St. Hanshaugen is one of Oslo’s largest parks, just north of the city centre. This popular recreational area is great for walks, and from the top of the hill you have a nice view of Oslo.
St. Hanshaugen was originally a bare rock hill. In the 1840s the name St. Hanshaugen (“midsummer hill”) came into use, as the hill was a popular place for midsummer celebrations. In 1855 it was decided that parts of the hill was to be planted, and a big part of the hill was turned into a park in the next 30 years. The park also got a park keeper house, an artificial creek and a pavilion on the square Festplassen, and the park was expanded.
t has a triangular shape, with its northern border just north of the buildings of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and Ullevål University Hospital, and south of the University of Oslo campus at Blindern. In the east, the boundary runs just west of the river Akerselva, then down Storgata before it turns north, up Grensen, Pilestredet and Suhms gate.
The district has its name from St. Hanshaugen Park that lies centrally within it, where the citizens used to celebrate summer solstice (St. Hans in Norwegian). The park was planted by the city in the years 1876-86; it has a pavilion, and a reflecting pool covering a reservoir. The neighbourhood St. Hanshaugen is located west and south of the park, with shopping, eating and public transport where the streets Ullevålsveien and Waldemar Thranes gate meets.
To the southeast of the park is Oslo’s oldest building – Aker Kirke, built around 1100, but restored from ruins around 1860, and then again in the 1950s in a more authentic style. Next to the church is the cemetery Vår Frelsers gravlund, created in 1808 as a result of the great famine and cholera epidemic of the Napoleonic Wars. The nearby area around Damstredet and Telthusbakken is interesting since it retains the small town character of Oslo in the first part of the 19th century.
Text source: Wikipedia – Photos: My Oslo Norway