Gulskogen Manor ( no, Gulskogen gård) is a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals with ...

and landscape park which forms part of Drammen Museum in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such as Konner ...

Viken county Viken may refer to: * Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region *Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020 * Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden * Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the part of the Göta c ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The manor house is filled with historic furnishings and reproduction works of art.

Background

Drammen's richest merchant, Peter Nicolai Arbo and his wife Anne Cathrine Collett acquired the manor at auction in 1794. They gradually expanded the property into a modern country house estate. The main house and wings resemble European stone architecture. At the beginning of the 1800s, rows of magnificent landed properties within the vicinity stretched like two belts along both sides of the Drammen River.Gulskogen Manor
(Birgitte Simensen Berg, 03.07.2008, Drammen Municipality)

Main house

The manor house at Gulskogen was erected in the

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

style in 1804. The house contains the original furnishings that belonged to several generations of the Arbo family. In the many beautiful rooms of Gulskogen Manor are works by the distinguished history-painter

Peter Nicolai Arbo Peter Nicolai Arbo (18 June 1831 – 14 October 1892) was a Norwegian historical painter, who specialized in portraits and allegorical scenes from Norwegian history and the Norse mythology. He is most noted for ''The Wild Hunt of Odin'', a d ...

. He spent his childhood here and there are several paintings made by Arbo in the main building.

Model farm

Gulskogen Manor comprises a main house and an outbuilding with a courtyard and park grounds. Estates like these were run as model farms in the old days, and new farming technology was quickly adopted. The present barn is from 1887 and now holds some of the tools that were used during this period. The side wing that houses the tool house and wagon shed is the original building, but is hidden under new paneling.

Estate gardens

The garden was laid out in the style of an English landscaped park, and was officially opened with a huge

garden party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

in 1804. The garden has always been the estate's main attraction, and stands today as one of Norway's best preserved gardens from that period. The garden is divided into three terraces that are connected by stairs. The prominent terraces are separated from each other by straight-lined avenues and other seemingly random areas. From the mid-19th century, the garden evolved a more overgrown, romantic style, as was the trend at that time. It was during this period that the ponds in the north garden were added. Since 1972, the garden has been maintained in such a way as to accentuate more of its original character.Gulskogen Farm
(Olavsrosa Norwegian Heritage Foundation ''Norsk Kulturarv'')

References

External links

Drammen Museum website
{{Coord, 59, 44, 46, N, 10, 09, 55, E, type:landmark_source:kolossus-nowiki, display=title Houses completed in 1804 Art museums and galleries in Norway Museums in Viken Museums with year of establishment missing Manor houses in Norway Gardens in Norway Farms in Viken Local museums in Norway Parks in Norway Historic farms in Norway Buildings and structures in Drammen Historic house museums in Norway