Oslo Tourist Information

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Oslo Tourist Information

"Oslo

Oslo is the capital and largest city of Norway. It is also a municipality and a county of its own. It is the third-largest Scandinavian city, after Copenhagen and Stockholm, and it forms the third-largest urban area in the region, also after Copenhagen and Stockholm.

The city of Oslo was established as a municipality on 3 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It was separated from the county of Akershus as a county of its own in 1842. The rural municipality of Aker was merged with Oslo on 1 January 1948 (and then transferred from Akershus county to Oslo county). Furthermore, Oslo shares several important functions with Akershus county.

Oslo's share of the national GDP is 17%; the metropolitan area's share is 25%. Oslo is one of the most expensive cities in the world.

The urban area and the city region

The population of the municipality of Oslo is 568,809 (as of 1 July 2008). The urban area extends beyond the boundaries of the municipality into the surrounding county of Akershus, (muncipallities of Bærum, Asker, Røyken, Skedsmo, Sørum, Oppegård) its agglomeration totaling 856,915. The metropolitan area of Oslo, also referred to as the Greater Oslo Region (Stor-Osloregionen), has a land area of 6,920 km2 (2,670 sq mi) and, in 2005, an estimated population of 1,121,020. In the entire Inner Oslo Fjord Region, there is a total population of about 1.3 million. About 50% of the population of Norway lives within a radius of 120 kilometres (75 mi) of downtown Oslo. The city of Oslo has a current annual growth exceeding 10,000, which makes it one of the fastest growing cities in Europe.
Urban area of Oslo in 2005 by light green colour. Grey indicate CBD areas.

The city centre of Oslo is situated at the end of the Oslofjord from where the city sprawls out both to the north and to the south on both sides of the fjord giving the city area more or less the shape of a "U". To the north and east wide forested hills ('Marka') rise above the city giving the location the shape of giant amphitheatre.

The urban municipality (bykommune) of Oslo and county (fylke) is the same entity, making Oslo the only city in Norway where two administrative levels are integrated. Of Oslo's total area, 115 km2 (44 sq mi) is built-up and 7 km2 (2.7 sq mi) is agricultural. The open areas within the built-up zone amount to 22 km2 (8.5 sq mi).

Name

The meaning of the name Oslo has been the subject of much debate. It is certainly derived from Old Norse, and was in all probability the name of a large farm at the site of the first settlements in Bjørvika.

During the Middle Ages the name was initially spelled 'Ásló', later 'Ósló'. The earlier spelling suggests that the first component 'ás' refers either to the Ekeberg ridge southeast of the town ('ås' in modern Norwegian), or to the Norse homonym meaning 'god' or 'divinity'. The most likely interpretations would therefore be 'the meadow beneath the ridge' or 'the meadow of the gods'. Both are equally plausible.

A fire in 1624 destroyed much of the medieval city (the section now known as Gamlebyen), and the city was relocated nearer to the Akershus Fortress. King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway renamed the reborn city Christiania. From the end of the 19th century, the name of the city was also spelled "Kristiania". An official decision was never made, so both forms were in use. The original name of Oslo was restored by a law of 11 July 1924, effective 1 January 1925.

When I was young, the capital of Norway was not called Oslo. It was called Kristiania. But somewhere along the line, the Norwegians decided to do away with that pretty name and call it Oslo instead. -- Roald Dahl, Boy

The city was once referred to as Tigerstaden (the City of Tigers) by the author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson around 1870, due to his perception of the city as a cold and dangerous place. This name has over the years achieved an almost official status, to the extent the 1000-year anniversary was celebrated by a row of tiger sculptures around city hall. The prevalence of homeless and other beggars in newer times led to the slight rewording of the nickname into 'Tiggerstaden', or Beggar City, and a harsh picture of the city was drawn by Knut Hamsun in his novel Sult (Hunger) from 1890 (cinematised in 1966 by Henning Carlsen)."