HOTEL BONDEHEIMEN
Where the history is in the walls
Hotel Bondeheimen is over a hundred years old, and there are few hotels in the Norwegian capital that can boast an equally long history. The owner has always been Bondeungdomslaget i Oslo, and profits from the hotel and other commercial interests are ploughed back into financing voluntary work undertaken på BUL in the realms of theatre, music, dance, children's clubs and sports.
The hotel opened its doors in 1913, and was one of many businesses set up by similar organisations at the time. A total of more than two hundred such enterprises were established - from café-restaurants and hotels to schools and newspapers. Nowadays, a century later, several of these enterprises are still going strong.
During the latter part of the 19th century, a huge wave of migration into Oslo and other large Norwegian cities took place. There were far greater cultural differences between city and country than exists today, and in addition, considerable class differences as well.
Young people from rural areas moving into the city with ambitions to build a better life, had to be protected from temptation and danger and be provided with a stable, social environment. For BUL, it was therefore a natural purpose "to gather young people from rural areas for the purpose of socialization and co-operation in homely surroundings, and also provide them with protection and assistance". And thus Hotel Bondeheimen was established!
Centrally located in Oslo
Hotel Bondeheimen has an outstanding location in the very heart of downtown Oslo. Along one axis, you pass the hotel as you walk from the Parliament to the Courthouse. Along the other axis, you encounter the hotel when you make your way from Oslo Central Train Station to the publishing houses of Aschehoug and Gyldendal, the University or the Norwegian Theatre. At this point of intersection, the hotel has undergone so many experiences - and created history in the process.
Culture at Hotel Bondeheimen
Hotel Bondeheimen is closely linked to the pro-Norwegian movement and cultural life in Oslo. With the project "Literary Rooms", we have chosen to link each of the hotel's 145 rooms to a writer or cultural figure connected to the hotel or BUL's history. In each room we have hung a quotation from a key text, accompanied by a portrait and some brief biographical information.
Outside the entrances to the hotel, Kaffistova and the theatre auditorium, flagstones have been laid with short quotations carved into the stone. Here there are quotations from Ivar Aasen, Olav H. Hauge and Halldis Moren Vesaas.
In this way, we hope to provide our guests with a glimpse of the rich and varied cultural history that fills this building.
