Grünerløkka () is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

but also a neighborhood of 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 ...

. Grünerløkka became part of the city of Oslo (then Christiania) in 1858. Grünerløkka was traditionally a

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

district; since the late 20th century the area has increasingly undergone

gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

. Especially in the core neighborhood of Grünerløkka, property prices tend to be higher than is typical of other Oslo East End boroughs. The borough consists of the following neighborhoods: * Grünerløkka vest (West) * Grünerløkka øst (East) * Dælenenga *

Rodeløkka Rodeløkka is a neighborhood in Grünerløkka in Oslo, Norway. History From 1900 to 1961, it was served by the Rodeløkka Line of the Oslo Tramway. The name The property was bought by the dean ''Frederik Rode'' in 1854. The last element is t ...

Sinsen Sinsen is a mixed residential and commercial area in Grünerløkka borough of Oslo, Norway. The westernmost part of Sinsen is part of the borough Nordre Aker. The Sinsen Interchange, located on the border between the boroughs of Nordre Aker, Gr� ...

* Sofienberg * Hasle * In the Oslo borough reform on 1 January 2004, the borough

Helsfyr-Sinsen Helsfyr-Sinsen was a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway, from 1988 to January 1, 2004, when it was split up and merged into Alna and Gamle Oslo boroughs. It consisted of the neighborhoods Helsfyr, Teisen, Etterstad, Keyserløkka, Lille Tøyen, Va ...

was removed, and the neighborhoods Sinsen, Løren, Lille Tøyen and Hasle were included in Grünerløkka.

Etymology

The first element was derived from the surname ''Grüner''. The last element is the

definite In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases that distinguishes between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those that are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical ...

form of ''løkke'', meaning "

paddock A paddock is a small enclosure for horses. In the United Kingdom, this term also applies to a field for a general automobile racing competition, particularly Formula 1. Description The most common design provides an area for exercise and is ofte ...

". Grünerløkka was named after Friedrich Grüner (1628-1674) who served as chief administrator (''Oberhauptmann'') and the master of the mint (''myntmester'') at Christiania from 1651 until his death in 1674. Grüner purchased the Kings Mill (''Kongens mølle'') and surrounding acreage in the area from King

Christian V of Denmark Christian V (15 April 1646 – 25 August 1699) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1670 until his death in 1699. Well-regarded by the common people, he was the first king anointed at Frederiksborg Castle chapel as absolute monarch since the dec ...

in 1672.

History

Thorvald Meyer Thorvald Meyer (23 September 1818 – 3 February 1909) was a Norway, Norwegian businessman and philanthropist. He was a wholesaler, retailer and shipowner as well as a land owner and developer. Biography Meyer was born in Oslo, Christiania (now ...

(1818–1909) bought parts of the Grünerløkka area in 1861. The industrialist built the main street of the neighborhood Grünerløkka, now named Thorvald Meyers gate. During the 19th century, Grünerløkka became a working-class area. Several factories were placed here because of the advantages of being located close to the

Akerselva The Akerselva or Akerselven () is a river which flows through Oslo, Norway. It starts at Maridalsvannet in Oslomarka, and traverses the boroughs of Nordre Aker, Sagene, Grünerløkka, central Oslo and Grønland, finally ending at Paulsenkai ...

River. Christiania Seildugsfabrikk from 1856 and Aktieselskapet Herkules from 1898 were two of the factories established. Grünerløkka is located with the parish of

Paulus Church Paulus Church ( Norwegian: ''Paulus kirke''; tr. ''Paul's Church'' or ''St. Paul's Church'') is a church which was consecrated in 1892, located in Grünerløkka in Oslo, Norway, just opposite the Birkelunden Park. The church is made of brick with ...

(''Paulus kirke''). In 1866, Paulus parish had a total population of 13,600. By 1900, the parish population had risen to 22,000. At that time, only five streets in Oslo had a population above 3000. Of these, three were located in Grünerløkka: Markveien, Thorvald Meyers gate and Toftes gate. In 1864, a square meter had been priced at about 30 Norwegian shilling Active selling of property started in 1865. However, even as Thorvald Meyer offered low-priced land, almost no one bought any of it until after 1868. The park square called

Olaf Ryes plass Olaf Ryes plass ("Olaf Rye's Square") is a square and park placed centrally in the Grünerløkka borough of Oslo, Norway. It is more or less square in shape. History The area belonged to the municipality of Aker, Norway, Aker until 1858, when it ...

has its name from Norwegian-Danish General

Olaf Rye Olaf Rye (16 November 1791 – 6 July 1849) was a Norwegian-Danish military officer. He died in battle during the First Schleswig War and is considered to have been a Danish war hero. Biography Olaf Rye was born at Bø in Telemark, Norway. ...

(1791–1849). It was an open field well into the 1880s. The property was bought by

kommune from members of the Grüner family in 1883. A narrow diagonal street was built which led from Markveien to Thorvald Meyers gate. It had a stopping spot for horses and carriages at the middle point. This section is now a pedestrian park square. The district's previous logo showed Mangelsgården, a listed building in Storgata 36 that is part of Prinds Christian Augusts Minde. From 2019, the district has used a common logo for Oslo.

Politics

As a borough of Oslo, Grünerløkka is governed by the city council of Oslo as well as its own borough council. The council leader is Geir Jensen from the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

and the deputy leader is Vemund Rundberget, of the Labour Party. The Green Party has the most seats. The 15 seats are distributed among the following

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

for the 2019-2023 term: * 4 from the

(Miljøpartiet de Grønne) * 3 from the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) * 3 from the Conservative Party (Høyre) * 2 from the Red Party (Rødt) * 2 from the Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti) * 1 from the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

(Venstre)

Sports

The neighbourhood has its own sports club, Grüner, which was founded in 1914 with

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

as the most important activities. Grüner Fotball plays its home games at

Dælenenga idrettspark Dælenenga idrettspark is a sports facility located at Grünerløkka in Oslo, Norway. It consists of an artificial turf football pitch, a club house and an indoor ice rink—Grünerhallen. The facilities are owned by the Oslo, Municipality of Osl ...

and currently is part of the third division of the Norwegian football system. The ice hockey team plays the home games at Grünerhallen.

Notable landmarks

* Sportsklubben av 1909 * Alexander Kiellands plass (Oslo) *

Åmodt bro Aamodt bru is a suspension bridge located Oslo, Norway. It is a pedestrian bridge over the Aker River in the Oslo district of Grünerløkka. History Aamodt bru was originally built over the Drammenselva, Drammen River in Buskerud near the ...

Ankerbrua Ankerbrua is a bridge located in the district of Grünerløkka in Oslo, Norway. History Ankerbrua was built over the Aker River (''Akerselva'') to serve as an extension of Torggata along Ankertorget with Søndre gate. The former wooden bridge ...

Ankertorget Ankertorget was a market square located in the city centre of Oslo, Norway. The property site lies between Torggata, Storgata, Hausmannsgate and the Akerselva The Akerselva or Akerselven () is a river which flows through Oslo, Norway. It sta ...

* Birkelunden *

Blå Blå ("Blue") is a jazz club in Grünerløkka, Oslo, Norway. Blå opened on February 28, 1998; the initiators were Kjell Einar Karlsen and Martin Revheim. It is located in factory building close to Akerselva, a river running through downtown. Da ...

Carl Berners plass Carl Berners plass is a square in Oslo, Norway. It is located in the borough Helsfyr, south of Sinsen. The Sinsen Line of the Oslo Tramway runs over the square. The colloquial expression for the square is just "Carl Berner". Around the square is ...

Foss Brewery The Foss Brewery () was a brewery in Oslo. The company was started in 1836 as the Ytteborg Brewery (''Ytteborgs Bryggeri'') and was located on ''Hausmanns gate'' (Hausmann Street). In the 19th century, the water in the lower part of the Aker River ...

Foss videregående skole Foss Upper Secondary School is an upper secondary school in Oslo, 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 ...

Freia Freia may refer to: * Freyja In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the neckl ...

* Grünerhallen *

Keyserløkka Keyserløkka is a neighborhood in the borough of Grünerløkka in Oslo, Norway. It was originally farmland under Tøyen. In 1850 it was given to professor Rudolf Keyser Jakob Rudolf Keyser (1 January 1803 – 9 October 1864) was a Norwegian his ...

Kulturkirken Jakob Kulturkirken Jakob (in English St. James Church of Culture) is a church in Oslo, Norway, designed by architect Georg Andreas Bull and built in 1880. The original name of the Church was St James's Church or Jakobs kirke. The church is named after t ...

Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo The Oslo National Academy of the Arts (, ''KHiO'') is a tertiary institution in Oslo, Norway, that provides education in visual arts, design and performing arts. It is one of two public institutes of higher learning in Norway that teaches in vi ...

* Parkteatret * Paulus kirke *

Prinds Christian Augusts Minde Prinds Christian Augusts Minde was an asylum, workhouse and social institution located at Storgata 36 in downtown Oslo, Norway. History Mangelsgården was built in 1670–1698. The building was originally raised as a holiday residence with ...

Ring 2 is a 1999 Japanese supernatural horror film, directed by Hideo Nakata and serves as a sequel to ''Ring (film), Ring''. ''Ring'' was originally a novel written by Koji Suzuki (writer), Koji Suzuki; its sequel, ''Rasen'' (a.k.a. ''Spiral (Suzuki ...

Sagene ring The Sagene Line () is a former line of the Oslo Tramway in Norway. It ran from Stortorvet in the city center along Akersgata and Ullevålsveien through the neighborhood of St. Hanshaugen. It then continued along Colletts gate, Geitmyrsveien and ...

Schou Brewery The Schou Brewery () is a former Norwegian brewery. History The company originated in a brewery that Johannes Thrane founded around 1800. Jørgen Young owned the brewery for some time before it was purchased by Christian Julius Schou (1792� ...

* Sinsenkrysset * Sinsenparken * Sofienberg * Sofienberg kirke * Sofienberg Park

Gallery

Olaf Ryes plass sommer.JPG, The park at

View from siloen.jpg, View from "silo" (Marselis gate 24) to the northeast of Grünerløkka Thvmeyersgt 2005.jpg, Tram at market day in Thorvald Meyers gate Markveien.jpg, Markveien

References

Other sources

* Knut Are Tvedt (editor) (2000) "Grünerløkka" in ''Oslo byleksikon'' (Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. 4th ed. pp. 170–171)

External links

Grünerløkka, official website
(City of Oslo)
Guide to Grünerløkka
visitoslo.com
Munch's Grünerløkka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grunerlokka Boroughs of Oslo Working class in Europe