Sagasøyla is a 34-metre column standing in Bøverdalen, covered in sculptures and reliefs that tell Norway's history from the Battle of Hafrsfjord to the signing of the constitution at Eidsvoll in 1814. An equestrian statue of Harald Hårfagre, the king who united Norway, crowns the top.
The column was never meant to end up at a mountain hotel. In 1836, poet Henrik Wergeland called on the Norwegian people to build a national independence monument, intended for a place of honour outside parliament in Oslo. The government held a competition in 1926, and sculptor Wilhelm Rasmussen won the commission, beating Gustav Vigeland among others. Rasmussen spent years working on the piece, but during the Second World War he expressed sympathy for the German occupation. The project was cancelled, and the column never reached parliament.
The finished artwork sat in storage for decades until the Elveseter family acquired it. In 1992, the column was finally erected in the courtyard of Elveseter Hotel along the Sognefjellsveien, where it now stands surrounded by the peaks of Jotunheimen rather than the streets of Oslo.
The column was never meant to end up at a mountain hotel. In 1836, poet Henrik Wergeland called on the Norwegian people to build a national independence monument, intended for a place of honour outside parliament in Oslo. The government held a competition in 1926, and sculptor Wilhelm Rasmussen won the commission, beating Gustav Vigeland among others. Rasmussen spent years working on the piece, but during the Second World War he expressed sympathy for the German occupation. The project was cancelled, and the column never reached parliament.
The finished artwork sat in storage for decades until the Elveseter family acquired it. In 1992, the column was finally erected in the courtyard of Elveseter Hotel along the Sognefjellsveien, where it now stands surrounded by the peaks of Jotunheimen rather than the streets of Oslo.
