Eidsvolls plass ("Eidsvoll Square") is a square and park in

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 ...

, located west of the

Parliament of Norway Building The Storting building ( no, Stortingsbygningen) is the seat of the Storting, the parliament of Norway. The building is located at 22 Karl Johans gate in central Oslo, Norway. It was taken into use on 5 March 1866 and was designed by the Swedish ...

, south of

Karl Johans gate Karl Johans gate is the main street of the city of Oslo, Norway. The street was named in honor of King Charles III John, who was also King of Sweden as Charles XIV John. Karl Johans gate is a composite of several older streets that used to be s ...

and east of Studenterlunden and the National Theatre. It has been referred to as "the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institut ...

of Norway".

History

Early history

It was originally a marshy place, but became a park around the same time as buildings were raised in the street

, and the street Stortingsgata was built in the south, cutting across the marsh. It was preserved as a park because house owners in Karl Johans gate did not want tall buildings on the other side of the street. In 1864, around the time the

was under construction, the park was given its current name, inspired by

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information E ...

where the

Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , b ...

was drafted and signed by the

Norwegian Constituent Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly (in Norwegian ''Grunnlovsforsamlingen'', also known as ''Riksforsamlingen'') is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised th ...

Event of 1881

A statue of

Henrik Wergeland Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland (17 June 1808 – 12 July 1845) was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist. He is often described as a leading pioneer in the develop ...

, sculpted by

Brynjulf Bergslien Brynjulf Larsen Bergslien (12 November 1830 – 19 September 1898) was a noted Norwegian sculptor. Background Bergslien was born in Voss in Hordaland county, Norway. He was a son of Lars Bergeson Bergslien and Kirsten Knutsdotter Gjelle. He was ...

, was raised here in 1881. It was unveiled on 17 May 1881,

Norwegian Constitution Day Constitution Day is the national day of Norway and is an official public holiday observed on 17 May each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to as ''Syttende Mai'' ("Seventeenth of May"), ''Nasjonaldagen'' ("National Day"), or ''Grunnlo ...

, in a highly politicized atmosphere with a speech by

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

. For many years Wergeland had been portrayed as a wordsmith first and foremost, especially by his first biographer (1866)

Hartvig Lassen Hartvig Marcus Lassen (9 August 1824 – 9 August 1897) was a Norwegian editor, educator and literary historian. Personal life He was born in Bergen, Norway as a son of police chief and burgomaster Albert Lassen (1783–1860) and his wife Abigael ...

, but on the other hand, liberals such as Olaf Skavlan and

Erik Vullum Erik Vullum (29 December 1850 – 14 March 1916) was a Norwegian journalist, writer and politician for the Liberal Party. Personal life He was born in Lund as a son of vicar Olaus Vullum (1812–1852) and his wife Ingeborg Krogness (1825–1926) ...

saw Wergeland as a political character, a forerunner within their own ideology. Political conservatives staunchly opposed that Bjørnson be holding the speech, and submitted other candidates, but were subdued. They had already provoked the liberals in 1880, when a statue of

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian monar ...

was unveiled at

Stortorvet Stortorvet ('The Grand Plaza') is a square in Oslo, Norway, located west of Oslo Cathedral. Background It was officially inaugurated during the autarchic times, in 1736. A town market was held here until 1889. Marketing still exists, but has lar ...

. The speech was thus held by Bjørnson, and attended by 50,000 people. This crowd included at least 2,000 countryfolk, from Østerdal and elsewhere, and became a contribution to the liberals' nation-building project. Other statues, including one of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, are found in the vicinity. Because of its density of national symbols, Sigurd Aa. Aarnes has referred to Eidsvolls plass as "the

of Norway".

Later history

In 1956, a plan by architect

Arnstein Arneberg Arnstein Rynning Arneberg (6 July 1882 – 9 June 1961) was a Norwegian architect. He was active professionally for 50 years and is often considered the leading architect in Norway of his time. Personal life Arnstein Rynning Arneberg was b ...

was set into motion, creating a decorative pool of water at Eidsvolls plass. Funded by the company

Christiania Spigerverk Christiania Spigerverk is a steel company which was founded in Oslo in 1853 and developed into one of the largest industrial companies in Norway. In 1972 Christiania Spigerverk combined with Elkem, to become Elkem Spigerverket. It was sold to ...

(''spikerverk'' means "nail factory"), it was humorously nicknamed ''Spikersuppa'' (" nail soup"). The pool has a fountain in the middle, and since 1958 a group of trees as well as a statue of

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

in the west. The pool was enlarged by 25% in 1976, and since 1994 it is used as a skating rink during the winter.

Transportation

The square is served by Wessels plass station on 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 ...

, Stortinget station on the

Oslo Metro The Oslo Metro ( no, Oslo T-bane or or simply ) is the rapid transit system of Oslo, Norway, operated by Sporveien T-banen on contract from the transit authority Ruter. The network consists of five lines that all run through the city centre, wit ...

as well as an eponymous bus station.

References

{{Coord, 59.9133, 10.7390, type:landmark_region:NO, display=title Squares in Oslo Parks in Oslo