HISTORY
Gamlehaugen was the site of a farm as early as the Middle Ages, but it was abandoned as a result of the Black Death. In 1665, it once again became farmland, as part of the larger Fjøsanger manor. In 1809, Gamlehaugen was separated from Fjøsanger. Marie Krohn, the niece of Danckert Danckertsen Krohn, who had owned Fjøsanger until his death in 1795, built a mansion at Gamlehaugen. A Schack Stenberg purchased Gamlehaugen in 1838. In 1864, Alexander Bull, the son of the violinist Ole Bull bought the property, however, he sold it to copper smith Ole Andreas Gundersen only two years later. The last owner who operated Gamlehaugen as a farm was the merchant Anton Mohr, who bought it in 1878. When he died in 1890, his widow, Alethe Mohr, sold the property to a pair of artisans from Bergen. However, she was allowed to continue using the property and the main building due to a clausule in the sale contract.
In 1898, Christian Michelsen, a politician and shipping magnate, bought the property. He demolished the existing main building, a Swiss chalet style mansion, and ordered the construction of a new building in the style of a Scottish baronial style castle. The architect was Jens Zetlitz Monrad Kielland, who would later draw the Bergen Railway Station and the brick buildings at Bryggen. The construction was finished in 1900, and Michelsen with family moved in the next year. He delegated the task of converting the farmlands surrounding the building into a park to gardener Olav Moen, who designed it as an English park. Barring his years as Prime Minister of Norway from 1905 to 1907, Christian Michelsen lived at Gamlehaugen for the remainder of his life.
ARCHITECTURE
Gamlehaugen was designed in 1899 by the architect Jens Zetlitz Monrad Kielland, who was educated in Germany and influenced by late medieval architecture. The building combined the qualities of a fortress and a castle, evoking associations with buildings from two very different regions: the many 16th century castles found in the Loire Valley in France, and the high-towered royal fortresses of Scotland. While Kielland did not copy these buildings, he adopted their architectural principles and added modern details from the Art Nouveau style of his day.
Visitors who enter Gamlehaugen with French and Scottish architecture in mind will likely be struck by the great contrast between what the exterior leads them to expect and what the interior holds. For when visitors enter the grand two-storey hall flanked by the main staircase, they find themselves not in Scotland or France, but in the Norway envisioned at the turn of the century – a Norway that had recaptured the glory of its medieval greatness.
The contrast between the exterior and interior is sustained throughout the rest of the building. The decoration and furnishings are reminiscent of an aristocratic castle, featuring Rococo and Neo-Renaissance furniture as well as Dutch Baroque and Neo-Baroque styles. The building also contains among other things a music room, library and winter garden.
Park
Gamlehaugen is framed by a beautiful English-landscaped park, adorned with a lush, varied selection of shrubbery, flowers and trees. The park is open to the public and is a popular recreational area used for swimming and walking.
CURRENT SITUATION
Gamlehaugen is the King’s official residence in Bergen. Owned by the state and managed by western Norway regional office of the Directorate of Public Construction and Property, the building is at the disposal of the King.
Now the entire first floor of Gamlehaugen is open to the public as a museum devoted to the memory of Christian Michelsen, and the interiors have been lovingly preserved as it was at the time of his death. Visitors can also stroll through the grounds and visit the stables, boat house, greenhouse and potato cellar.
