Around Scandinavia: Part Nine
In which I explored the sculpture park
Day Two continues …
The Vigeland sculpture park at
Frogner, is Gustav Vigeland's life work, comprising over 200 sculptures in
granite, bronze and wrought iron. Yomi elaborated on the monolith and other
sculptures, the must watch, etc. Then we were given an hour to explore. The
park is divided into sections, starting from the extreme end:
The wheel of life
It is a symbol of
eternity, designed as a rotating wreath of women, men, and children holding
onto each other for all eternity. It summarizes the entire dramatic theme of
the park: a sculptor's reflections on the journey of human life from cradle to
grave, through joy and sorrow, through dreams, fantasy, hope, and eternal
longings.
The sundial on a pedestal with
granite circular reliefs depicting 12 zodiac signs.
The Monolith stands at the highest point in Vigeland Park, and measures 17 meters above ground, carved out of one stone block. The sculpture depicts 121 human figures clinging and floating together.
There’re women and men of different ages, and the top of
the Monolith is crowned with children. The sculpture has been
interpreted as a kind of vision of resurrection, and our longing and striving
for spirituality. There are 36 sculptures around the monolith in series of 12 divided in three levels.
The Fountain
In the centre of the basin six giants hold the large saucer-shaped vessel aloft and from it a curtain of water spills down around them. The men, representing different ages, may be interpreted as toiling with the burden of life. Water, a universal symbol of fertility, is used within the fountain complex in a meaningful juxtaposition with the twenty tree groups on the surrounding parapet, the latter evidently symbolising "the tree of life".
The tree groups
represent a romantic expression of Man's relationship to nature. They also form
the setting for life's evolving stages, stretching from childhood and
adolescence through adulthood to old age and death.
The Bridge
58 bronze sculptures show a rich variety of children, women and men of different ages, including the iconic little boy Sinnataggen (The Angry Boy).
Shared themes for the sculptures are play, lust, energy and
vitalism.
We left the park at 6pm and drove ahead to our dinner restaurant Benares, Tordenskiolds. We passed by the Lorry restaurant and Kulturhistorisk Museum.
The bus halted at a point and we walked our way to the restaurant. We had a photo stop at the Oslo City Hall.
We reached the restaurant at 7pm. I had dinner with Manasi, Suchitra Mukherjee and Freny Tangree. Here, I got to know that Suchitra and Freny are neither twins nor siblings, they are close friends!
Post dinner, few walked till the waterfront and back. We drove to our Hotel Radisson Blu Alna, Tevlingveien and reached at 08:30pm. My room no was 820.
We freshened up and packed a small bag for
tomorrow’s train journey and dozed off.
