"Norway Since 1905"

Outside the City Hall

There is no way I could do justice to the history of Norway in one entry.



So for now I will simply pick on one number: 1905.

If you walk around town, you notice these souvenir shops with lots (I mean dozens) of Norwegian flags and some odd looking-dwarfs -- which I will investigate later on - but you also notice these sweaters with the year 1905.

1905? You probably wonder

According to the Wikipedia this is what one must keep in mind:

1905 is the year of the dissolution of the Union between Sweden and Norway.   

For the first time since 1397 Norway had a national king, after 500 years of political unions with other Scandinavian countries — the Kalmar Union until 1532, then Danish rule in the united kingdom of Denmark Norway until 1814 and finally a loose personal union with Sweden until 1905. 

I found this photograph of that year.

So it is a old nation with centuries of history behind it but as "Norway", fully independent, this nation´s official date is surprisingly recent.

Then of course is the big celebration that Norwegians have on 17 May when they celebrate the "Constitution of Norway" which had happened in 1814 and had declared them an independent nation.  But they were still under Swedish rule, which, of course, makes you realise how much the relationship between these two neighbors has changed...