Fritz Holland

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Fritz Holland (1874–1959), architect, museum man and founder of the Det gamle Christiania association

Fritz Albrecht Grevelius Holland (born June 24, 1874 in Christiania ; † July 29, 1959 in Oslo) was a Norwegian architect, museum man and initiator for the founding of the Oslo Bymuseum (today Bymuseet ), Bærummuseum and the Akerdalen Museum .

Fritz Holland was the son of the master builder and brick factory owner Friedrich Wilhelm Holland (1845–1922), a German immigrant from Christiania, and his Swedish-born wife Mimmi Albertine Grevelius (1844–1902). After a school education in his hometown, he passed high school and the building master's exam in Germany. Immediately afterwards, he trained as an architect in Berlin, where he graduated in 1899. He returned to Christiania that same year, but the stock market crash - also known as Kristaniakrakket - made it difficult for a newly trained architect to find employment. Instead, he campaigned for the preservation of historic monuments in a city that, while he was away, was experiencing a boom, an unprecedented building boom, and was tough on its cultural heritage.

Association "The old Christiania"

Sign of the Det gamle Christiania association , drawing by Fritz Holland, which depicts the Vollport store

The first orders that Holland obtained were financed by the municipality and were used to measure historical buildings and excavations in the old town of Oslo ( Gamlebyen ). As an activist and spokesman, he helped ensure that the Basarene market building was spared demolition when a new stock exchange was planned on this property. After the plan to found a municipal city museum was abandoned, he took the initiative and founded the association "Das Alte Christiania" (Det gamle Christiania) . The aim of the association was to preserve the building and to support the museum work. A committee made up of Bishop Anton Christian Bang , Lieutenant Colonel H. Wessel and the architects Harald Olsen , Torolf Prytz and Fritz Holland convened a founding meeting on December 22, 1905 in order to obtain aid and support from the economy, culture and politics. At the meeting, a working committee consisting of the painter Eilif Peterssen , the telegraph director Thomas Heftye and the archivist E. Hartmann was founded. At the constituent general assembly on March 13, 1906, laws were passed which aimed to arouse interest in the old buildings and monuments in Christiania and Akerdalen. This should be achieved by preserving and preserving monuments and documenting them by means of photographs, measurements and model buildings. The collecting and exhibiting of maps, paintings, drawings, photographs and objects of all kinds should contribute to shedding light on the old city and the surrounding area, topography, cultural history and the reputation of bygone times.

The association was given rooms in Departementsgården at Dronningens gate 15 (street in Oslo), but had to move to other offices in the same year. Holland became the club's secretary and the museum's first curator . He collected items and eloquently solicited members. In the first year the association already had more than 250 members. Among the objects that he particularly valued were the two Vedelagssteinene from Store Vollport from the ramparts around Christiania, which were walled into a foundation in Gamlebyen. They have a Latin inscription that commemorates the founding of the city on September 27, 1624. The plans even included an open-air museum for the city and for this purpose Holland rescued demolition material from Egeberg gården by Østbanestasjon and the Etterstad farm house . They were stored at the Frogner estate .

Bymuseum at Gut Frogner

Opening of the Bymuseum on Frogner in 1909, drawing by Øyvind Sørensen in Aftenposten

Holland's greatest contribution was the move of the Oslo Bymuseum , Oslo's City Museum, to Gut Frogner in 1909. In 1896 the Christiania Commune bought the farm to create a cemetery and new building plots, but the planning understood the need for one Park, and so it came about that the majority was allocated to Frognerpark . The development on the estate was recognized as a cultural asset and placed under protection. However, various politicians were of the opinion that the first mayor Sofus Arctander should get his official apartment in the main building. But the association, with Holland as its advocate, fought vigorously against this plan and in May 1909 received permission for the Oslo Bymuseeum to move into the building - on the condition that the municipality would not incur any further costs. The museum was thus able to open its first exhibition on Frogner on August 19, 1909. The plans for an official apartment were given up and the Bymuseum took over the entire main building.

Holland fought against a repair and rebuilding of Frogner by the commune, as he saw this as destruction. This earned him many enemies in the club and in the community. Hans Aall , director of the Norsk Folkemuseum , saw the new museum as a dangerous competitor and got the board of directors to only collect pictures and not objects. The conflict ended with Holland having to leave his position as managing director and curator in 1911. His successor was Stian Herlofsen Finne-Grønn. Nevertheless, the resigned curator Holland was re-elected to chair the association at the general assembly on April 29, 1912. Internal conflicts in the board of directors and between the chairmen paralyzed the effectiveness of the association completely and it ended with Holland withdrawing from his office and resigning from the association in November of the same year. His plan for the Bymuseum was forgotten and the components for the open-air museum were sold to a junk dealer. Until 1950, the entire exhibition had the character of a pure picture gallery with images of the city and portraits of historical people.

Architect and monument protector

Fritz Holland's proposal for the Vikinghal in the Nisseberg with the idea of ​​a "mausoleum" for the Viking ship, Teknisk Ugeblad December 6, 1907

Fritz Holland had little experience as an architect and little is known about his work, which is why it is not listed in the Norwegian Artist Lexicon (Norsk Kunstnerleksikon) . One of his most important works is the Heggedal kirke from 1932. After the discovery of the Viking ship Osebergskip in 1903 and its excavations over the next few years, he proposed in 1905 that the Viking ship be exhibited in a blown hall in Nisseberget on Fredriks gate in Oslo, near the Historisk Museum . The project was shown with drawings in the daily newspapers and in 1907 in the specialist magazine Teknisk Ugeblad . Holland's perspective drawing of the interior is strikingly similar to the interior of the Vikingskiphus , which was built on Bygdøy 1926–32. The “Viking Hall ” under the Nisseberg found many supporters, but an opponent was Gabriel Gustafson , director of the exhibition of the Universitets Oldsaksamling from the Historisk Museum. So the hall was closed in 1912 and four years later it was decided to build a new Viking Ship Museum on Bygdøy.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Oslo Byarkiv. Say no. 57 (1903). Information about the fundamentals of the museum for Kristiania
  2. "Vikinge-Skibene i Gravhal under Nisseberget - En interesting plan." Morgenbladet July 2nd 1905.