Birkelunden (lit. 'The Birch Grove') is a

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

placed centrally in the

Grünerløkka Grünerløkka is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. Grünerløkka became part of the city of Oslo (then Christiania) in 1858. Grünerløkka was traditionally a working class district; however, since the late 20th century the area has increasi ...

borough of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It is formed as a

rectangle In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a parallelogram containi ...

, more or less like a city block.

History

The area belonged to the municipality of Aker until 1858, when it was incorporated into Christiania (Oslo). It was made into a park on

Thorvald Meyer Thorvald Meyer (23 September 1818 – 3 February 1909) was a Norwegian businessman and philanthropist. He was a wholesaler, retailer and shipowner as well as a land owner and developer. Biography Meyer was born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norwa ...

's orders in the 1860s. Having developed the neighborhood Grünerløkka, Meyer gave the park Birkelunden to the municipality in 1882. It received major renovations between 1916 and 1920 and 1984 and 1986. In 1920 it was the intention to create a children's playground as well as a small ice rink. A music pavilion was added in 1926, and a small pool added between 1927 and 1928. The park also has several monuments, including a monument to Norwegian volunteers in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. Other major parks in the area are

Olaf Ryes plass Olaf Ryes plass (lit. "Olaf Rye's Square") is a square and park placed centrally in the Grünerløkka borough of Oslo, Norway. It is more or less square in shape. History The area belonged to the municipality of Aker, Norway, Aker until 1858, whe ...

, Sofienberg Park, and

Tøyen Park Tøyen Park ( no, Tøyenparken) is a park in Oslo, Norway. It is located to the north-east of the Munch Museum and neighbours the University of Oslo Botanical Gardens. Tøyen Park is an expanse of grass-covered hills, dotted with clusters of l ...

The park is surrounded by four streets, and housing three and four storeys tall, mostly built in the 1870s and 1880s. Grünerløkka School adjacent to the park was taken into use in 1895, and on the opposite side of the park is found Paulus Church from 1892. Birkelunden, Paulus kirke (7

In 2006 the park, school, church and fifteen blocks in the surrounding urban area was put under strict regulations, prohibiting any visible changes to the city environment. According to the

Norwegian Ministry of the Environment The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment (Norwegian: Klima- og miljødepartementet) is a Norwegian ministry established on May 8, 1972. The Ministry of Climate and Environment has a particular responsibility for carrying out the cli ...

, it was the first "preservation of a cultural hysical/nowiki> environment in a city"; earlier the cultural environments Havråtunet, Sogndalsstrand,

Utstein Abbey Utstein may refer to: Places * Utstein Abbey, a historic abbey in Rennesøy, Norway *Utstein Church, a historic church in Rennesøy, Norway Other *, a submarine in the Royal Norwegian Navy *Utstein Style The Utstein Style is a set of guidelines fo ...

, Neiden and Kongsberg Silver Works had been preserved.

Transport

Birkelunden has a

light rail station A tram stop, tram station, streetcar stop, or light rail station is a place designated for a tram, streetcar, or light rail vehicle to stop so passengers can board or alight it. Generally, tram stops share most characteristics of bus stops, b ...

on the Grünerløkka–Torshov Line of the

Oslo Tramway The Oslo tram network ( no, Trikken i Oslo, short from ', 'electric') is the tram system in Oslo, Norway. It consists of six lines with 99 stops and has a daily ridership of 132,000. It is operated by , a subsidiary of the municipally-owned who ...

. It is served by lines 11, 12 and 18. The park is also served by line 30 of

Ruter Ruter AS is the public transport authority for Oslo and Akershus counties in Norway. Formally a limited company – 60% of its shares are owned by the Oslo county municipality and 40% by that of Akershus – it is responsible for the administra ...

's bus network.

References

{{Coord, 59, 55, 35, N, 10, 45, 36, E, region:NO-05_type:landmark, display=title Parks in Oslo Grünerløkka