The new National Museum in Oslo

It was decided a while ago, to rather loud protests from certain quarters, that a new building for the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design will be built at the old Western Railway Station in Oslo, virtually next-door to the City Hall. The new museum should be ready in 2016 and is scheduled to cost 3.5 billion NOK.
236 projects were submitted in the architectural contest and until Sunday they are all exhibited at Cort Adelers gate 30 in Oslo. By 3 September the jury will pick 4-6 projects which will go on to the second round and the winner will be announced in March next year.
The 236 projects are rich in diversity – some more original than others to put it mildly. While some are rather dull and easy to overlook, others are startling and yet others very avant-garde. Some will stand out just by their size, while others conform better to the city’s existing skyline. The old station is a listed building which now houses the Nobel Peace Centre and some architects have chosen to integrate it into the new building, while others intend to build something separate from it.
Some examples can be seen above. The titles of these projects are, from top to bottom: 1. White box redux, 2. Monolith in the ultimate north, 3. Sy 4068, 4. O, 5. Art Court, 6. Pharos, 7. Norwegian woods, 8. Sommerfugl, 9. Peak, 10. Man subsume event, 11. Nordlicht, 12. The Crown.
See also http://www.statsbygg.no/Utviklingsprosjekter/NationalMuseum/ (in English)

Princess Birgitta on Swedish radio

As earlier mentioned, Princess Birgitta was one of the celebrities chosen to be a so-called “Summer Talker” on Swedish Radio’s P1 this summer. The Princess’s programme was broadcast on Sunday and for a month it can be listened to in its entirety at Swedish Radio’s website:

http://www.sr.se/webbradio/webbradio.asp?type=broadcast&Id=1845418&BroadcastDate=&IsBlock=

Interspersed with music it lasted for 90 minutes and Princess Birgitta talked about – well, herself, mostly. There was a lot about her great sports interest, particularly golf, but also flowers, her interest in food which she thinks is a Bernadotte family trait, her charity work, the climate at Majorca (where she lives), her childhood at Haga and the shyness which all the sisters (“except Christina”) suffer from.
More interestingly she also spoke of her memories of her father, who was killed in an airplane accident a week after her tenth birthday, describing him as a “wonderful father” and talking about how he has become more and more important to her as she has grown older.
She also relates how she, as a young girl, wanted to go to Italy. However, her German-born mother had other ideas – she put her daughter on the train to Munich to learn German, and that was where Princess Birgitta met her future husband, Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern. When they had made up their mind to marry, the Princess went to her grandfather to ask for his permission. She reminisces about how she sat next to the King on a sofa, he took out his calendar and concluded that 25 May suited his plans. So 25 May 1961 it was.

At road’s end: Ebba Haslund (1917-2009), author and activist

The Norwegian author and activist Ebba Haslund died suddenly in her home in Oslo on Friday night, aged 91. Born in Seattle on 12 August 1917, Ebba Margareta Haslund Halvorsen was the author of numerous novels, plays, children’s books, short stories, epistles and reviews, translated both books and plays into Norwegian and was a frequent contributor to several newspapers. She was leader of Den norske forfatterforening (“The association of Norwegian authors”) 1971-1975.
Her first book, Også vi, was written during the war and, literally, dug up from her garden and published in the summer of 1945. Her last novel was published in the year she turned 90, last year she published a biography of the politician and leading feminist Berit Ås, while her third book of memoirs, Ingen frøkensport, is due to be published by Aschehoug this autumn. She was, in the words of her publisher William Nygaard, the last of a generation of authors which included names such as André Bjerke, Torborg Nedreaas, Inger Hagerup og Arne Skouen.
Ebba Haslund was perhaps as much known as a political activist and debater. She was a prominent member of the women’s rights movement, was deeply committed to the nuclear disarmament cause and once again stood in the front line of opposition against the war in Iraq. She frequently wrote in various newspapers – most recently a piece in Budstikka on 29 June – and had a regular column in Klassekampen until her death.
She was the recipient of numerous awards and prizes for her work in different fields and was also briefly an MP for the Conservative Party for a few weeks in 1963, substituting for John Lyng during his short tenure as Prime Minister. In later years she gave her vote to the Liberal Party.
Her funeral will take place next Tuesday at Høvik Church, close to Blommenholm where she lived for most of her adult life until moving to Oslo earlier this summer.
Mode Steinkjer’s obituary in Dagsavisen of this rare personality is worth reading:

http://www.dagsavisen.no/kultur/article426039.ece

Ebba Haslund’s CV can be found at the website of the Norwegian Parliament:

http://www.stortinget.no/no/Representanter-og-komiteer/Representantene/Representantfordeling/Representant/?perid=EBHA

Memorial mass for imperial family

Friday this week will be the 91st anniversary of the execution of the Russian ex-Emperor Nikolaj II, his consort Aleksandra Fyodorovna and their five children as well as the three employees who were with them to the end. Yesterday a memorial mass was held for them in the Cathedral of Saints Pyotr and Pavel in St Petersburg, where they were also laid to rest in 1998.
Present at the mass were, among others, the new patriarch of the Russian-Orthodox Church, Kirill I, St Petersburg’s governor, Valentina Matviyenko, and, representing the family, Olga Kulikovsky-Romanoff, widowed daughter-in-law of Grand Duchess Olga Aleksandrevna, Nikolaj II’s youngest sister.

People from the past: Curt von Stedingk, ambassador and Sweden’s last field marshal

Count Curt von Stedingk (1746-1837) was born to a noble family in Swedish Pomerania and joined the Swedish army at an early age. He received his baptism of fire in the battle of Stralsund when he was only 13 years old and later joined the Swedish regiment in France, Royal suédois. He took part in the America War of Independence and was awarded the Order of the Cincinnati by George Washington.
Back in France, he was celebrated as a hero and, with the more famous Axel von Fersen, he became a member of the circle around Queen Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI, which also brought him into contact with King Gustaf III of Sweden, with whom he was to develop a close relationship.
In 1787 he returned to Sweden and took part in the war against Russia in 1788-1789. When the war ended he was appointed ambassador to the court of St Petersburg, where he was on close terms with the monarchs Ekaterina II and Aleksandr I.
He was recalled from St Petersburg when war again broke out between Sweden and Russia in 1808. After the Swedish defeat it fell to him to lead the negotiations for peace with Russia in Fredrikshamn in 1809 and it was he who had to put his signature on the treaty which cost Sweden Finland. After the peace had been concluded, he was again appointed ambassador to Russia.
Already made a general in 1807 and a count in 1809, in 1812 he was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. He led the Swedish army in the campaign against France and in 1814 Stedingk signed the Peace of Paris on his country’s behalf.
He made his last visit to Russia at the age of 80 in 1826, when he represented Sweden and Norway at the coronation of Emperor Nikolaj I. When he died in 1837, he was the last surviving Swedish Field Marshal and the last of the so-called “Gustavians”, having seen six kings from Fredrik I to Carl XIV Johan.
The picture shows a detail of a portrait by G. J. J. H. Le Monnier. It was done in 1802 and hangs at Elghammar Manor, the beautiful country house in Russian Empire style, located in Sudermania, which Giacomo Quarenghi, one of Ekaterina II’s favourite court architects, designed for Stedingk in 1809-1810.

What to see: The former royal palace Villa Pisani, Stra

A little-known but splendid former royal palace can be found in the small town of Stra, a few kilometres outside Padua on the road to Venice. Villa Pisani was built to glorify the noble Venetian family Pisani and is situated at the bend of the Brenta Canal. There the Pisani family already owned a villa known as Santo Stefano, a simple building from the late 16th century which was demolished in 1720 to make way for a new house.
The task of building the new villa was first given to the architect Girolamo Frigimelica Roberti (1653-1732), but his plans were soon shelved. Following his death the commission was given to Francesco Maria Preti (1701-1774), who completed the work on Villa Pisani in 1756.
In 1735 Alvise Pisani had been elected the 114th Doge of the Republic of Venice and it is said that this was the reason why the villa originally had 114 rooms – today the number is officially given as 168. There are two inner courtyards, separated by the colonnade seen in the last picture. Currently the colonnade houses a sculpture by Mimmo Paladino, which is part of the exhibition “I classici del contemporaneo”, which is on until 30 September.
At the centre of the building is the most magnificent of the rooms – the Ballroom, seen in the fifth photo. The fresco, “The Glory of the Pisani Family”, was done by Giambattista Tiepolo in 1761-1762 and took him only 76 working days. The walls are decorated in trompe l’oeil technique by Pietro Visconti.
The villa itself is Palladian in style, marked by the emerging neoclassicism, but there are also still traces of Baroque. The main façade towards the canal, seen in the first and second pictures, is richly decorated, while the garden façade, seen in the third photo, is simpler. Opposite the villa is the building for the stables, itself a magnificent creation which also served as open-air banqueting hall and now also as an orangery. The Long Pond between them was built in the 20th century.
Following the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797, the Pisani family found themselves in financial difficulties and on 11 January 1807 its then owner, Ermoloa “Alvise” Pisani, sold the villa to Napoléon I. The French Emperor also being King of Italy, this made Villa Pisani one of the two royal palaces in the Veneto region, the other being the Royal Palace in Venice (now the Correr Museum).
Napoléon himself spent only two nights at the palace – those of 28 November and 13 December 1807, on his way to and from his only visit to Venice. Ten years earlier he had stopped briefly at the villa during the campaign in Italy, commenting on Tiepolo’s masterpiece that it was a pity it was a fresco, “if it had been on canvas it would have looked superb at Fontainebleau!”
The Emperor-King gave the right of disposal to his adopted son Prince Eugène, Viceroy of Italy and Prince of Venice, who hired the architects Giovannia Antonio Antolini, Giuseppe Mezzani and Giuseppe Maria Soli to modernise the palace. Rebuilding, including the creation of imperial and viceregal apartments in Empire style, lasted for several years, which means that Napoléon never actually slept in the so-called “Napoleonic bed” which is now in his bedchamber.
The sixth photo shows one of the redecorated rooms – the Dining Room, which was redecorated in Pompeian style by G. Borsato and Pietro Moro in 1808-1814. The seventh picture is of a pre-imperial room, the Salon of the View-Paintings, which also holds a model of the famous maze which can be found in the palace’s park.
Following the downfall of Napoléon’s empire, Villa Pisani passed to the Habsburgs. It was a favourite residence of Empress Maria Anna, consort of the unfortunate Emperor Ferdinand. The Savoys, who took over in 1866, soon lost interest in the palace. It was abandoned in 1874 and after unsuccessful attempts at renting it out, management was entrusted to the Regional Office for Monuments in the Veneto in 1882.
Although named a national museum, Villa Pisani came to house offices and institutions of various kinds and the palace fell into disrepair. In 1934 Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler held their first meeting there. It is only in recent decades that interest in this glorious building has been revived. Still much of the furniture can be found in other places, such as the Correr Museum in Venice and the Quirinal Palace in Rome, but since the mid-1980s extensive renovation work has been carried out.
The official website:
http://www.villapisani.beniculturali.it/en/index.php

Duchess of York on King Olav and the monarchy

Sarah, Duchess of York has been a frequent visitor to Norway in the last years and when she attended the Oslo Peace Forum recently she gave an interview to Dagbladet, which was published in their weekend supplement Magasinet yesterday. Among other things the former British Princess speaks of her respect for the Dalai Lama, and adds that she has only met one other man of his stature: “That was your King Olav. He too was a great man”.
She continues: “He was very, very kind to me when I was 24 [sic] years old and completely new in the system. He was so good to me, a great uncle, who said: ‘Come on, it is OK, you can do this’. I often saw him when he came to England. He helped me learn what it meant to be a member of the royal family. I will never forget him”.
The journalist, Simen V. Gonsholt, asks if the late King had a special understanding for children and young people. “Exactly”, replies the Duchess. “He did not make me feel that I did not know anything. He made me feel that I could talk to him, something which is very frightening when you meet a king for the first time. So I think the tradition with a monarchy is very important”.
“Because of King Olav?” asks Gonsholt. “And because I think it is part of a country’s tradition and culture. I saw it most recently when I was here [in Oslo] on your national holiday”, says the Duchess. “I walked down the street and everyone were in their traditional dresses and I became very proud. I loved that day. I think it was a great and marvellous example of people coming together to show a united country”.
She also adds that her former mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II, is one of the most dignified people she has met in her life and that she is a wonderful grandmother for the Duchess’s daughters.

On this date: Queen Sonja’s 72nd birthday

The Queen of Norway is 72 today. The birthday is as usual celebrated privately at the royal summer house Mågerø at Tjøme. Queen Sonja is still on sick-leave after undergoing surgery on her foot in June, which means she will not accompany the King when he on Monday travels to Vilnius to be present at the celebrations of the 1000th anniversary of Lithuania and to open Norway’s new embassy in that country. The King and Queen of Sweden and the Queen of Denmark will also attend the celebrations in Vilnius.
The official portrait was taken by Cathrine Wessel in 2006 and copyright belongs to the Royal Court.

What to see: The Dano-Nordic pavilion, the 53rd Biennale, Venice

Some days ago I wrote about the 53rd International Art Exhibition, La Biennale, in Venice. I should also include something about the Norwegian contribution, which is in fact a pan-Nordic one. The Nordic pavilion (Sweden, Norway and Finland) is located next to the Danish and for this Biennale they have joined forces for the exhibition “The Collectors”, curated and staged by the Norwegian duo Elmgreen & Dragset and with 24 artists participating.
The two pavilions are furnished as a deserted home where some sort of disaster with homoerotic undertones has struck and is as such reminiscent of the exhibition “Home is the place you left” at Trondheim Art Gallery last year.
To the left in the first photo are several pictures by Tom of Finland, while “Maquette for a Giant Spinning O” by Jonathan Monk can be seen outside the windows. In the second photo is “Butterflies” by Han & Him, while the third shows the painting “The act of pollination” by Herman Bas and the fourth two Polynesian sculptures lent by Francesca von Habsburg.
In the fifth photo is a detail of “Table for Bergman” by Elmgreen & Dragset. Then comes the staircase in the library and the mirror in the hallway and finally “Death of a Collector”, also by Elmgreen & Dragset.

Oscarshall Palace uncovered

As earlier mentioned Oscarshall Palace in Oslo is due to reopen in June after having been under renovation since 2005. While some internal work apparently remains, the scaffolding has now come completely down to reveal the façade returned to its original white colour. The pictures show Oscarshall earlier this week and in October last year.

Recent articles on the Bernadottes

The July issue of the Swedish history magazine Populär Historia (issue 7/2009) has a good article on the history of Haga Palace, dealing with Gustaf III’s plans for a grandiose “Versailles” in the Haga Park, the Royal Burial Ground and the royal inhabitants of the small Haga Palace which will become the home of Crown Princess Victoria and her fiancé Daniel Westling next year. The next issue of the magazine, on sale from 28 July, will have an article on Lovisa Ulrika, one of the most fascinating queens in Swedish history.
A few weeks ago Svensk Damtidning (issue 26, dated 16-24 June) had a four-page article on another former royal home, namely Villa Fridhem in Östergötland, which was the summer house of Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg, at which they used to gather their large family in the summers. Now a conference hotel, Fridhem celebrated its centenary at the end of May. The celebrations included the reopening of the Princesses Margaretha, Märtha and Astrid’s playhouse, now complete with furniture and toys brought back from a museum in nearby Norrköping.
There are many pictures from the centenary at Fridhem’s website and it was also covered in the local newspapers Norrköpings Tidningar and Folkbladet:

http://www.villafridhem.se/villafridhem100ar/index.html

http://www.nt.se/norrkoping/artikel.aspx?articleid=5259441

http://www.folkbladet.se/nyheter/norrkoping/artikel.aspx?articleid=4888310

http://www.nt.se/nyheter/Default.aspx?articleid=5255374

In the same issue of Svensk Damtidning there was a very silly article on the “nine hottest candidates” for becoming Prince Carl Philip’s wife. The list is complete fantasy, consisting of two ex-girlfriends, one “Crown Princess Victoria look-alike”, an old friend and six distant relatives (Josephine Bernadotte, Maria Bitsch, Kajsa Bernadotte, Katharina of Rosenborg, Jana De Geer and Adrienne De Geer) – and yes, that makes ten and not nine!
Prince Carl Philip himself has meanwhile given a short interview to the magazine Café, where he among other things denies the persistent rumours about his being gay and says that his father is his role-model.

Obama goes to Moscow, Brown goes to history?

On Monday Barack Obama will begin his first visit to Russia as President of the USA and in that connection the new issue of The Economist (dated 4-10 July) has an interesting article about the complex relations between the USA and Russia since the end of the Cold War.

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13941990

In the same magazine the columnist “Bagehot” shares some thoughts on how history tends to remember British prime ministers for “a single achievement or, more often, for one defining failure”. “Anthony Eden equals the Suez crisis; Jim Callaghan connotes the ‘winter of discontent’ […]. In the end ‘Tony Blair’ will evoke Iraq, maybe with a footnote on his constitutional reforms”. The columnist sees some hope for the present Prime Minister, arguing that “Gordon Brown may be thought of more charitably by posterity than by his contemporaries – if he goes honourably”.

http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13941531

Lost treasures: St Hallvard’s Cathedral, Oslo

St Hallvard’s Cathedral was the main church of medieval Oslo. It was situated at the highest point in the town, which made it a towering presence in the townscape. The cathedral was begun around 1070, probably by King Olav Kyrre, and by 1130 work had come so far that King Sigurd the Crusader could be buried in the south wall of the chancel.
A Romanesque basilica, it had two inner colonnades and the relics of St Hallvard, patron saint of Oslo, were placed in a casket on the high altar. In the mid-13th century a chancel in the Gothic style, the same length as the existing nave, was added.
From the mid-16th century St Hallvard was the only “operating” church in Oslo, But in the early 17th century King Christian IV moved the city, renamed Christiania in his honour, further west and a new cathedral, the Church of Holy Trinity, was built at Christiania Square. When this was inaugurated in 1639, St Hallvard lost its statues as the cathedral of Oslo and until 1658 it was used as a church for Catholic sailors. The great bell from St Hallvard is said to have been moved to the Church of Holy Trinity and from there to the present Cathedral of Oslo.
After 1658 the abandoned church was left to the forces of nature and time and in 1667 it was decided to demolish it and use the stone for works at Akershus Castle. As can be seen in the first two pictures, today only ruins are left of the former cathedral of Oslo. The third picture shows a model of what St Hallvard’s Cathedral most likely looked like – in front is the Bishop’s Castle, now also long gone. Archaeological excavations were carried out in 1865, 1879 and in 1921.
The skull of King Sigurd was found in the walls of the ruined cathedral in 1656 and taken to Denmark. It was returned to Norway in 1867 and in 1957 it was laid to rest in the crypt at Akershus Castle, opposite the mausoleum of the present royal family.

On this date: Royal golden wedding in Belgium

Today is the golden wedding anniversary of King Albert II and Queen Paola of the Belgians. The then Prince Albert, Prince of Liège married the Italian aristocrat Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria in the Cathedral of Saints Michel and Gudule in Brussels on 2 July 1959, having met in Rome in connection with the inauguration of Pope Johannes (John) XXIII the previous year.
The royal couple had three children in 3 ½ years, but later went through some difficult years which resulted in an illegitimate daughter for Prince Albert. They were later reconciled and succeeded to the throne upon the early death of Albert’s brother, King Baudouin I, in the summer of 1993. King Albert celebrated his 75th birthday last month, while Queen Paola will be 72 in September.

A special coin has been issued to mark the anniversary.

What to see: The 53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale, Venice

It is summer in an odd-numbered year, which means the Biennale is taking place in Venice. Since the first exhibition in 1895, the Biennale has been one of the most important venues for showing modern and avant-garde art.
This year’s Biennale, the 53rd in the row, is called “Making Worlds”. It opened on 7 June and is on until 22 November, with more countries (77) than ever before taking part. The largest sections are at the Giardini and the Arsenale, but there are also exhibitions and events on many locations in the city itself and outside it.
The first photo shows glass artworks outside the Venetian pavilion, while the second shows a globe by Chen Zhen. Following them are images from the Spanish, Polish, Egyptian, French, Russian and Hungarian pavilions and finally a view of the Moroccan contribution, which is housed in the Church of Pietà.
The Biennale’s website: http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/index.html