Encyclopedia
Oslo is the
capital and largest city of
Norway. The population of the city proper is 544 073 . The city area extends into the surrounding
county of
Akershus, with a total population of 825,105 in the conurbation . The city has a current annual growth exceeding 15,000.
The city centre of Oslo is situated at the end of the
Oslofjord from where the city sprawls out both to the north and to the south on both sides of the fjord giving the
city area more or less the shape of a U. Oslo's metropolitan area, also referred to as Greater Oslo region, covers a population of approximately 1.3 million. In the entire Oslo Fjord region there is a total population of 1.7 million.
About 22 % of the population of Oslo are immigrants.
The urban municipality of Oslo and county is the same entity.
Of Oslo's total area, 115 km² is built-up and 7 km² is
agricultural.
The open areas within the built-up zone amounts to 22 km².
Geography and climate
Oslo occupies an arc of land at the northernmost end of the
Oslofjord. The
fjord, which is nearly bisected by the
Nesodden peninsula opposite Oslo, lies to the south; in all other directions Oslo is surrounded by green hills and mountains. There are 40 islands within the city limits, the largest being Malmøya , and scores more around the Oslofjord. Oslo has 343 lakes, the largest being Maridalsvannet . This is also a main source of drinking water for large parts of Oslo. The highest point is Kirkeberget, at 629 m. Although the city's population is small compared to most European capitals, it occupies an unusually large land area, of which two thirds are protected areas of forests, hills and lakes. Its boundaries encompass many parks and open areas, giving it an airy and often very green appearance. It is not uncommon to encounter wild moose in relatively urban areas of Oslo, especially during wintertime.
Oslo has a hemiboreal/humid continental climate . Summers are mild or even warm, with daily high temperatures averaging between 20.1°C and 21.5°C during the summer months . September is often as warm, with colder temperatures arriving at the end of October and into November. The highest temperature ever recorded was 35°C on July 21, 1901.
Winters are long and fairly cold. Temperatures below zero may be experienced from November until March, the coldest month being January with a mean temperature of -4.3°C, and both January and February may have daily minimum temperatures of around -7°C. The coldest temperature recorded is -27.9°C in February 1871. Snowfall is spread evenly throughout the winter months and on average more than 25 cm of snowcover is experienced 30 days per year. Temperatures have tended to be higher in recent years [].
The annual average precipitation is 763 mm, with winter being somewhat drier than summer.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|
| Avg high °C | -1.8 | -0.9 | 3.5 | 9.1 | 15.8 | 20.4 | 21.5 | 20.1 | 15.1 | 9.3 | 3.2 | -0.5 |
|---|
| Avg low temperature °C | -6.8 | -6.8 | -3.3 | 0.8 | 6.5 | 10.6 | 12.2 | 11.3 | 7.5 | 3.8 | -1.5 | -5.6 |
|---|
| Source: |
History
According to the Norse sagas, Oslo was founded around 1048 by king
Harald Hardråde. Recent archaeological research has uncovered Christian burials from before 1000, evidence of a preceding urban settlement. This called for the celebration of Oslo's millennium in 2000.
It has been regarded as the capital city since the reign of Håkon V , who was the first king to reside permanently in the city. He also started the construction of the Akershus Fortress. A century later Norway was the weaker part in a personal union with Denmark, and Oslo's role was reduced to that of provincial administrative centre, with the kings residing in Copenhagen. The fact that the University of Oslo was founded as late as 1811 had an adverse effect on the development of the nation.
- When I was young, the capital of Norway was not called Oslo. It was called Christiania. But somewhere along the line, the Norwegians decided to do away with that pretty name and call it Oslo instead. -- Roald Dahl, Boy.
Oslo was destroyed by fire in 1624, and was rebuilt at a new site across the bay, near Akershus Fortress, by king
Christian IV of Norway and given the name
Christiania . The original name of Oslo was restored in 1925. But long before this, Christiania had started to regain its stature as a centre of commerce and culture in Norway. In 1814 Christiania once more became a real capital when the union with Denmark was dissolved. Many landmarks were built in the 19th century, including the
Royal Palace ,
Stortinget , the
University,
Nationaltheatret and the
Stock Exchange. Among the world-famous artists who lived here during this period were
Henrik Ibsen,
Edvard Munch,
Knut Hamsun and
Sigrid Undset . In 1850, Oslo also overtook
Bergen and became the most populous city in the country.
Oslo's centrality in the political, cultural and economical life of Norway continues to be a source of considerable controversy and friction. Numerous attempts at decentralisation have not appreciably changed this during the last century. While continuing to be the main cause of the depopulation of the Norwegian countryside, any form of development is almost always opposed by neighbors, and as a consequence the growth of a modern urban landscape has all but stopped. Specifically, the construction of
highrises in the city centre has been met with skepticism. It is projected, however, that the city will need some 20,000 additional apartments before 2020, forcing the difficult decision of whether to build tall or the equally unpopular option of sprawling out.
A marked reluctance to encourage the growth of the city for fear of causing further depletion of the traditional farming and fishing communities has led to several successive bursts of construction both in infrastructure and building mass, as the authorities kept waiting in vain for the stream of people to diminish. Neoclassical city apartments built in the 1850s to 1900s dotted with remnants of "Christian Quart"'s renaissance grid dominate the architecture around the city centre, except where slums were demolished in the 1960s to construct modernist concrete and glass lowrises, now generally regarded as embarrassing eyesores. The variety in Oslos architectural cityscape does however provide for some striking, and often hauntingly beautiful sights.
While most of the forests and lakes surrounding Oslo are in private hands, there is great public support for not developing it. Parts of Oslo suffer from congestion, yet it is the only European capital where people live with the wilderness literally in their back yard, or with access to a suburban train line that allows the city's many hikers and long-distance skiers to simply step off the train and start walking or skiing.
The city was once referred to as
Tigerstaden by the author
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson around 1870. This name has over the years achieved an almost official status, to the extent the 1000 year jubilee was celebrated by a row of tiger sculptures around the City Hall. . A harsh picture of the city was drawn by
Knut Hamsun in his novel
Sult from 1890 .
Meaning of place-name
The meaning of the name Oslo has been the subject of much debate. It is certainly derived from
Old Norse, and was in all probability the name of a large farm at the site of the first settlements in Bjørvika.
The last component has been positively identified as the Old Norse word 'ló', meaning 'level meadow' or 'plain'. During the Middle Ages the name was initially spelled 'Ásló', later 'Ósló'. The earlier spelling suggests that the first component 'ás' refers either to the
Ekeberg ridge southeast of the town , or to the Norse homonym meaning 'god' or 'divinity'. The most likely interpretations would therefore be 'the meadow beneath the ridge' or 'the meadow of the gods'. Both are equally plausible.
Main sights
...
- Norsk Folkemuseum, the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History at Bygdøy, with a large open air museum
- The Armed Forces Museum
- The City Hall, where the annual Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held
- The Historical Museum
- The Museum of Modern Art
- The Holmenkollen ski jump, arena of the 1952 Winter Olympics and the Holmenkollen ski festival, Holmenkollen
- The Holmenkollen Ski Museum, Holmenkollen
- The Kon-Tiki Museum, Bygdøy
- The Munch Museum, Tøyen
- The river Akerselva
- The National Gallery
- The Norwegian Maritime Museum, including Gjøa, Bygdøy
- The Fram Museum, exhibiting the ship Fram was a ship [i] used in expeditions in the Arctic [i] and Antarctic [i] regions by the Norwegian [i] ...
, Bygdøy - The Oslo City Museum, at Frogner Manor
- The Royal Palace
- The Henie-Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden in Bærum
- Oslo Cathedral
- The Storting, parliament building
- The Vigeland Park in the Frogner park
- The Viking Ship Museum, displaying ships from Gokstad, Oseberg and Tune at Bygdøy
- Tryvannstårnet
Economy
Oslo is an important centre of maritime knowledge in Europe and is home to approximately 980 companies and 8,500 employees within the maritime sector, among which are some of the world's largest shipping companies, shipbrokers, and insurance brokers. Det Norske Veritas, headquartered at Høvik outside Oslo, is one of the three major maritime classification societies in the world, with 16.5% of the world fleet to class in its register. The city's port is the largest general cargo port in the country and its leading passenger gateway. Close to 6,000 ships dock at the Port of Oslo annually with a total of 6 million tonnes of cargo and over five million passengers.
The
gross domestic product of Oslo totalled NOK268.047 billion in 2003, which amounted to 17% of the national GDP. This compares with NOK165.915 billion in 1995. The metropolitan area, bar
Moss and
Drammen, contributed 25% of the national GDP in 2003 and was also responsible for more than one quarter of tax revenues. In comparison, total tax revenues from the oil and gas industry on the Norwegian Continental Shelf amounted to about 16%. The region has one of the highest
per capita GDPs in Europe, at NOK391,399 in 2003. If Norway were a member of the
European Union, the capital region would have the fourth strongest GDP per capita, behind
Inner London,
Brussels-Capital and
Luxembourg.
Oslo is one of the
most expensive cities in the world.
As of 2006, it is ranked tenth according to the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey provided by Mercer Human Resource Consulting and first according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. The reason for this discrepancy is that the EIU omits certain factors from its final index calculation, most notably housing. Although Oslo does have the most expensive housing market in Norway it is comparably cheaper to other cities on the list in that regard. Meanwhile, prices on goods and services remain some of the highest of any city.
According to a report compiled by Swiss bank UBS in the month of August 2006, Oslo and London were the world's most expensive cities. Total pay packets were the biggest in Oslo along with Copenhagen and Zurich -- but residents of the Nordic cities lose out when tax is taken into account.
Institutions of higher learning
- University of Oslo
- Oslo University College
- Norwegian School of Management
- Norwegian School of Information Technology
- Oslo School of Architecture and Design
- Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education
- Norwegian Academy of Music
- Norwegian Lutheran School of Theology
- Oslo National Academy of the Arts
- Norwegian Military Academy
- Norwegian School of Vetrinary Science
Communications
Air
Oslo Airport, Gardermoen is located in Gardermoen in Ullensaker [i], Norway [i], 48 km north ...
served by high speed train
Sea
There are daily ferry connections to
Kiel ,
Copenhagen ,
Frederikshavn and
Nesodden.
Train
Oslo Sentralstasjon is the main railway station in Oslo. From there, there are connections in the directions of:
Trondheim,
Bergen,
Stavanger,
Stockholm,
Gothenburg and
Copenhagen. In 2004 Norwegian trains were Europe's third most punctual national train company. For the 4 first months in 2005 the punctuality was 92.9%. During winter in particular, weather conditions such as snow and blizzards may cause delays and cancellations on the routes crossing the central mountains.
Public transport
The public transportation system in Oslo is managed by the municipal transport company
Oslo Sporveier. This includes metro,
tram,
bus and
ferry, but not the local train lines, which are run by the state railway company
NSB. All public transport in Oslo operates on a common ticket system, allowing free transfer within a period of one hour with a regular ticket. Tickets also transfer to the local and inter-city trains, unless you intend to cross the city border. In 2004, 160 million journeys were made using public transport, of which 85% was handled by Oslo Sporveier's own subsidiaries and 15% by private bus and ferry operators under cost-based contracts.
Oslo's tram- and metro system is the largest in Europe compared to the number of inhabitants, and Oslo is the smallest city in the world with a comprehensive metro system. The tram system,
Oslotrikken, is made up of six lines that criss-cross the inner parts of the city and extend out towards the suburbs. The metro system, known as the
T-bane, connects the eastern and western suburbs and comprises six lines which all converge in a tunnel beneath downtown Oslo. The metro lines are identified by numbers from 1 to 6, with two lines running into the municipality of
Bærum in the west. The tramway lines are numbered 11 to 13 and 17 to 19.
A new, partially underground loop line was opened in August 2006, connecting Ullevål in the north-west and Carl Berners plass in the east. Two new stations, Nydalen and Storo, have been operational for a couple of years already, the third station, Sinsen, opened August 20 2006. This completed the loop. In conjunction with the opening of the circle line, there will be a major upgrade of the rolling stock, with delivery taking place between 2007 and 2010. An
RFID ticketing system with automatic turnstile barriers will also be introduced.
Administration
The city of Oslo constitutes a county of
Norway. It is governed by a city government based on the principle of
Parliamentarism. The government consists of 6 government members called commissioners , and is appointed by the city council, which is the supreme authority of the city. The council consists of 59 popularly elected representatives.
Following the latest reform of January 1, 2004, the city is divided into 15 that are to a considerable extent self governed.
In addition, there is
the main city centre and
the rural/recreational areas , not having an administration of their own.
Media
The newspapers
Aftenposten is Norway [i]'s second largest newspaper [i] with a circulation of 256,600 copies for th...
,
Verdens Gang,
Dagbladet,
Dagsavisen, Morgenbladet, Vårt Land, Nationen and
Klassekampen are published in Oslo. The main office of the national broadcasting company
NRK is also located at Marienlyst in Oslo, near Majorstuen.
TVNorge and TV3 are also located in Oslo. There are also a healthy variety of specialty publications and smaller media companies.
Sports
Oslo was the host city for the
1952 Winter Olympics. Except for the downhill
skiing at
Norefjell, all events took place within the city limits. The opening and closing ceremonies were held at Bislett stadion, which was also used for the speed skating events. In recent years, the stadium has been better known for hosting the annual
Bislett Games track and field event in the IAAF Golden League. The stadium was rebuilt in 2004/2005 and was formally opened for the Bislett Games on July 29, 2005.
Holmenkollen nordic skiing arena, and its centrepiece the
ski jump, was an important venue during the 1952 Olympics. The arena has hosted numerous nordic skiing and
biathlon world championships since 1930, and its ski jump competition is the second oldest in the world, having been contested since 1892. Holmenkollen has been selected to once again host the
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, in 2011.
During the summer months, the harbour becomes a venue for various maritime events, including the start of a large
sailing regatta that attracts around 1,000 contesting boats each year, and one race of the international Class 1 offshore powerboat racing circuit.
Two
football clubs from Oslo,
Vålerenga and
Lyn, play in the
Norwegian Premier League. In the 2005 season, the teams placed 1st and 3rd respectively. Oslo had two
ice hockey teams in the highest division in the previous season,
Vålerenga Ishockey and Manglerud Star, the former winning the cup and the latter being relegated.
Ullevaal stadion, located in the borough of Nordre Aker, is the home of the Norwegian national football team. Built in 1926, it is the largest football stadium in Norway, and has served as the venue for the Norwegian Cup final since 1948. Both Lyn and Vålerenga use the stadium as their home ground.
Oslo is also home of Norway Cup - a huge football tournament for youth from all over the world.
Historical population
| Year | Population |
|---|
| 1801 | 9,500 |
| 1825 | 15,400 |
| 1855 | 31,700 |
| 1875 | 76,900 |
| 1900 | 227,900 |
| 1925 | 255,700 |
| 1951 | 434,365 |
| 1960 | 471,511 |
| 1970 | 487,363 |
| 1980 | 454,872 |
| 1990 | 458,364 |
| 2000 | 507,467 |
| 2005 | 529,407 |
See also:
Conurbation population
- 1999: 763,957
- 2005: 811,688
- 2006: 825,105
Born in Oslo
See also
External links
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- Local transport information
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- - Forest area for recreation surronding Oslo
- - Islands in the inner Oslofjord for recreation
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