Norways Resistance Museum
Akershus festning, building 21
Norway was occupied by Germany for five years during the second World War, from 1940 to 1945. The museum portray the Resistance movement’s battle against the germans.

National Museum of Contemporary Art
Bankplassen 4
www.nasjonalmuseet.no
The museum is Norway’s national centre for modern art. There are permanent and temporary exhibitions of international and Norwegian artists. Perhaps the only museum in the world where visitors can leave behind bags and coats in a vault – the museum is located in the monumental 95-year-old former headquarters of the Norwegian National Bank.

Museum of Natural History
Sars’ gate 1
www.nhm.uio.no
Here you’ll find: Greenhouses, the Zoological Museum and the Geological Museum (with a full-sized T-rex) and the Botanical Gardens (see “Parklife” for info on the Gardens). Take the underground to Tøyen/Munch museet.

Nobel Peace Center
Brynjulf Bulls plass 2
www.nobelpeacecenter.org
The Nobel Peace Center presents all the Nobel-price winners and their work.

Norsk Folkemuseum
Museumsveien 10
www.norskfolkemuseum.no
Norway’s largest and oldest folk museum is an open-air collection with more than 150 houses transferred from other parts of the country. You can visit one of Norway’s few remaining medieval stave-churches, and talk to the nice guides dressed up like 18th century inhabitants. Especially worth a visit if you don’t have a chance to visit other parts of Norway. There are daily activities in the open air museum all summer.

Museum of Science and Technology
Kjelsåsveien 143
www.tekniskmuseum.no
Cars, planes, computers and trains. And alot more. Excellent for children. Take bus 54 from Jernbanetorget or Aker Brygge, or the tram to Kjelsås Railway Station.

Oslo City Museum
Frognerveien 67
www.oslomuseum.no
The Oslo City Museum was established in 1905. It houses a historical collection about the history and development of Oslo.

Emanuel Vigeland, the brother of the known scultor Gustav Vigeland, was born to a family of craftsmen. His first solo exhibition was held at the Dioramalokalet on Karl Johan’s street in Oslo during February 1902. In 1905, Vigeland traveled to Italy under a scholarship to study frescoes, a journey that also took him to Egypt and Jerusalem. In 1909, Vigeland was commissioned to decorate frescoes, stained glass and lighting equipment for the first Norwegian Crematorium (Det gamle kapell). The same year he was invited to participate in the competition for the decoration of fresco paintings and stained glass in the new assembly hall at the University of Oslo.

The original plans for Emanuel Vigeland Museum show that the large main hall was intended as an exhibition space for paintings and sculptures. Only the end wall and the ceiling were supposed to be covered with fresco paintings. In the 1940′s the windows were filled with brick and the building changed character from museum to mausoleum. For the decoration of the high-vaulted, dark room Vigeland found inspiration in the burial chambers of Antiquity, especially the Etruscan. But the dramatic stories of Christianity also offered rich impulses, such as the Creation and the Original Sin as they had been narrated in Italian Renaissance frescoes. In accordance with these southern prototypes he named his future burial place Tomba Emmanuelle (Emanuel’s Tomb). The fresco paintings that now cover all the walls and the ceiling were named Vita (Life). The theme of Vita is eroticism and man’s sexual instinct, conveyed through multitudes of naked bodies, women and men in impetuous intimacy. Lovemaking and procreation in the honour of God takes place in front of a dark and infinite universe, dimly lit by the life-giving, divine sun but also by the blazing fires of hell. (It is the wish of the artist that the artificial lighting in the room is kept to a minimum, so that the drama of Vita is gradually revealed, as the eye of the spectator grows accustomed to the darkness.)

So what started as a museum turned into his final resting place. Emanuel Vigeland’s urn is placed in the entrance wall. It consists of a hollowed stone, taken from the artist’s summer residence at Tjøme. Vigeland writes: “When thus my hour is nigh, my body weary and my mind dull, let me then face the sun and quietly pass away. Fire so pure, receive my body so that, fully cleansed, it can meet God. Lay these ashes, which once was a life for better or worse, in the ovary-shaped stone, in memory of my dear mother. And underneath, on the golden base of the urn, shine the letters God.”

It is said that he designed the entrance to the mausoleum to be short so that anyone who enters the mausoleum bows for him as they enter.

The dark, mysterious and beautifully decorated room has a fantastic acoustic and is often used for music shows.

Address: Grimelundsveien 8
Opening hours: The museum is open every sunday, all year from 12:00 – 16:00
(15. may – 15. sep: 12:00 – 17:00)
Entrance fee: 40 NOK (free for children under 12 years)
Website: www.emanuelvigeland.museum.no
Visit the museums facebook page for more information about upcoming music shows and events.

From downtown Oslo it’s a short walk, maybe 10 minutes. You can basicly follow Møllergata up to Hausmania and from Hausmania it’s a short downhill road to Blå. Why not start your trip at the Use-It Oslo Office which is in the start of Møllergata?

So you’re here, and you’re walking down the street towards Blå following a wall of continuous grafitti. The sun is shining and you’re enterpeting stories that many artists and street artists are communicating through their art. The story seemingly ends at the corner only to unravel an epicenter of art crowned by a beautiful light crown in the middle. The old factory walls are covered with grafitti and paintings. The stairs to your right follows up to the art school and Brenneriet Gallery and you should take a look to see if an exhibition is up. Take a moment — take it all in.

Continuing on your exploration through the area you will find the nightclub Blå to your left. Maybe it’s open, depending on the time. Take a coffee or a refreshing drink in a friendly enviroment right next to the river Akerselva. Or continue towards the bridge crossing the river. Take a moment here as well, look closely at the trees and you will discover more art. From here you can follow the road up to Grünerløkka, a charming city area with parks, cafés, small independent stores and nightclubs. Or you can follow the river Akerselva to the end. It’s a very nice walk.