Oslo: The Land of Peace makers

History is full of contradictions. Consider this. The middle east is home to not one but three of the world's main religions , each of them espousing the cause of peace in the world but now it is one of the most chaotic regions in the world. On the other hand Scandinavia was home to some of the most barbaric tribes in the world who looted and plundered the civilized world. But look at it now, each country is a beacon for human rights and stands for peaceful existence! If Scandinavia is the abode of peace then surely Norway and indeed its capital city Oslo has a prime place. Oslo in fact is the place where the Nobel peace price is adjudged and given and can rightfully claim to be the city of peace makers. Oslo then was my next stop.

October 17, 2009, Saturday

The bus screeched to a halt at the Oslo Bus terminal as the driver excitedly gesticulated that we had reached our destination. It was five-thirty in the morning and it was terribly cold outside. I quickly rushed indoors into the warm clinch of the terminal. It must have been near to day break i thought but outside it looked the Sun would take a bit longer. And finally the Sun came out slowly at eight as if even he too was wary of the cold he was stepping into.

With the arrival of morning we started our way to explore the city. As we stepped outside the bus terminal what surprised us were two enormous sky scrapers that leapt to the sky. They were the twin towers of the SAS Raddison hotel. They were mighty tall by European standards and showed that Oslo unlike Copenhagen and Berlin will offer more modern buildings.The tourist information center was just outside the central station and it was housed in a beautiful tall structure which was truly unique. As we exited it armed with city maps we felt the adrenaline rush that usually accompanies such trips.


First stop on the trip was at the Oslo Opera. Operas are such an important part of any European city, every city here seems to have one. The Oslo opera was a newly built white edifice with sharp lines marking the edges. the design was nothing i had seen before as it instantly caught the gaze of the viewer. The backwater on whose shore it stood glistened with its shadow. Then we headed to the Oslo cathedral which stood at the start of the main street in Oslo called the 'Karl Johans Gate'. The cathedral true to its Scandinavian roots had a magnificent very tall spire which leapt into the air and stood head and shoulders above the nearby buildings. It reminded one of the medieval times where it was prohibited by law to build buildings taller than churches and cathedral which is the reason why most European cities are 'flat'.


Then we started to walk down the Karl Johans gate and entered the heart of the city. Europe through its Streets is simply fascinating.Streets in Europe not only serve a utilitarian purpose, they are canvases on which layer upon layer of history and culture are painted. Hence any city in Europe has a main street which represents its distinct History. Be it the famed Champs Elysee in Paris or the Stroget in Copenhagen or the Karl Johans Gate , they tell the story of their cities if only you are patient enough to listen.

As i walked down the street numerous facets of the city came into view. Modern coffee shops sat side by side to ancient markets, Shopping districts selling the most expensive goods abutted grand churches. A little further down the road we came across the Oslo parliament building. It was a pretty strange place to have a parliament i thought as it was right in center of the main shopping district. The building itself was magnificent as its stone edifice represented the power it embodied within. Adjacent to the Parliament was the famous Grand hotel which is famous as the place where all Nobel peace prize laureates lodge when they are in the city to collect their prize. A wave from its famed balcony is more or less a ritual performed by every winner they say. Come December and we will see President Obama atop that balcony!

Further down the street you have the beautiful Norwegian national theatre which hosted and continues to host some of the greatest plays ever written. Opposite to it stood a neo-classical building with beautiful carvings of Greek mythology. it turned out to be the Oslo University whose sprawling campus lay behind the building. Its a oft repeated theme in Europe , all buildings of culture and knowledge tend to have Greek architecture. Greek still represents high-art and knowledge it seems.


The Karl Johans gate finally ended at the footsteps of the beautiful Norwegian Royal palace. The Palace was not unlike the other palaces i had seen but seemed to look a bit smaller compared to the others. However what it lost out in stature it more than made up in ambiance. It was housed in a most magnificent green expanse that sprawled to all sides. What more this Garden was the address of most of the foreign embassies in Oslo. The trees in the garden cast a golden shade on us as their leaves had turned golden due to the coming of autumn.

Although Alfred Nobel was Swedish, at the time of his death Norway and Sweden were still united. As he bequeathed his wealth in the form of the Nobel prize they continued to be held simultaneously in Stockholm and in Oslo. While Stockholm gave out all the prizes the very important peace prize was given out by Oslo as Norway was considered to be more impartial than Sweden. This is one of the main reasons Oslo and indeed Norway has come to be regarded as an important place which houses the legacy of peace. This legacy of peace is further propagated by Norway by convening important peace treaties and mediating as an interlocutor in conflict ridden countries of the world such as Sri Lanka. Nobel's legacy as well as the supreme efforts put in by Norway in the way of peace has given Norway the right to be called the land of peace makers.

The Nobel Peace center is one of the most visited sites in Oslo and we headed their next. The center is quite new as it was inaugurated in 2008 and it is housed in a former railway station. The White colored building is apt for the setting as it welcomes visitors with open arms. The ground floor was dedicated to this year's winner Barack Obama. It had a host of interactive media which covered his upbringing , his speeches and other important milestones in his life. The exhibition was titled 'From King to Obama' and as the title suggests the exhibition looked at Obama as the logical conclusion of what Martin Luther King started four decades ago. However the exhibition could still not convince me that Obama deserved the peace prize. The decision has come in for much criticism and rightly so however we should not go overboard and ridicule the institution of the Nobel peace prize as the world of ours is in need of strong and honest institutions and the Nobel peace prize could be one of them.



The second floor of the peace center was dedicated to last year's winner Martti Ahtisaari. The top most floor was the one that caught my attention. It was a dark room with small portraits of past Nobel prize winners suspended on electronic poles. Each portrait gave information of the awardee and his or her achievements and the year of their winning it. The whole setting had a blessed aura to it as i felt i was standing in a place of pilgrimage with saints all around.

As we exited the Nobel Peace center, the twin towers of the City town hall with its distinct clock came into view. It was no ordinary town hall, it is the venue for the Nobel peace prize distribution ceremony. The building was beautifully constructed and it overlooked the harbour and seemed to welcome visitors from far of lands. Numerous Nobel awardees must have been in that building i thought.

As we exited Nobel's land we took the cruise and went to the island Bygdoy which houses most of the city's museums. The Fram museum was our first stop there as it featured a ship used by intrepid adventurers who tried to reach the South and North poles. One such traveller was a Norwegian Amundsen who was the first man to reach the South pole. Norwegians are proud of their prowess of the seas and are especially proud of their ancestors - the Vikings - who travelled far of lands using their ships and were trend setters for the rest of Europe. A special museum called the 'Viking Museum' is dedicated to them which contains some really old viking ships , one of them from the tenth century which were probably the first of their king built anywhere in Europe.

Last stop on our tour was the single biggest attraction of Oslo - the Vigeland Sculpture park. This eponymous park was named after Gustav Vigeland contains more than 200 statues representing the various stages of human life. Here the sculptures illustrate aspects of human daily life like joy, sorrow, anger etc and human relationships as seen by the sculptures. A 50 feet tall monolith of 121 human figures is the center piece of the park which in the setting sun looked truly beautiful and one almost got into a philosophical mode looking at it.

With the setting of the sun we had finished our tour of Oslo. A small city with big ideals and an attitude to match those ideals. As often with other tours I take back not something material for the material thing fades off like the dew on a sunny morning. Instead i take back things of the mind that will remain long after the sun has set.