Christian Michelsen, the man and his castle Gamlehaugen
The mansion at Gamlehaugen was the home of Peter Christian Hersleb Kjerschow Michelsen. Born in Bergen in 1857, he was to become one of the most important politicians of his time. Christian Michelsen was the primeminister that led Norway through a peaceful dissolution of the union with Sweden that had lasted since 1814.
In 1905 Norway became an independent state, and Christian Michelsen was active in the process of choosing a new king for Norway. Not knowing at that time that his home at Gamlehaugen was to be the Norwegian king`s residence in Bergen.
Christian Michelsen studied law in Christiania and practiced in Bergen for a few years before he started his own shipping company. He was the first to only have steamboats in his fleet. This foresight made his shipping company one of the largest in the country around the turn of the century and turned him in to a rich man enabling him to build his spectacular home Gamlehaugen.
Jens Zetlitz Monrad Kielland was assigned to the job as architect. He had studied in Germany and was influenced by Hanseatic architecture from the late medivial periode. Other buildings drawn by him in Bergen is the monumental railway station and the on the World Heritage quay Bryggen he designed a row of large brick buildings in neo-Hanseatic style” The arches of Gamlehaugen resembles these buildings.
The style of Gamlehaugen is Scottish-baronial and the proverb “My home is my Castle” may be appropriate to Christian Michelsens feelings toward his home.
The museum
The first floor at Gamlehaugen is dedicated to the memory of Christian Michelsen and is left mainly as it was at the time of his death in 1925. Already in 1927 the museum opened to the public and only small changes has been done since then.
The museum consists of eight different rooms that each tells about the upperclasses way of life at the beginning of the 19th century, and in particular about the life of Christian Michelsen. The interior is a mixture of fashionable National Romanticism, art noveau and older interior Michelsen brought with him from his home by Nygårdsparken.
Second floor is unfortunately closed to the public. The Michelsen family had their bedrooms there. And in later years Michelsen had his office there too. The gallery opens down towards the hall and is decorated with paintings on all the walls. As in the library there is a portrait of Christian Michelsen by Erik Werenskiold there. Since 1927 this floor has been the royal family`s chambers, a function it retains today.
Third floor has several rooms used for servants and maybe also guests. The floor is also storageroom for furniture and other things that are not part of the exhibition. The floor is mainly intact, although some renovation is done. However this floor is closed to the public.
The basement is today housing the maintenance operation with a workshop and offices and also a inhabited flat. The central heater is placed here, this was one of Bergens very first houses to be buildt with central heating.
The hall
The hall is in many ways the heart of the house. This is one of Norways finest examples of the National Romanticism that influenced a nation yearning for independence at the turn of the century. The whole room is filled with wooden carvings in dragon style. The artist in charge of this was Ingebrikt Vik.
The dining room
This room is filled with grand pieces of furniture and walls covered with porcelain. Several pieces of beautiful silver wear used by Michelsen on social occasions are on display here. The aristocratic and international style of this room sharply contrasts the hall.
The ladies parlour
This room is furnished with a rococo suite of furniture that creates a light, feminin athmospere. A big portrait of Christian Michelsens wife, Benny Michelsen (born Johanne Benedicte Wallendahl dominates one wall.
The music room
The room is placed south of the hall, a bright room with exit to the garden. A Bechstein grand piano that Edvard Grieg played on at several visits stands in the corner.
The winter garden
The winter garden is placed at the end of the library, it must have been a beautiful sight in summer with walls covered in ivy while the benches were surrounded by plants of all kind. Two big vases stand on each side of the room. A gift from general Munthe probably. Outside one of the windows is a bust of Christian Michelsen made by Ambrosia Tønnesen, one of the first women in Norway to be artist by profession.
The library
This was the most dominating livingroom, and in many ways” the gentlemen`s room”. The bookshelves cover two walls, two suites of furniture and a billiard table that were frequently used by upper classes at that time. Today, still in use though the table is covered with a showcase displaying Michelsens medals and ribbons of order. Norwegian art is decorating the remaining walls, amongst others a big portrait of Michelsen by Erik Werenskiold.
The 1905-room
Michelsen`s office, today known as the 1905-room showing the gratitude of norwegians towards Michelsen for his contribution to the peaceful dissolution of the union with Sweden. One of the treasures here is the “Karlstad chair”, a wicker chair used by the primeminister during the negotiations in Sweden.
The park
Even before Christian Michelsen took over the property there was a garden at Gamlehaugen. But the big area was mostly used for farming. Gamlehaugen was a summer house, and in the period from 1878 to 1898 when it belonged to the Mohr family the farm was relatively big considering the location.
It was Michelsen who turned the land into a park. The gardener Olav Moen was given the task, his wish was to make it into an evergreen park filled with pines and bushes. But Michelsen took a deep interest in fruit growing and insisted that an orchard was planted. Unfortunately the trees died after a while.
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