Norway: Royal Visit to Oslo Synagogue

Oslo, Norway. Synagogue. Photo: Grzegorz Wysocki

Norway: Royal Visit to Oslo Synagogue
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) I’ve been keeping track of the visits of presidents and other heads of state to synagogue and Jewish cemeteries. Here is one more for the list...YNetnews.com reports that on Tuesday (June 19, 2009) King Harald V of Norway and his son, Crown Prince Haakon visited the Oslo Jewish community center and synagogue, where they “attended a Torah reading ceremony, listened to songs by the community's cantor and joined the kindergarten's children in song.” This isn’t the first royal visit to the building. After the World War II, King Olav V (then Crown Prince,) attended the reconstruction ceremony.

The Oslo synagogue was founded in 1892, but the present structure dates from 1920. Architectural historian Carol Herselle Krinsky (in Synagogues of Europe) describes the structure as looking 'like a simple and charming country chapel.' According to www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu the synagogue has a high-arched ceiling bordered by a design like a tallit (prayer shawl), which carries the inscription, 'How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, thy dwelling places, O Israel'. The bimah stands within the arch; the floor is covered with Oriental carpets. Stained-glass windows feature a Magen David design, which on bright days is cast on the walls.

Click here for more on Jewish sites and monuments in Norway.

Norway: Jewish Museum Opens in Oslo

Norway: Jewish Museum Opens in Oslo

On September 9, 2008, a new Jewish Museum in Oslo, Norway, officially opened in a the historic former Calmeyer's Gate synagogue, which was mostly destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. Its remains have been used as a frame for the new building in an area where many of the first Jewish immigrants to Oslo settled in the late 19th century. Sidsel Levin is the director of the new museum.

The Jewish Museum in Oslo (JMO) was established in March 2004 in collaboration with the OsloCity Museum, but its origin is in an exhibition organized in 1992 at the Oslo City Museum, celebrating the centenary of Det Mosaiske Trossamfund (The Mosaic Community of Norway).

The museum seeks to collect and preserve objects and memories of Jewish history and culture in Norway, emphasizing immigration and integration from 1851 to the present.

There is also a Jewish Museum in Trondheim.

The opening of the museum was attended by Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon, the defense and culture ministers, and the Israeli ambassador to Norway. The museum's opening exhibition presents the story of how Norwegian Jews have influenced cultural life in Norway and opposition to the German occupation during World War II.

Click here for more about Jewish heritage sites in Norway from Jewish-Heritage-Europe.eu