![Utøya 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Ut%C3%B8ya_3.JPG)
Utøya () is an island in the
Tyrifjorden
Tyrifjorden (Lake Tyri) is a lake in Norway. It lies northwest of Oslo and is the nation's fifth largest lake with an area of 139 km2. It has a volume of 13 km3, is 295 meters deep at its deepest, and lies 63 meters above sea level. T ...
lake in
Hole
A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...
municipality, in the county of
Viken
Viken may refer to:
*Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region
*Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020
*Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden
*Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the part of the Göta cana ...
,
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 ...
. The island is , situated off the shore, by the
E16 road, about driving distance south of
Hønefoss
__NOTOC__
Hønefoss is a town and the administrative center of the municipality of Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Hønefoss is an industrial center of inner Østlandet, containing several factories and other industry. As of 1 January 2008, ...
, and northwest 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 ...
city centre.
Overview
![Utøya 2017-07-09-5734](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Ut%C3%B8ya_2017-07-09-5734.jpg)
Utøya is owned by the
Workers' Youth League (''AUF''), a youth group associated with the
Labour Party, which holds an annual summer camp there.
The island is operated commercially by Utøya AS.
The island is largely forested, with some open spaces. A small pier on the east side of the island is used to ferry people to and from
Utøykaia on the mainland. There are also permanent buildings. ''Hovedhuset'' ("The Main House"), ''Stabburet'' ("The
Hórreo
An ''hórreo'' is a typical granary from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Asturias, Galicia, where it might be called a Galician granary, and Northern Portugal), built in wood or stone, raised from the ground (to keep rodents out) by pi ...
"), and ''Låven'' ("The Barn") are located together near the dock. Up on the hillside (''LO-toppen'') are the main campgrounds, the cafeteria building, and the sanitary building. ''Skolestua'' ("The school house") is located further south.
The name
The first element ''ut'' means 'out', or 'outermost'; the last element ''øya'' is the
definite
In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those which are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical d ...
form of ''øy'', meaning 'island'. Utøya is the southernmost (or farthest "out") island of three which lie in the lake of
Tyrifjorden
Tyrifjorden (Lake Tyri) is a lake in Norway. It lies northwest of Oslo and is the nation's fifth largest lake with an area of 139 km2. It has a volume of 13 km3, is 295 meters deep at its deepest, and lies 63 meters above sea level. T ...
. The name is used in reference to its position in relation to two other islands (lying north of Utøya), ''
Storøya'' (Big Isle) and ''Geitøya'' (Goat Isle). Storøya is the northernmost, and Geitøya lies between Utøya and Storøya. All of these islands were formerly used for
herding
Herding is the act of bringing individual animals together into a group (herd), maintaining the group, and moving the group from place to place—or any combination of those. Herding can refer either to the process of animals forming herds in ...
(as is shown in the meaning of Geitøya) by the people at
Sundvollen
Sundvollen is a village in the municipality of Hole, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. Sundvollen is located along the east side of Tyrifjorden where the E16 crosses west over Steinsfjorden, the northeastern arm of Tyrifjorden, to Kroksund. ...
. Utøya is quite clearly connected to the name of
Utvika on the shoreside.
History
The island was a
croft
Croft may refer to:
Occupations
* Croft (land), a small area of land, often with a crofter's dwelling
* Crofting, small-scale food production
* Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, also called a croft
Locations In the Uni ...
until purchased by the politician
Jens Bratlie
Jens Kristian Meinich Bratlie (17 January 1856 – 15 September 1939) was a Norwegian attorney and military officer. He served as an elected official representing the Conservative Party. He was the 13th prime minister of Norway from 1912 to 1913.
...
in 1893. Bratlie used the property as a summer residence until 1933 when it was purchased by the
Trade Union Confederation.
The island was given as a commemorative gift by the
Oslo Trade Union Confederation
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 ...
on 28 August 1950, and it has hosted several political organizations' summer camps.
2011 massacre
On 22 July 2011, a mass shooting took place at the
AUF's summer youth camp, where 650 young people were staying.
Anders Behring Breivik
Fjotolf Hansen (born 13 February 1979), better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik () and by his pseudonym Andrew Berwick, is a Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist, known for committing the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July 2011. On ...
arrived alone on Utøya dressed as a police officer and told those on the island that he was there for security reasons following the explosions in Oslo which took place a few hours before. He then began shooting at individuals, continuing until the police arrived one hour after the first alarm call. The suspect immediately surrendered. Combined, the attacks in Oslo and Utøya left 77 dead, with 69 killed on the island, 33 of whom were under the age of 18.
After the massacre
According to the island's manager (as of 2016), Jørgen Frydnes, "Rapidly it became clear, that ...
he bereavedeeded more time.
onstruction work, orThe construction was put on hold for two years".
After the attack, several donations were given to AUF for the restoration of the island. Some of the buildings would be demolished, including parts of the cafeteria building where 13 people had been killed. Some of the buildings had been demolished, as of 2016.
With some disagreement having been bridged (as of 2016), the future of Utøya has been a source of disagreements among the victims of the attacks and their families. While the AUF planned to rapidly rebuild and return to Utøya, others wanted to leave the island as a memorial to the dead.
The massacre at Utøya remains the deadliest mass shooting worldwide committed by a single perpetrator.
Places and buildings
Bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
s on the island's coastline include Bolsjevika.
There are paths including Kjærlighetsstien (
overs' lane orthe love path").
A hill – "used by discussion
roups leads to
barn, according to its name,''Arbeidsmiljølåven''.
Other buildings are "the café building" and the pump house.
,
the hill""Bakken" is used by the audience for speeches.
Memorial place
![Utøya - minnesmerket (32941587931)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Ut%C3%B8ya_-_minnesmerket_%2832941587931%29.jpg)
The place of memorial is called
the clearing"''Lysninga'';"it lies at the highest point of the island". It was unveiled during the summer of 2015.
Components of the memorial place include
the ring""Ringen" – a "ring of steel
hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
hangs between trees and here the names and age
of the majority of those 69 killed are engraved".
"The ring" weighs one (metric-) ton; one part of it weighs 350 kilograms.
Alice Greenwald
Alice M. Greenwald is the current President and Chief Executive Officer of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum since January 2017. Greenwald was previously Director of the Memorial Museum/Executive and Vice President for Exhibitions, Coll ...
gave advice about leaving some space on "the ring", so that some of the bereaved can later change their mind – so that their deceased relative's name is permitted to be engraved on "the ring".
''Hegnhuset'' ("safeguard house")
![Utøya Norway Trip 2012 (8124945824)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Ut%C3%B8ya_Norway_Trip_2012_%288124945824%29.jpg)
''Hegnhuset'' – consists of "Parts of the café building (''kafébygget '') ..., where 13 people were killed ...,
hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
have been preserved (as of 2016); around- and under the café building – a
learning center"''læringssenter''" has been created;
69 columns support the roof,
inside the glass walls (of the exterior of the building).
495 "safeguarding" planks – positioned vertical in the ground – enclose the building; with space – ''
svalgang'' – between the planks and the building.
"The house will protect the memory of the 69 who were killed at Utøya", wrote the father of one of the massacre's survivors in a newspaper article.
The building has been named Hegnhuset – "a place that shall safeguard (''hegne'') democracy". A synonym of ''hegn'' is the imperative form of the verb "safeguard"; therefore ''Hegnhuset'' can mean "safeguard house" (with the determinate conjugation of "house").
Inside the café building, preserved (as of 2016) are bullet holes in walls, "the open windows where several youths jumped out to escape" the murderer; an old chart (that was there in 2011) that says "you must know the past, to understand the present and peer into the future", and pictures of dead victims; at least one heart-shaped stone, with the inscription "Missing you
ingular, lies on the floor.
In ''lillesalen'' ("the small hall") there is a piano; one was there during the crime. Court testimony has indicated that persons hiding behind the piano on 22 July 2011 were shot.
In 2016,
Oliver Wainwright
Oliver Wainwright (born July 1984) is a British architecture and design critic. He has written for the British newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Times'' and is the Features Editor for the industry magazine ''Building Design''. He trained an ...
named it one of the "top 10 buildings of 2016", adding that "the Hegnhuset on the island of Utøya makes a simple, powerful record of an event that shook the very foundations of Norway's national identity. The cafe building, where Anders Breivik murdered ... before killing a further 50 on the island, has been retained as a stark relic, its walls sliced with
Matta-Clark rawness, and encased in a simple timber and glass pavilion".
References
External links
utoya.no – The campsite Utøyautoya.no – The history of Utøya(in Norwegian and in English at the bottom of the page)
Utøya AS(
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
archives)
Arbeidernes ungdomsfylking website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Utoya
Lake islands of Europe
Islands of Viken (county)
Labour Party (Norway)
Private islands of Europe
2011 Norway attacks
Hole, Norway