KISTEFOS

However, before there were sculptures and works by world-famous artists in the forest by the river at the waterfall, there was a paper mill in the area. It was founded in 1889 by consul Anders Sveaas. The factory operated until the mid-1950s. In 1993, the site was bought by the grandson of the factory's founder, Christen Sveaas, who remains the owner of the site today. The Kistefos museum owes him its current character. Today, on the Kistefos site you can visit a museum with well-preserved machines whose job it was to prepare paper pulp. Some of the machines are still in operation and visitors can run them themselves. This is the oldest surviving paper mill, which exported pulp to the whole of Europe. Some of the other buildings house present temporary exhibitions by artists from all over the world.

The park features 52 sculptures by contemporary artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Claes Oldenburg, Olafur Eliasson, Anish Kapoor, Fernando Botero, Jeppe Hein, Elmgreen & Dragset and by already  mentioned Tony Cragg. Some are monumental and already breathtaking in their sheer size, others are inspired by that particular place, its history or the nature around it, others are interactive and playful. You can definitely bring kids to Kistefos, it is a family place, a park where you can easily spend a whole day communing with art and nature at the same time. You can also have a simple and delicious lunch in the café located next to the wooden playground and buy souvenirs in the local boutique.

Path of silence by Danish artist Jeppe Hein is a labyrinth made of narrow and tall mirrors, with a fountain in the middle. In summer, it is dominated by children, who splash around in it in swimming costumes brought in especially for the occasion. Marc Quinn's All of Nature Flows Through Us, on the other hand, is a bronze and steel sculpture weighing more than 12 tonnes, lightly inserted into the river as if it weighed 12 kilograms.

Shine from Life by Yayoi Kusama is the artist's largest sculpture in northern Europe. Red tentacles with Kusama's trademark white dots protrude six metres upwards from the water by the mill of the former paper mill.

British sculptor Tony Cragg has as many as four major sculptures on display at Kistefos. The first to be commissioned was the monumental Castor and Pollux - the work draws on the story of the twins from Roman mythology and all of Cragg's sculptures on display at Kistefos are generally about the human condition and physiology in particular. It stands a little off to the side, but still catches the eye with its intense yellow colour, which stands out against the trees like ripe chanterelles in a forest canopy.

In the middle of the Kistefos sculpture park you will see The Twist - it is a sculpture, bridge and gallery in one. Temporary exhibitions are shown in this 60-metre-long, 1,000-square-metre space on the river. The building was designed by architects from the well-known Danish studio BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group. The New York Times and several other major titles have declared The Twist a cultural ‘must see’.

If you are planning a trip to Norway, make sure to put Kistefos on your list of places to visit, you won't regret it.

Kistefos, Samsmoveien 41, Jevnaker, Norway