The Naked Statutes in Olso’s Vigelandsparken

It is fitting that after exploring a local sculpture garden on Saturday today’s post is about another sculpture garden, albeit an incredibly famous one across the Atlantic.  Before I headed off to Scandinavia I had done a ton of research and after hearing that Vigeland Park was famous for having more than 200 statues and that they are all naked I had to check it out! Now after studying abroad in Rome between junior and senior year of college I can safely sayI have seen my fair share of naked statues but when I heard that they were all by the same artists I was scratching my head – I think that is a first for me. 

Therefore, when I made it to Oslo on my first full day I biked and then walked through Vigeland Park, which the locals refer to as Vigelandsparken, and saw most of the bronze, granite and wrought iron statues.  Some were large, some were small, some were on pillars and some were worked in the structure of the park but I would say they were all quite interest.  Through my visit I also made sure to stop and smell the flowers that were in full bloom – it was a tremendously gorgeous day. Trip Advisor suggests a two to three hour visit and if it is a nice day, I concur! (Plus it is ranked #1 of 399 things to do in Oslo, aka, you really shouldn’t miss it!) 

I took many more pictures than the dozen featured above but I feel as if you get the picture.  About half way down you saw a very tall obelisk and it is true – despite the whole park being quite a site the most popular attraction is the tallest and sits at the highest point of Vigelandsparken – the monolith that reaches up more than four stories and that is comprised of 121 human figures rising towards the sky which Gustav Vigeland carved out of a single piece of granite.

Would you visit Vigelandsparken in Oslo?