Nygårdsparken

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Lake in the lower part of Nygårdsparken.
Lake in the lower part of Nygårdsparken.

Nygårdsparken is a public park located in the city centre of Bergen, Norway, between the neighbourhoods of Nygård and Møhlenpris. At 74,2 decare,[dubious – discuss] Nygårdsparken is the largest urban park in Bergen.

[edit] History

Nygårdsparken was conceived by the physicians Joachim Georg Wiesener and Klaus Hanssen, who formed founded the Park Association of Nygaard (Nygaards Parkselskab) in 1880. A typical English park, it was laid out by the Danish gardener S. Lund Leiberg.

[edit] Today

Following the municipality expansions in 1972, the population in the city centre decreased 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 heroine, cannabis 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 taking place in the park, and for not taking action against drug dealers or the drug addicts themselves.[1][2]

As part of a plan to increase the kindergarten 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[3] and it being constructed too close to existing buildings,[4] the construction has been halted several times, but is likely to finish in early 2008.[4]

[edit] References

  • Gunnar Hagen Hartvedt (1994). "Nygårdsparken". Bergen Byleksikon: 352. 
  1. ^ Trond Nygard-Sture (2007). - Ikke vellykket narkopolitikk (Norwegian). Bergens Tidende. Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
  2. ^ Frode Bjerkestrand (2007). Narkoens fristad (Norwegian). Bergens Tidende. Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
  3. ^ Astrid Kolbjørnsen (2007). – Ren oppbevaring av ungene (Norwegian). Bergens Tidende. Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
  4. ^ a b Pål Andreas Mæland (2007). Ny stoppordre for barnehage (Norwegian). Bergens Tidende. Retrieved on 2007-12-28.