Oslo

Oslo (delivery ↓ʊʂˈlʊ in the dialect osloïte; in the past Christiana , according to the C-W communication Danish E, or Kristiania of 1624 with 1925) is the Capitale of the Norway. With a population of more than 548.617 inhabitants (the Osloïtes ) at January 1st 2007, the city gathers 11,5% of the Norwegian population and constitutes a fylkeskommune (communal district), gathering fifteen bydeler (subdivisions), extending largely around the Fjord from Oslo and towards the North-East.

Origin of the name and nickname

After various speculations, the origin of the name of the city seems to be definitively removed from the tergiversations and certain romantic or older wild imaginings, like that of the geographer and historian Peder Claussøn Friis in 1613. With the the Middle Ages, the name of the city was transcribed Ásló , as well as Ósló , is: “the ground ( ló , in Old norrois, means “clearing” or “strip of land”) of the gods ” ( ás in Vieux norrois or ós into old høgnorsk).

Oslo has as a nickname Tigerstaden (the city of the Tigre), in reference to the criticism which made him the author and polemist Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in its poem of 1870 Siste Sang ( Dernier Song ), reproaching the town of for avoiding variable colors according to the context socio-policy (the country was then under the Swedish yoke and pained with launching its Cultural revolution, identity and independence). However, Osloïtes contemporaries consider this nickname flattering, symbol of their great capacity of reception of the immigrants and integration of their culture. At the time of the Jubilee of the year 2000, a statue representing a tiger was placed on the Place Fridtjof Nansen (on the northern side of the town hall), a larger bronze of the same symbol on the Jernbanetorget (Place of the Station), as well as others, in various places of the capital, in particular with Furuset , district where live many immigrant, primarily of the Pakistan, Vietnam and Morocco (by decreasing order of importance of the quoted communities).

History

According to the Scandinavian sagaer , Oslo was founded in the neighborhoods of the year 1048 by the king Harald III. Recent archaeological excavations put at the day of the Christian tombs former to the year 1000, which proves that a community had been already established previously on the site. What tends to confirm the traditional attribution of its foundation with Olav Tryggvason on this date and justified the celebration of the millenium of Oslo in 2000.

Oslo affirmed its role of Capitale starting from the reign of Håkon V Magnusson (1299 - 1319), which there established its permanent residence and started the construction of the citadel of Akershus. One century later, Norway passed under Danish domination , and Oslo was reduced to the row of simple chief town of province, while the king in title resided at Copenhagen. The fact that the Université of Oslo saw the day only in 1811 watch at which point the city was then erased walk of the Histoire.

Oslo was destroyed by a fire in 1624, then rebuilt by the king Christian IV on a new site on other side of the handle of Bjørvika , close to the Citadelle of Akershus. In the honor of the king, the city was renamed Christiania (spelled Kristiania at the end of the 19th century, according to the Norwegian standards) and its old name only by decision of the commune on January 1st 1925 will find.

Meanwhile, Christiania could start to regain its statute of commercial center and Culture L of the Norway. It became again true a Capitale in 1814 when the union with the Denmark ended. The 19th century saw the construction of many buildings symbolic systems, like the Palais Royal ( Det Kongelige Slott , 1848), the Parliament (or Storting and , 1866), the Université of Oslo (UiO: Universitetet I Oslo ), the National theater ( Nationaltheatret ) and the Stock Exchange ( Oslo Børs ). It is however necessary to await the end of the 20th century for the country obtains true a national library ( Nasjonalbiblioteket ), whose administrative centers are Oslo and Mo I Rana. Attended by Art ists of international repute like Henrik Ibsen, Edvard Munch, Knut Hamsun and Sigrid Undset (Nobel Prize of literature), Christiania also knew a golden age Culture L.

Oslo accommodated the {{Romanian|VI|6}} {{E}} Winter Olympics in 1952, thus devoting its statute of big city of the western world. In May 1995, the Accords of Oslo ( Osloavtalen ) were signed by Shimon Peres (then Foreign Minister of Israel and PLO carried out by Yasser Arafat, under the aegis of the the United States, as well as the mediation and the attentive glance of the Norske Nobelkomité (Comité Nobel of Norway).

Geography

Oslo occupies the territory being located at the septentrional limit of the Fjord bearing its name. In all the other directions, the city is surrounded by green hills. The surroundings count forty islands, of which most important is Malmøya (“the Island of iron”) (0,56 km ²), as not less than 343 Lac S. The latter constitute an important source of drinking water for all the west of the city. The rate of variation of the population is of 0,76%.

The highest point is the hill Kjerkeberget (“the Mountain of the church”), with 629 meters. Although the surface covered by the city is remarkably vast compared to the other European metropolises , the population osloïte remains weak: the municipal territory includes/understands many parks and opened spaces, giving him a ventilated and green aspect

Although the majority of the Forest S and the Lac S surrounding Oslo are held by private owners (without damage with the principle of old right of the allmennsrett , i.e. the free access with the grounds for all, whatever their owner, on the condition of respecting fauna and flora), there exists a broad popular consensus aiming at their conservation, even if it means going against the urban development. Many districts of Oslo suffer consequently from congestion, relative scarcity and generally high costs of lease or purchase of the residences (according to the statistics of 2006, Oslo is the third most expensive city in the world, after Tōkyō and Ōsaka), which is compensated by the single framework of life offered to the townsmen, with a quasi immediate access to the wild Nature, in particular in north with Nordmarka (the forest of north), a forest whose largest lakes are Bogstadvannet , Sognsvann and Maridalsvannet : no green area or forest is distant of more than ten minutes to foot of its door, and Frognerseteren , near to the winter sports resort of Tryvann is at 30 minutes in the subway of Majorstua (close to the Vigeland Park) and at 40 minutes of the Storting (in full downtown area), change of line included/understood.

The peninsula of Bygdøy (south-western of Oslo), very residential, is very appreciated of Osloïtes, in particular for its calm, its small streets, one of three the principal nautical ones of the city and the richness of its various museums.

Climate

The climate of Oslo (and the south of Norway in general) has not been rigorous, especially for three years.

The winters in Oslo are relatively cold. The temperature goes down in general to the lower part from zero from November at March. January is the coldest month with an average temperature of -4,3°C, and one reaches minimal temperatures of approximately -7°C in January and February.

The record of cold in Olso was reached in February 1871 with a temperature of -27,9°C.

The snowfalls are distributed equitably over the winter months and one counts on average more than 25 cm of snow 30 days per annum. Annual precipitations are of 763 mm, with winters drier than the summers (June and July being particularly sunny.

But the Climate warming does not certainly save Norway and, since 2004, the winters less and less gave snow to Oslo, so much so that the period of Christmas ( juletida ) of 2004, 2005 and 2006 failed well not to be “white”. In December 2005, it snowed only three days before Christmas.

Administration

The town of Oslo constitutes a Norwegian county ( fylke ) equipped with an operation which is clean for him, with a statute different from the others fylker from the country: the government of the city ( Norwegian Byråd in ), founded on parliamentarism, is entrusted to six police chiefs (the byråder ) named by the municipal council. This last, composed of 59 members elected by the inhabitants, remains nevertheless the supreme authority of the city and control the activity of the police chiefs.

The town hall, the Rådhus , is on the port and was built at the beginning of the century, for the 900 years of the city.

Since the last reform coming into effect on January 1st 2004, the city is in addition divided into 15 “boroughs”, or districts ( bydeler ), equipped with an high degree of autonomy, with the image of strong the Décentralisation which characterizes Norway.

Of 1995 with 2007, the president of the Community of Oslo was Per Ditlev-Simonsen (conservative party H), the executive load of the town hall being ensured by the burgomaster Erling Lae, of the same party. Constrained to resign following an accounting scandal in August 2007, Ditlev-Simonsen is replaced by Svenn Kristiansen, of the Fremskrittspartiet.

Tourism

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