Portåsen is the childhood home of Herman Wildenvey, one of Norway's most beloved 20th-century poets. Born Herman Theodor Portaas in 1885, he took his surname from this very farm. His family story was complicated from the start: born outside marriage, his mother stayed unmarried while his father married her younger sister.
At 19, Wildenvey emigrated to America, but the journey nearly killed him. On 28 June 1904, the Danish liner SS Norge struck a reef near Rockall in the North Atlantic. 635 passengers drowned in what became known as the Titanic's predecessor. Wildenvey was among the 160 survivors, some of whom spent up to eight days in open lifeboats.
He returned to Norway in 1906 and published his breakthrough collection Nyinger the following year, launching a career that would produce 44 books of poetry and translations of Shakespeare, Hemingway, and Heine.
Today Portåsen is a cultural centre run by Buskerudmuseet, with an outdoor amphitheatre seating 500, four concert stages, an art gallery, a poetry library, and Sørines café in the old farmhouse. The grounds sit at the edge of the forest, and the surrounding area is unusually rich in orchids: 19 of Norway's 34 wild orchid species grow in the Nedre Eiker hills around the property.
