Polhøgda is the home of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. It was originally built as the private home of Norwegian explorer

Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and co-founded the ...

. The manor home's architecture is Roman Revival, and the former estate lies between

Lysaker Lysaker is an area in Bærum Municipality, Akershus County, Norway. Lysaker is the easternmost part of Bærum and borders Oslo proper. Lysaker was initially a farming community, later becoming a residential area. Today it is primarily known as ...

and Fornebu in

Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Use by Fridtjof Nansen

The property originally belonged to Fornebu farm, but was separated from the farm in 1897. Construction on the property took place in 1900 and 1901. It was the home of

and Eva Nansen from 1901, and was named ''Polhøiden'' in the day. Their son Odd Nansen was born and grew up here. The building was designed by architect Hjalmar Welhaven, in cooperation with Fridtjof Nansen. Welhaven was Eva Nansen's first cousin. The architectural style is Neo-Roman. The home was an important location of social life for a group of artists and intellectuals collectively known as ''Lysakerkretsen''. The Nansen couple had lived at ''Godthaab'' near Lysaker since 1889, and was joined by people such as painters

Eilif Peterssen Hjalmar Eilif Emanuel Peterssen (4 September 1852 – 29 December 1928) was a Norwegian painter. He is most commonly associated with his landscapes and portraits. He gained early recognition for the history painting ''Christian II signing t ...

in 1894, Erik Werenskiold in 1895 and

Gerhard Munthe Gerhard Peter Frantz Munthe (19 July 1849 in Elverum (town), Elverum, Hedmark – 15 January 1929 in Lysaker, Bærum Municipality, Bærum) was a Norwegian painter and illustrator. Background Munthe was born in Elverum (town), Elverum to physicia ...

in 1899. Erik Werenskiold designed the interior of the dining room at Polhøgda. In addition, many people who lived elsewhere frequented the area near Lysaker; including Gerhard Gran, Andreas Aubert, Hans E. Kinck, Thorvald Lammers, Ernst Sars,

Georg Ossian Sars Prof Georg Ossian Sars HFRSE (20 April 1837 – 9 April 1927) was a Norway, Norwegian marine biology, marine and freshwater biology, freshwater biologist. Life Georg Ossian Sars was born on 20 April 1837 in Kinn (former municipality), Kinn, No ...

and Moltke Moe. Eva Nansen held concerts here.

Later use

After the death of Fridtjof Nansen in 1930, he was buried at the property. It was sold for a nominal fee from his heirs to a group of donators, who in turn gave the property to the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

. Their conditions included that the building should be preserved, and not be used as a museum. It was later owned by the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...

, and from 1947 the Norwegian Geographical Society. In 1948 the Geographical Society created a foundation to administer the property; the foundation was named from 1958. It currently hosts the research foundation Fridtjof Nansen Institute.

Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polhogda Buildings and structures in Bærum Houses completed in 1901 1901 establishments in Norway