabul, was
particularly successful in 2003.
Architecture
Oslo Plaza Tower
A Square in Oslo
Østbanen
Oslo, or Norway generally, has always had a tradition of modern
building. Indeed, many of today's most interesting new buildings
are made of wood, reflecting the strong appeal that this material
continues to hold for Norwegian designers and builders.
Norway's
conversion to
Christianity some 1,000 years ago led to the introduction of
stonework architecture, beginning with the construction of Nidaros
Cathedral
in Trondheim.
In the
early Middle Ages,
stave churches were constructed throughout
Norway. Many of them remain to this day and represent Norway’s most
important contribution to
architectural history. A fine example
is The Stave Church at
Urnes
which is now on UNESCO’s
World
Heritage List.
Another notable example of wooden
architecture is the Bryggen
Wharf
in Bergen, consisting of a row of narrow wooden
structures along the quayside.
In the
17th century, under the Danish
monarchy, cities such as Kongsberg
with its Baroque church and Røros
with its
wooden buildings were established.
After Norway’s union with Denmark was dissolved in 1814, Oslo
became the capital. Architect
Christian H. Grosch designed the oldest parts
of the University
of Oslo, the Oslo Stock
Exchange, and many other buildings and churches.
At the
beginning of the 20th century, the city of Ålesund
was rebuilt in the Art
Nouveau style. The 1930s, when
functionalism dominated, became
a strong period for Norwegian architecture, but it is only in
recent decades that Norwegian architects have truly achieved
international renown.
One of the most striking modern buildings in
Norway is the Sami
Parliament in Kárášjohka
designed by Stein
Halvorson and Christian
Sundby. Its debating chamber is an abstract timber
version of a Lavvo, the traditional tent used by the nomadic
Sami people.
Music
Rikard Nordraak, composer of the
Norwegian national anthem, was born in Oslo in 1842.
Norway's
principal orchestra is the Oslo
Philharmonic, based at the Oslo Concert Hall
since 1977. Although it was founded in 1919,
the Oslo Philharmonic can trace its roots to the founding of the
Christiania Musikerforening (Christiania Musical
Association) by
Edvard Grieg and
Johan Svendsen in 1879.
Sports
The Holmenkollen ski jump hill.
Oslo was the host city for the
1952
Winter Olympics.
Except for the downhill skiing at Norefjell
, all events took place within the city
limits. The opening and closing ceremonies were held
at Bislett
stadion
, which was also used for the speed skating events. In
recent years, the stadium has been better known for hosting the
annual
Bislett Games track and field event in the
IAAF Golden League. The
stadium was rebuilt in 2004/2005 and was formally opened for the
Bislett Games on 29 July 2005.
Holmenkollen
nordic skiing arena,
with its centrepiece the ski jump, was
an important venue during the 1952
Olympics. The arena has hosted numerous Nordic skiing
and
biathlon world championships since
1930, and its ski-jump competition is the second oldest in the
world, having been contested since 1892. Holmenkollen has been
selected once again to host the
FIS Nordic World Ski
Championships in 2011. Thursday 16 October 2008, the work began
on the dismantling of the ski jump, as a new ski jump is going to
be built and is expected to be finished by the end of 2009.
During the summer months, the harbour becomes a venue for various
maritime events, including the start of a large
sailing regatta that attracts around 1,000 competing
boats each year, and one race of the international Class 1
offshore powerboat racing
circuit.
Two
football clubs from Oslo,
Vålerenga and
Lyn, play in the
Norwegian Premier League. In the
2005 season, the teams placed 1st and 3rd respectively. In
addition, two teams from the conurbations are represented—
Stabæk Fotball and
Lillestrøm Sportsklubb. Oslo had two
ice hockey teams in the highest division
in the previous season,
Vålerenga Ishockey and
Furuset I.F., the former winning the cup and
league double in 2007.
Speed
skating is also held at the Valle Hovin
venue, which in the summer is host to large
popular music concerts.
Ullevaal
stadion
, located in the borough of Nordre Aker, is the home
of the Norwegian national
football team. Built in 1926, it is the largest
football stadium in Norway, and has served
as the venue for the
Norwegian
Cup final since 1948. Both Lyn and Vålerenga use the stadium as
their home ground.
Historical population
| Year |
Population |
| 1801 |
9,500 |
| 1825 |
15,400 |
| 1855 |
31,700 |
| 1875 |
76,900 |
| 1900 |
227,900 |
| 1925 |
255,700 |
| 1951 |
434,365 |
| 1960 |
471,511 |
| 1970 |
487,363 |
| 1980 |
454,872 |
| 1990 |
458,364 |
| 2000 |
507,467 |
| 2002 |
529,407 |
| 2006 |
538,411 |
| 2008 |
560,484 |
| 2009 |
578,870 |
|
|
Conurbation population
| Year |
Population |
| 1999 |
763,957 |
| 2005 |
811,688 |
| 2006 |
825,105 |
| 2007 |
839,423 |
| 2008 |
856,915 |
| 2009 |
876,391 |
Notable residents
International relations
Twin towns - Sister cities
Oslo is
twinned or has
cooperation agreements with the following
cities/regions:
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Reykjavík
, Iceland
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Helsinki
, Finland
- Saint Petersburg
, Russia
- Shanghai, China
- Rotterdam
, Netherlands
- Vilnius
, Lithuania
- Warsaw
, Poland
- New York City
, United
States
- Washington, D.C.
, United
States
- Gothenburg, Sweden
- Antwerp
, Belgium
- Schleswig-Holstein
, Germany
Oslo has
a longstanding tradition of sending a Christmas tree every year to the cities of
Washington,
D.C., New
York
, London, Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Reykjavík. Since 1947, Oslo sends a 65–80-foot (20–25
m) high spruce, which may be 50 to 100
years old (according to the sources), as an expression of gratitude
for Britain's support to Norway during World War II which is usually placed in
Trafalgar
Square
. For the 61st time, this spruce will have
been lit by the Mayor of Oslo, Fabian Stang and The Lord Mayor of
Westminster, Councilor Carolyn Keen, between 6 December 2007 and 4
January 2008, and it has received yet more special attention than
before, expressing environmental concern.
See also
References
- Peder Claussøn Friis, Store Norske Leksikon (in
Norwegian)
- Alna – elv i Oslo, Store Norske Leksikon (in
Norwegian)
- Oslo temperatures
- Geography of Norway#climate
- City of Oslo parks
- City of Oslo parks
- Municipal swimming pools
- Oslo Teknopol Mal
- Dnv.com
- Yahoo! News
- 25 prosent av alle som bor i Oslo er innvandrere - Nyheter
- Oslo - Aftenposten.no
- Polakker den største innvandrergruppen
- [1]
- Folkebibl.no
- Om 15 år kan det bo 100 000 flere i Oslo
- Ska-Wiki -
Ska-Wiki
- Commission for Integrated Transport: Road Charging
Scheme: Oslo
- Contemporary literature from Norway Cultural
Profile. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
- The evolution of Norwegian architecture. Norway,
the official site in the United States. Retrieved 25 November
2008.
- Norwegian Architecture by Leslie Burgher. Retrieved
25 November 2008.
- Table 1 Urban settlements. Population and area, by
municipality. 1 January 2007
- Partners - Oslo kommune
- Aftenposten
Newspaper: Oslo tree is London-bound
- Christmas in Trafalgar Square: «Recycling the tree» and
«About the tree» (Greater London Authority
website).
- Christmas tree recycling (City of Westminster
Council website).
External links
.JPG/180px-Oslo_(62).JPG)
(Høgskolen i Oslo) - focuses on 3-4 year
professional degree
programs.
(Handelshøyskolen BI) - primarily economics and
business administration.
(Norges musikkhøgskole)
(Det teologiske Menighetsfakultet —
MF)
(in Akershus
(in Vestfold
county about one and a half hours, or away)
(In Østfold
county, away)
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