Oslo Spektrum
Encyclopedia
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...
, 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...
. It opened in December 1990. It is currently owned and operated by Norges Varemesse (Norway Trade Fairs), who also own and operate the Norges Varemesse conference center in Lillestrøm
Lillestrøm
' is a city in the municipality of Skedsmo, Akershus, Norway. The municipal administration is located in Lillestrøm.Facilities in Lillestrøm include hotels, Norway trade fairs, a brand new cinema, a mall, Lillestrøm torv, restaurants, a high speed commuter train that reaches both Oslo and...
which is Norway's largest conference center. Oslo Spektrum is primarily known for hosting major events such as the Nobel Peace Prize Concert
Nobel Peace Prize Concert
The Nobel Peace Prize Concert has been held annually since 1994 on 11 December, one day after the date of Alfred Nobel's death, to honour the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The award ceremony on 10 December takes place in the Oslo City Hall, while the concert is in the Oslo Spektrum Arena, with the...
, Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
, and concerts by artists of national and international fame.
History
Oslo Spektrum was part of a large-scale redevelopment of the formerly industrial GrønlandGrønland
Grønland is a neighbourhood in central Oslo, Norway. It is served by several tram and bus lines, as well as the Oslo Metro at the Grønland Station....
/Vaterland
Vaterland, Norway
Vaterland is a neighborhood in Oslo, Norway. It is located north of the tracks at Oslo Central Station, between Jernbanetorget, Storgata and Akerselva river. The area features Oslo Central Station and Oslo Bus Terminal, the shopping centers Oslo City and Byporten, Galleri Oslo, Radisson Blu Plaza...
area. It was designed by LPO Arkitektkontor AS, and its exterior walls were decorated with ceramic tiles containing fragments of prints by the artist Rolf Nesch
Rolf Nesch
Rolf Nesch was an expressionist artist, especially noted for his printmaking. Born in Germany, he moved to Norway following the Nazi takeover in 1933.-Career:...
. Since this artist died in 1975, permission was obtained from his living relatives, and the decorating was supervised by painter Guttorm Guttormsgaard and ceramic artist Søren Ubisch. In 2004 Oslo Spektrum was awarded the Oslo City Council's award for outstanding architectural achievement. At the time of opening it was Norway's largest indoor arena, with a capacity of 9,700 at concerts and 6,500 during sporting events). It has since been expanded several times. In Greater Oslo both Valhall Arena (capacity 13,000 for concerts/4,000 for sporting events) and Telenor Arena
Telenor Arena
Telenor Arena, sometimes referred to as Fornebu Arena, is a multi-use indoor arena located at Fornebu in Bærum, outside Oslo, Norway. It serves primarily as a football stadium for Norwegian Premier League side Stabæk Fotball, but is also used as a concert venue...
(capacity 25,000/15,000) provide larger venues. Oslo Spektrum was conceived as a multi-purpose arena although it was intended primarily for ice hockey. In this capacity it was intended as the home of both Vålerenga Ishockey
Vålerenga Ishockey
Vålerenga Ishockey is an Oslo-based ice hockey club, and a part of the Vålerenga IF multi-sports club. Their home arena is Jordal Amfi, located in eastern Oslo. Jordal Amfi was built for the 1952 Winter Olympics. The mother club was founded in 1913, but the did not take up ice hockey until the late...
and Furuset Ishockey, but this did not work out as expected and the venue was soon left to rely on other means of generating revenue.
Location
One of Oslo Spektrum's prime attributes is its location in the middle of Downtown Oslo, next to the Central Station, long and medium haul bus terminal, JernbanetorgetJernbanetorget
Jernbanetorget is a large square in Oslo, Norway, in front of Oslo Central Station. It is the largest node for public transportation in Norway, with all tram lines passing through and connection to all train services in Oslo at the train station and all express- and regional busses departing from...
public transportation hub and only a short distance from international ferry terminals. This makes it easily accessible and minimizes traffic problems when crowds arrive at events and disperse afterwards, which has been an issue with other venues such as the more remotely located Telenor Arena
Telenor Arena
Telenor Arena, sometimes referred to as Fornebu Arena, is a multi-use indoor arena located at Fornebu in Bærum, outside Oslo, Norway. It serves primarily as a football stadium for Norwegian Premier League side Stabæk Fotball, but is also used as a concert venue...
.
Events
Designed from the outset to be flexible and in line with international standards for sporting events and concerts, Oslo Spektrum can accommodate almost any type of entertainment show or sports event that can fit inside. It has built-in ice making facilities, and while it is rarely used for ice hockey nowadays, it regularly hosts ice shows like Walt Disney's World on Ice. It also hosts the Norwegian Handball Championships, for a period becoming Norway's largest handball arena. Other notable events that are regularly held here include the Nobel Peace Prize ConcertNobel Peace Prize Concert
The Nobel Peace Prize Concert has been held annually since 1994 on 11 December, one day after the date of Alfred Nobel's death, to honour the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The award ceremony on 10 December takes place in the Oslo City Hall, while the concert is in the Oslo Spektrum Arena, with the...
, Norwegian Idol finals, Spellemannsprisen (Norwegian music awards), and the Oslo Horse Show. Currently, Spektrum hosts a total of 100 events annually, with some 400.000 visitors. Of these, 70% are concerts by major national and international artists, 10% are other types of entertainment shows, 13% are fairs, conferences and corporate events, and only 3% are sporting events.
Highlights of its history include the fact that Oslo Spektrum was the venue for the first concert the Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
performed as a quartet, on the 29th of May 1998, following the departure of Geri Halliwell
Geri Halliwell
Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell is an English pop singer-songwriter, author and actress. After coming to international prominence in the late 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, Halliwell launched her solo career in 1998 and released her album Schizophonic...
. It also hosted the four final shows of A-ha
A-ha
A-ha were a Norwegian pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. The band was founded by Morten Harket , Magne Furuholmen , and Pål Waaktaar...
's farewell tour—on the 30th of November, 2nd, 3rd and 4th of December 2010, making it the venue for their final concert.