Ekeberg is a neighborhood in the city of

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

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 ...

. The

Norway Cup The Norway Cup is an international youth football tournament in Oslo, Norway. It has been held annually since 1972, with the exception of 1976 (due to a conflicting arrangement), 2020 and 2021 (due to the COVID-19 Pandemic). It is the world's l ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

takes place at

Ekebergsletta Ekebergsletta is a field in the neighborhood of Ekeberg in the Nordstrand district, southeast of downtown Oslo, Norway. Ekebergsletta is a large grass covered area located on Ekeberg plateau. Originally the area was farmland where crops were cu ...

every summer. "Sletta" means "the plain". The painting "

The Scream ''The Scream'' is an art composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893. The Norwegian name of the piece is ('Screaming, Scream'), and the German title under which it was first exhibited is ' ('The Scream of Nature'). The agonize ...

" by

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

is painted from Utsikten ("the view"), a part of Ekeberg. In the area are a number of old

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

grave mounds and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

ritual sites. This establish the area of Ekeberg as one of the oldest inhabited places around Oslo. During the Middle Ages, the farm of Ekeberg belonged to

Hovedøya Abbey Hovedøya Abbey (''Hovedøya kloster'') was a medieval era Cistercian monastery on the island of Hovedøya in Oslofjord outside of Oslo, Norway. History The monastery was founded on 18 May 1147 by monks from Kirkstead Abbey in England on Ho ...

. The area was later taken by the crown. From 1760, the farm of Ekeberg was run by an appointed owner, and his relatives owned the farm thereafter. In the area, a number of small homesteads under the main farm was erected the following century. The first suburban settlement came around 1900, and the early suburb was raised in the years prior to 1935. Many of the early houses are still present in the area. Ekeberg belonged to

from 1947. In 1926 Roald Amundsen's airship ''

Norge Norge is the Norwegian (Bokmål and Riksmål), Danish and Swedish name for Norway. It may also refer to: People * Kaare Norge (born 1963), Danish guitarist * Norge Luis Vera (born 1971), Cuban baseball player Places * 11871 Norge, asteroid ...

'', was on its way from Italy to Svalbard, stopped in Oslo, mooring at Ekeberg at a specially-constructed mast, the foundation of which can still be seen today at the north end of the park. The farm land (

) cultivated crops until 1950, and the farm still had

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

s and small cattle up to 1965. The neighborhood of Ekeberg is situated on a bluff overlooking the city. During the 19th century, the air was considered excellent for tuberculosis patients. Shortly after World War II, there were discussions on how to use the area, and the idea of an airport for Oslo was suggested. This was rejected, and the Labour party politician

Rolf Hofmo Rolf Hofmo (10 August 1898, in Kristiania – 11 May 1966, in Oslo) was a Norwegian politician and sports official. He was chairman of Arbeidernes Idrettsforbund (AIF) from 1939 to 1940, and central in the merge negotiations with Norges Landsfor ...

, who had survived internment at the concentration camp of Sachsenhausen during the Second World War, proposed the idea of a free area for sport and other activities. Ekeberg-Bekkelaget was a borough of Oslo up to January 1, 2004, when it became part of the

Gamle Oslo Gamle Oslo is a List of boroughs of Oslo, borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. The name means "Old Oslo", and the district contains Old Town, Oslo, Old Town. The borough has several landmarks and large parks, including the Edvard Munch Museum, t ...

and

Nordstrand Nordstrand may refer to: Places ;Germany * Nordstrand, Germany, a peninsula in Germany * Nordstrand (Amt), a former municipality in Nordfriesland, Germany ;Norway * Nordstrand, Norway, a borough in Oslo, Norway * Søndre Nordstrand, a borough in ...

boroughs. Ekeberg as a geographical area was mentioned by

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

in his ''Saga of the Kings''. In the northern part of the area the farm "Ekeberg Hovedgård" is located. The fields of the farm are now a part of

and the camp ground where the main building still stands. The name:

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''Eikaberg'' - the first element is the genitive plural case of ''eik'' f 'oak', the last element is ''berg'' n 'mountain'. Sculpture Park
A

sculpture park A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by a ...

Ekebergparken Sculpture Park Ekebergparken Sculpture Park is a sculpture park and a national heritage park close to Ekebergrestauranten with a panoramic view of the city at Ekeberg in the southeast of the city of Oslo, Norway.Christian Ringnes Christian Ringnes (born 3 March 1954) is a Norwegian businessman and art collector whose family founded Norway’s now largest brewery Ringnes in 1876. In his hometown of Oslo, Ringnes owns restaurants, hotels and museums, and recently donated mor ...

. The park contains numerous works of art from Norwegian and international artists, among others,

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

Lynn Chadwick Lynn Russell Chadwick, (24 November 1914 – 25 April 2003) was an English sculptor and artist. Much of his work is semi-abstract sculpture in bronze or steel. His work is in the collections of MoMA in New York, the Tate in London and th ...

, Richard Hudson and

Per Ung Per Ung (5 June 1933 – 20 June 2013) was a Norwegian sculptor and graphic artist. Biography Ung was born in Oslo, Norway. He was the son of Per Ohlsen (1907–85) and Randi Tangen (1905-89). He was schooled in the conservative sculptural ...

. The sculpture park is located in an area that has been open space and public park since the 1800s. In literature Many Norwegian authors and poets have written poems and appraisals of the area. Among them

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 ...

, Hans E. Kinck, and

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (15 January 18125 January 1885) was a Norwegian writer and scholar. He and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe were collectors of Norwegian folklore. They were so closely united in their lives' work that their folk tale collection ...

, who also wrote down the local folklore from the area, concerning the Ekeberg Troll, living inside the hill.

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

and

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 ...

apparently established their friendship while admiring the view of the city. Later,

Ingeborg Refling Hagen Ingeborg Refling Hagen (19 December 1895 – 30 October 1989) was a Norwegian author, poet, and artistic director. Her writings and activities in support of the arts made her a significant cultural figure in Norway during much of the 20th centur ...

lived in the area, establishing a cultural work which was known as the Ekeberg Colony. A curious mentioning of the area occurs in the cult novel

The Call of Cthulhu "The Call of Cthulhu" is a cosmic horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in February 1928. The story is a founding document of the Cthul ...

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

, written in 1926. Here it is stated that the surviving sailor Gustaf Johansen lived in "an old house at Egeberg" where he died after ramming

Cthulhu Cthulhu is a fictional cosmic entity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was introduced in his short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published by the American pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in 1928. Considered a Great Old One within the pantheon ...

head on with a fishing vessel.

References

External links

* {{coord, 59, 54, N, 10, 46, E, region:NO_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title nl:Ekeberg (Sande)