Vigeland Sculpture Park

Contrary to its name, you don't need to be an art aficionado to be able to appreciate the beauty that is Vigeland Sculpture Park. It's currently rated #1 of TripAdvisor's things to do in Oslo, so you know when TripAdvisor tells you to go, you gotta listen.

Do you remember I showed you this picture?



Yup - that's Vigeland. It's gorgeous, and it's like a setting out of magic. The russet leaves mirrored in the calm water, the golden sunlight amplifying the colour of fire. I'd say that that one scene is all the reason you need to be in Vigeland.

But of course, it is a sculpture park, so there's more than just beautiful trees and lakes for you to see.



One of the first things you'll probably notice about the 192 sculptures in Vigeland is how they're all naked. At first it's a little bit surprising but then again the Greeks used to make naked marble statues of people all the time right? I didn't think I would really, but I found that I really liked how the statues froze moments in time.

They allow us to look on things with an understanding that brings new thought to our world. Even a stone statue of a man kicking away babies caught my eye and made me wonder how men are societally socialised into relegating a large proportion of parenting roles to mothers; in Norway which is a society so equal it's mindblowing, this was particularly interesting.





The cold had also frozen the morning dewdrops on the grass, like little crystals of glass on green blades. They would delicately crunch under my shoe if I walked on them.



It was late afternoon when I went, so I loved how the sun hung low in the sky and swathed the land in sheets of gold. I promise you, I have never seen the sun as beautifully as I did in Vigeland.





In the centre of Vigeland Park sits a massive stone monument of sculptures, figures hunched in every position, sometimes alone and sometimes with another, whispering to each other like stone angels. (Sorry I couldn't help the Doctor Who reference, ha ha!)



That huge stone column in the centre is carved out of a single block.



Although it doesn't really seem like much if you think about Vigeland as a place, there's a strange otherworldliness - the multitudes of statues frozen in time, where they meet the hoards of people who visit the park every day.

You know how sometimes you visit a place that really isn't anything at all, yet is something? That's what this park was. There's nothing really remarkable about it, yet people remain intrigued by these 192 sculptures, sitting on stone steps, picnicking and walking their dogs, taking photographs.

And then there's the wilderness that keeps cropping up again and again in Norway, the unkempt trees, the rich forests and the lakes that mirror them.





Perhaps it is that these frozen sculptures could find their place in this living, changing natural setting that captured my intrigue.