Avenue to the Grieg Museum

Arriving at the home of Nina and Edvard Grieg in Troldhaugen, we leave modern life behind, with its hustle and bustle and its speeding cars.

The great composer also bent his steps to home along this beech-lined avenue. He would travel from the city by carriage or by train to the station Hop, which you passed just before the exit for Troldhaugen.

Today, this avenue greets visitors as a beautiful, natural, green-vaulted entrance with gravel underfoot.

Along the way, we pass on the left the Hestetreet [Horse tree] property, part of which was purchased by Edvard Grieg. Still standing here today is the home of Martina, daughter of Salomon Monsen, which resembles a porter’s lodge next to the sprawling villa of the shipowner Joachim Grieg – the composer’s cousin three times removed.

A couple of modern houses were recently built by the road, but now we are approaching the museum grounds.

We are greeted by a modern spatial installation created by Gunnar Torvund: cut out of a thick metal sheet resembling the plating of a ship’s hull, the composer’s profile, like a door left ajar, invites us to visit, pointing the way to the new museum or the historical villa. The installation is entitled ‘Open I’, and it was unveiled by King Harald V when the new museum building was opened on 25 May 1995. Gunnar Torvund, one of the leading Norwegian artists, has created three Grieg sculptures in Bergen. The installation ‘Open II’ stands on the grounds of the university, on Sydnes Hill, by the Church of St John, whilst a bust of the composer can be found in front of the ‘Shipyard’ Cultural Centre (Kulturhuset Verftet).