Gulskogen Manor
Encyclopedia
Gulskogen Manor is a manor house
and landscape park
which forms part of Drammen Museum in Drammen, Norway
. The manor house is filled with historic furnishings and original works of art.
. 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
.
. He spent his childhood here and there are several paintings made by Arbo in the main building.
, and was officially opened with a huge garden party
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.
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
and landscape park
Landscape park
Landscape park may refer to:* Landscape Park , a type of designated natural area in Poland* Landscape garden...
which forms part of Drammen Museum in Drammen, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. The manor house is filled with historic furnishings and original 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 estateEstate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...
. 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
Drammenselva
Drammenselva is a river in Buskerud county, southeastern Norway.-Location:Drammenselva is one of the largest rivers in Norway, with a drainage basin of about 17,000 square kilometers and a flow rate of 300 cubic meters per second. The river has an average discharge of about 300 m3 / s...
.
Main house
The manor house at Gulskogen was erected in the Louis XVI 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 ArboPeter Nicolai Arbo
Peter Nicolai Arbo was a Norwegian painter, who specialized in painting motifs from Norwegian history and images from Norse mythology...
. 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 parkEnglish garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...
, and was officially opened with a huge garden party
Garden party
A garden party is a social gathering with food provided, in the open in a park or a garden. An event described as a garden party is usually more formal than other similar gatherings, which may be called just parties, picnics, barbecues, etc,...
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.