Throngs of Norway

Photo by David Bear- Vigeland Park has 212 sculptures in bronze and granite, all modeled in full size by the great Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland and created by a team of craftsmen.

OSLO, Norway -- Call it the bridge of happy babel.

The joyous crowd thronging across the wide stone arch seem to speak a dozen languages. In addition to Norwegian, I detect snatches of German, English, Italian, French, Chinese, Japanese and several other tongues about which I have no clue.

Bermuda clad tourists capturing images, old couples walking hand in hand, babies dozing in strollers, older kids towing their parents, svelte roller-bladers showing off their tattoos, all enjoying the soft, sunny afternoon.

But we are also under the spell of the dozens of granite and bronze statues atop the bridge's balustrades. Grouped in mini-tableaux of twos and threes, the ample figures portray people of all ages, with an abundance of children. Each grouping expresses a relationship, between men and women, between adults and children, between the old and young. Some are elated, others subdued, but all exuding an essential humanity.

On the bridge's far end, the basin of an enormous fountain is supported by heroic humans twined around tree-like structures, and beyond twin staircases ascend a terraced slope to a plateau on which a tall obelisk soars up from a granite gray platform.

From end to end and top to bottom, it is a celebration of humanity, both the quick and the quiet.

Welcome to Vigeland Park, Oslo's unique sculpture garden and arguably Norway's most visited attraction.

We were in Norway's capital for a quick visit en route to board a cruise ship in the port of Tromso, 1,000 miles farther to the north.

Situated at the upper end of the 60-mile fjord that penetrates Norway's southeastern corner, Oslo is defined by its harbor and the surrounding hills. Scandinavia's oldest city, it was established as a safe harbor in 1048 A.D. by the Viking boatmen whose epic exploits changed the face and faces of Europe and Britain.

Despite its early start, the settlement remained something of a backwater until the kings of Norway settled there 250 years later. The Black Death decimated Oslo's population in 1349, and Norway itself fell under the control of Denmark later that century.

The city gained a degree of prosperity and position from trade, fishing and ship-building in the 18th and 19th centuries, sprouting large green parks, long vistas and wide promenades lined with elegant stone facades. But even after Norway gained its independence in 1905 and Oslo became its capital, the city retained a somewhat dour air, lovely in summer when the sun can shine 20 hours a day, but frigid and forboding during winter's long and dark nights.

Although Oslo's city limits incorporate hundreds of square miles of forests, fields and fjord, its urban center covers a relatively compact area, which makes for easy exploration by foot or its excellent transportation network of buses, streetcars, subways and shuttle boats.

Over the past 40 years, Norway and Oslo have seen dramatic developments, fueled in great part by oil pumped from the vast North Sea oil fields off its rugged coastlines. Channeled into civic coffers, that oil wealth has helped foster a prosperous and egalitarian nation and a vibrant, cosmopolitan city, with plenty of culture, art and civic virtures, along with a deep appreciation for nature and environment.

Garrison Keillor of "Prairie Home Companion" happened to also be in Norway the same time we were there and later recorded his impressions in a wonderful essay, "How the Norse Stay on Course" (prairiehome.publicradio.org/features/deskofgk/2007/07/24.shtml). "Norway, the world's most peaceful country," he wrote, "enjoys a very sensible prosperity. They've voted twice to stay out of the European Union. Why mess with success?"

Based on my admittedly quick impression, I'd heartily agree with Mr. Keillor.

Since we were in town for just three days, we treated ourselves to a room at the elegant Hotel Continental, the grand and venerable hostelry in the heart of the city, across from the National Theater. It was a wonderful base from which to explore.

Here are quick sketches of some sights we managed to see.

Oslo was home to three of Norway's brightest creatives, playwright Henrik Ibsen, artist Edvard Munch, and sculptor Gustav Vigeland, and their legacies loom large in the city's selection of cultural offerings.

Ibsen Museum (www. ibsenmuseet.no) -- Housed in the elegant apartment the playwright and his wife inhabited for the last decade of their lives, the understated museum (only the study is preserved as it was a century ago) provides a capsule summary of Ibsen's life and his importance to both the then emerging nation of Norway as well as the greater world of theater.

Munch Museum (http://munch.museum) -- Best known for "The Scream," Edvard Munch was a pioneer in the Expressionist movement. When he died in 1944, he deeded his remaining collection to the city of Oslo, including thousands of his paintings, prints, drawings, engravings and photographs. The collection was housed in a handsome gallery built just east of the city center near the lovely gardens of the Natural History Museum. Security has been greatly enhanced since the museum suffered a robbery three years ago, but the major works are on permanent display.

Vigeland Park and Museum (www.vigeland.musum.no) -- A contemporary of Munch, Gustav Vigeland was trained as a wood carver, but heavily influenced by Rodin, he gravitated to stone and bronze. Conceiving of the idea of a sculpture garden in the 1920s, he convinced the city to provide an 80-acre slice of Frogner Park in exchange for the bulk of his private collection. Over the final 20 years of his life, Vigeland expanded his vision into a fantastic public monument, elegant in its design and execution and medieval in its complexity and spirit.

National Gallery (www. nasjonalmuseet.no) -- Located in a grand rambling, 19th-century building in the center of the city, its three stories hold Norway's largest collection of fine art, most of it home-grown, ranging from medieval religious triptychs on wooden panels to edgy, psychedelic contemporary installations. One of the city's primary free attractions, it's a great place to pass a rainy afternoon.

The Royal Palace (www.kongehuset.no) -- Home of monarchs since 1825, the splendid mansion is centered royally amid a great green park with no need of walls or fences. The present House of Glucksburg residents include King Harald and Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Princess Ingrid Alexandra. One-hour guided tours start every 20 minutes, and there's a snappy changing of the guard ceremony daily at 1:30 p.m.

Oslo's ocean-going history is evident everywhere in the city, from the harbor area with Akershus Slott, the hulking fortress on the left side of the harbor, to Aker Brygge, the modernistic steel and glass, multi-use complex rising on the harbor's former shipyards, which are becoming a center of upscale restaurants and nightlife.

The Bygdoy Peninsula, a 20-minute ferry ride across the harbor, is primarily a residential area, but it's the setting for five special museums, four of which are devoted to the sea.

The Frammuseet (www. fram.museum.no) houses the Fram, the historic vessel used for the great polar expeditions of Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912. The original ship is on display, along with hundreds of expedition images and artifacts.

Next door is the Kon-Tiki Museum (www.kon-tiki.no) displaying the original vessels from Thor Heyerdahl who in 1948 with a crew of five navigated a balsawood raft across the Pacific Ocean from Peru for 101 days, demonstrating how early South Americans might have migrating west to islands of Polynesia.

The Norwegian Maritime Museum (www.norsk-sjofartsmuseum.no) is a virtual warehouse packed with artifacts of the country's long relationship with the sea. Highlights include the 20-minute cruise-by video presentation that sweeps along the entire length of Norway's dramatic coastline.

A 10-minute walk away is the Viking Ship Museum (www.khm.uio.no), which houses three Viking vessels, including the nearly complete Oseberg. Dating from around 850 A.D., it was excavated from a farmer's field in 1904.

Boats are fascinating, but the highlight of the peninsula tour is the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History, (www. norskfolkemuseum.no) a sprawling open-air complex containing 155 traditional buildings that have been brought here from around Norway and lovingly restored. Costumed interpreters bring many of the buildings to life, going about chores and celebrations that would have been typical of their times. Several small museums on the grounds are devoted to various aspects of traditional Norwegian arts and crafts.