Vigeland Sculpture Park

---

Some pictures I took at Vigeland Sculpture Park on Weds afternoon. I didn't read so much about it, but here's the scoop via the always accurate and every dependable Wikipedia entry:

''Vigeland Sculpture Park is a part of Frogner Park, located in Oslo, Norway, 3 km northwest of the city centre. The park covers 80 acres (320,000 m2) and features 212 bronze and granite sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland. Vigeland personally sculpted every figure out of clay and individual craftsmen were contracted to fabricate the pieces into what they are today. 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.

At the highest point in the park lies the park's most popular attraction, The Monolith (Monolitten). The name derives from the Latin word monolithus from the Greek word μονόλιϑος (monolithos), derived from μόνος ("one" or "single") and λίϑος ("stone") implying the totem to be fabricated from one (mono) solid piece of stone (lith). Construction of the massive monument began in 1924 when Gustav Vigeland himself modeled it out of clay in his studio in Frogner. The design process took him ten months, and it is speculated that Vigeland had the help of a few sketches drafted in 1919. The model was then cast in plaster. In the autumn of 1927 a block of granite weighing several hundred tons was delivered to the park from a stone quarry in Halden. It was erected a year later and a wooden shed was built around it to keep out the elements. Vigeland’s plaster design was set up next to it to give reference to its sculptors. Transferring of the figures began in 1929 and took 3 stone carvers 14 years to accomplish. On the Christmas of 1944 the public was allowed to admire The Monolith and 180,000 people crowded the wooden shed to get a close look at the creation. The shed was demolished shortly thereafter. The Monolith towers 14.12 meters (46.32 ft) high and is composed of 121 human figures rising towards the sky. This is meant to represent man’s desire to become closer with the spiritual and divine. It portrays a feeling of togetherness as the human figures embrace one another as they are carried toward salvation.

Most of the statues depict people engaging in various typically human pursuits, such as running, wrestling, dancing, hugging, holding hands and so on. However, Vigeland occasionally included some statues that are more abstract, such as the "Man attacked by Genii" statue, which shows an adult male, fighting off a horde of mythological figures.

Vigeland park is a well known picnic area, popular in the summer for sunbathing, games, and relaxation.

In March 2007, the park was defaced when an anonymous person or group affixed black strips of paper to every exposed nipple, crotch, and posterior on the sculptures found in the park.''

---

Photos

Sculptures
Have I mentioned how much I hate making up captions?

I thought about kicking those people down the stairs...
Just once. Okay, maybe twice.