Nygårdsparken is a public park

Park

A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

 located in the city centre of Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, between the neighbourhoods of Nygård and Møhlenpris

Møhlenpris

Møhlenpris, formerly Vestre Sydnes, is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen, Norway, located next to the Puddefjord. The neighbourhood is named after Jørgen Thor Møhlen, who established some industry at Møhlenpris in the late 17th century...

. Covering 172.896 square meters, Nygårdsparken is the largest urban park

Urban park

An urban park, is also known as a municipal park or a public park, public open space or municipal gardens , is a park in cities and other incorporated places to offer recreation and green space to residents of, and visitors to, the municipality...

 in Bergen.

History

Nygårdsparken was conceived by the physicians Joachim Georg Wiesener and Klaus Hanssen

Klaus Hanssen

Klaus Hanssen was a Norwegian physician and politician for the Liberal Party and the Coalition Party.He served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament during the terms 1889–1891, representing the constituency Bergen. He was a member of Bergen city council for several years,...

, who founded the Park Association of Nygaard (Nygaards Parkselskab) in 1880. A typical English park

English Park

English Park is a multi-use stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Canterbury United. The stadium has a capacity of 9,000 people....

, it was laid out by the Danish gardener S. Lund Leiberg.

In 1898 the "Bergen exhibition" changed the park into an exhibition area. With a ticket costing 50 øre

Øre

Øre is the centesimal subdivision of the Norwegian and Danish krones. The Faroese division is called the oyra, but is equal in value to the Danish coin. Before their discontinuation, the corresponding divisions of the Swedish krona and the Icelandic króna were the öre and the eyrir...

 you could visit a small zoo

Zoo

A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....

 and a botanical garden, study objects from Nansen

Fridtjof Nansen

Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...

's polar expeditions, and take the elevator

Elevator

An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...

 to the top of Wisbech & Meinich's "Panorama tower with electric elevator". A lift attendant in uniform

Uniform

A uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools and by inmates...

 was in charge of what was most likely the first elevator in Bergen. Norway's first elevator was namely produced in the same year, in Wisbech's factory in Christiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

.

Today

Following the uncontrolled expansion of the city in the last half of the 20th century, the population in the city centre fell dramatically. While Nygårdsparken had earlier been within short walking distance of 30-40.000 people, this was no longer the case. As a result, the interest in the park fell, leading to a lack of maintenance. Eventually, drug addicts, lacking better places to stay, began using the park for their purposes. Nygårdsparken evolved into the main drug area in Bergen, with sale of heroin, cannabis

Cannabis

Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...

 and other drugs taking place all day and night. The police has been criticised both for not paying attention to the amount of drug abuse

Drug abuse

Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...

 taking place in the park, and for not taking action against drug dealers or the drug addicts themselves.

As part of a plan to increase the kindergarten

Kindergarten

A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

 capacity in Bergen, the municipality decided in 2007 to build seven temporary kindergartens in Bergen, including one in Nygårdsparken, with a total capacity of 550 children. Due to protests from locals, mostly concerning the unaesthetic appearance of the kindergarten and it being constructed too close to existing buildings, the construction has been halted several times, but the kindergarten is now in function.