Although the date of Oslo's founding is not actually known, Wikipedia (
visit link) reports that it was founded around 1048 by King Harald III.
This sculpture of a huge tiger is nearly 5 feet tall and about 10 feet long. It is located in front of Oslo's old railroad station (now a mall attached to the new Central Station) and has an accompanying plaque that reads:
"tigeren
Elena Engelsen 2000
donert av
Eiendomsspar AS
til oslo bys 1000 års jubileum"
which means:
"Tiger
Elena Engelsen 2000
donated by
Eiendomsspar AS
to oslo city's 1000 anniversary"
Wikipedia also informs us that Oslo..."is the capital of and most populous city in Norway. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III, the city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814 and with Sweden from 1814 to 1905 reduced its influence. After being destroyed by a fire in 1624, the city was moved closer to Akershus Castle during the reign of King Christian IV and renamed Christiania in his honour. It was established as a municipality (formannskapsdistrikt) on 1 January 1838. Following a spelling reform, it was known as Kristiania from 1877 to 1925, when its original Norwegian name was restored.
Oslo is the economic and governmental centre of Norway. The city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for maritime industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to many companies within the maritime sector, some of which are amongst the world's largest shipping companies, shipbrokers and maritime insurance brokers. Oslo is a pilot city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission intercultural cities programme.
Oslo is considered a global city and ranked "Beta World City" in studies performed by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network in 2008. It was ranked number one in terms of quality of life among European large cities in the European Cities of the Future 2012 report by fDi Magazine. For several years, Oslo has been listed as one of the most expensive cities in the world along with such other global cities as Zurich, Geneva, Copenhagen, Paris, and Tokyo. In 2009, however, Oslo regained its status as the world's most expensive city. A survey conducted by ECA International in 2011 placed Oslo 2nd after Tokyo.
As of 2010 the metropolitan area of Oslo has a population of 1,442,318, of whom 912,046 live in the contiguous conurbation. The population currently increases at record rates, making it the fastest growing city in Europe. This growth stems for the most part from immigration and high birth rates among immigrants, but also from intra-national migration. The Norwegian population in the city is not decreasing in absolute numbers, but in relative terms the percentage of native Norwegians of the total population in the city proper is decreasing due to a growing immigrant population and thus a growing total population. The immigrant share of the population in the city proper now counts more than 25% of the city's total."
As to the question, Why a tiger? Wikipedia's Norwegian edition (
visit link) (translated to English informs us:
"Tiger Town is a nickname for Oslo originally used to describe Oslo as a dangerous and ruthless city.
History
The use of Tigerstaden about Oslo can be traced back to Bjorn Bjornson poems Good against (first called Last Song), in the collection Poems and Songs of (1870). The poem portrays a fight between a country horse and a tiger (symbol of the city). In an article in the Morning magazine in 1889 stated that Bjørnson hurled derisive word against Christiania, "this cold city, which he previously cold" tiger list "." Later Tigerstaden used by, among others, Christian Krogh, Nils Collett Vogt and Rudolf Muus.
Use today and tiger sculptures
The term is currently used most often by people who live further without necessarily negative reference it originally had. For many people in Oslo, although the term is positively charged and used with pride.
As a reference to the term was also placed a number of sculptures of tigers at the Fridtjof Nansen Square in front of City Hall in the anniversary year of 2000, and a large bronze sculpture of a tiger made ??by sculptor Elena Engelsen and provided by the company Eiendomsspar at Railway Square in front of the Central Station and a few elsewhere around the capital."