Vigeland Sculpture Park
2008-08-21

Vigeland Sculpture Park

Vigeland Sculpture Park is one of Norway's most visited attractions with more than 1 million visitors every year.

The unique sculpture park is the life work of the sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and cast iron. Vigeland was also responsible for the design and architectural outline of the park. These works of art reside along an 850 meter-long axis divided into six sections: The Main Gate, The Bridge, The Children's Playground, The Fountain, The Monolith Plateau and the Wheel of Life. A monumental artistic creation with a human message that is well worth seeing.


Origins 
Vigeland Sculpture Park covers an area of 80 acres. The 212 sculptures are all modelled in full size by Gustav Vigeland. He also designed the architectural setting and the layout of the grounds. The sculptures are placed on an 850 metre long axis divided into 5 main units: Main Entrance, The Bridge with the children's playground, The Fountain, The Monolith Plateau and The Wheel of Life.

The Vigeland Park includes a great number of Gustav Vigeland's works. Here are 212 sculptures in bronze and granite and several wrought iron gates. Vigeland modelled all his sculptures in full size without any assistance of pupils or other artists. The carving in stone and the casting in bronze were left to a number of talented craftsmen. Vigeland also designed the architectural setting and the layout of the grounds with their far stretching lawns and long straight avenues bordered with maple trees. The construction of the park lasted for a number of years. The area east of the two Frogner ponds had already by the turn of the century been opened to the public. The area west of the ponds was in 1924 given to Vigeland for the construction of the Fountain, the Monolith and the many granite groups at the Monolith plateau. Around 1930 the sculpture park was enlarged eastwards, into the older Frogner Park, to include a new bridge decorated with sculptures and a unique main entrance in granite and wrought iron. Vigeland did not live to see the completed park. The majority of the sculptures and the architectural elements was not installed until about 1950. The municipality of Oslo was the main contributor to the realisation of the Vigeland Park. However, a number of private persons and companies gave generous financial support, so that the capital of Norway could get a park to which there is no equal in the whole world.

The Six Sections 

The Main gate
Forged of granite and wrought iron, the Main Gate serves as an entrance to the park itself. It consists of five large gates, two small pedestrian gates and two copper-roofed gate houses, both adorned with weather-vanes. The Main Gate was erected in 1926 and was financed by a Norwegian bank.

The Bridge
58 bronze sculptures on granite parapets (1926-1933) stand on either side of the Bridge portraying people of widely differing ages, although there is less emphasis on old age than others in the park. Many characteristic representations of children are noticeable. Dominant motifs among the groups are the relationships between man and woman and between adults and children. In one sculpture you find a bronze wheel enclosing a man and woman linked together in a rotating movement. The circle being a well-known symbol of eternity, the sculpture may indicate the constant attraction and love between the sexes or a figurative version of the Eastern symbol of "Yin and Yang."

The Children's Playground
At the end of the bridge lies the Children's Playground, a collaboration of eight bronze statues, all in the likenesses of children at play. In the centre, mounted on a granite column, is the representation of a fetus. In this area there is also a pond where ducks and geese swim.

The Fountain
Originally designed to stand in front of Parliament (Eidsvolls Plass), the Fountain was fabricated from bronze and adorned with 60 individual bronze reliefs. Portraying children and skeletons in the arms of giant trees, the Fountain suggests that from death comes new life. On the ground surrounding the Fountain lies an 1800 square meter mosaic laid in black and white granite. It took Vigeland a great deal of time to establish the monument: from 1906 to 1947.
The combination of human beings and trees in two meter high sculptures is one of Vigeland's most original concepts. The tree groups represent a romantic expression of Man's relationship to nature. The also form the setting for life's evolving stages, stretching from childhood and adolescence through adulthood to old age and death.

The Monolith Plateau
The Monolith Plateau is a platform made of stairs that houses the Monolith totem itself. 36 figure groups reside on the elevation bringing with them the "circle of life" message. Access to the Plateau is made via eight figural gates forged in wrought iron. The gates were designed between 1933 and 1937 and erected shortly after Vigeland died in 1943.

The Wheel of Life
After finishing the 58 sculptures for the bridge in the early 1930s, Vigeland completed a small children's circle which is placed at one end of the bridge next to the small lake. In 1934, he completed the large bronze "Wheel of Life", which is composed of figures swirling in an eternal circle. 


The Monolith
The column, 14.12 meters (46 feet) high carved out of a single block of stone, consists of 121 figures. Modeled by Vigeland in the years 1924-25, it took three stone carvers from 1929 to 1943 to complete the Monolith, just shortly before Vigeland died. The column is completely covered by human figures in relief, singly or in groups. At the bottom there are seemingly inert bodies. Above them figures ascent in a spiral, the movement halting midway and then rising at a fast pace towards the summit which is covered by small children. Various interpretations of the Monolith have been suggested: Man's resurrection, the struggle for existence, Man's yearning for for spiritual spheres, the transcendence of everyday life and cyclic repetition.