My Heart Soars: Oslo and Bergen: Part 3 - Day 2 Afternoon: City Hall

Day 2 (Afternoon)

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 2 Afternoon.

3/8 Day 2: Akershus Fortress -- City Hall

The Story

030818: From Akershus Fortress, the walk continues to City Hall. It was a cooling day in Oslo and I did not feel the need to take the train or the bus. Plus, it is a good way to explore the town and see more stuff.

I present to you - Oslo City Hall! When I first saw it, I went - What? This is their City Hall. It does not look as cultural as the one in Stockholm, although they have the same colour. But when I went inside the City Hall (for free even with a guided tour), it was way awesome than Stockholm's. Everything about the City Hall, interior and exterior are done by Norwegians only. There were beautiful murals and there were meanings behind the paintings which were explained by the guide. It was about a 40-minute free guided tour in English.

This is a panoramic view of the City Hall. The buildings are not actually bent but really straight. According to my second host, the bricks are placed manually and with 90 degrees precision. Architects find this building a masterpiece. When the building was revealed, the folk did not find the building appealing and thought the two towers (not accessible as they are the administrative buildings for politics and economics) were 2 pieces of goat cheese. But the folk was impressed when they saw the interior.

By the way, this building won 2 contrasting awards in a single year - Most Beautiful and Most Ugly. It is really hilarious to hear that.

The only explanation I could remember of the below painting - the bottom part represents the villagers going up the stairs to go into the town. The person in the middle holding the hands of a child represent the City Hall holding the Norwegians' hands and guiding them.

This mural represents the stages during the war - when the soldiers invaded till Norwegians got their independence.

This mural represents the forestry in Norway - one of the economy contributors.

Before this mural was done, the painter was informed that there will be only one door but when he saw that there were 2 doors, he painted a boy sticking out his tongue next to the second door to show his protest. Can you see the little boy? It is probably too small to see the boy sticking out his tongue.

This is the royal portrait of the current king, King Harald V. It was a controversial painting but the queen was a fan of art and requested the portrait to be such. This portrait was done after the king has his tumour removed from his cheek and so, the portrait was to show humility and vulnerability, although some of the kids said that it look like a zombie.