Oslo remembers

Before arriving in Oslo, I wondered if the city would feel changed. The memory of the attack last summer and the ongoing trial lingered in my mind. At the station, banners proclaiming “The city remembers” greeted me like a silent beacon.

Regjeringskvartalet is clearly visible above all other buildings of central Oslo.

The district of Regjeringskvartalet sits above the city’s hum like a scar stretched across its face. On a morning in July last year, a car bomb detonated in the government quarter. The blast rattled windows several kilometres away.

Regjeringskvartalet including the office of the prime minister, the target of the attack.

Almost a year later, there is still replacement wood where windows once shattered, the echo of destruction lingering in the glass and frames. Life tries to steady itself, but the tremor remains.

This closed area leads to the place where the car was parked.

Broken glass frame at the newspaper VG.

I generally don’t encourage “catastrophe tourism”. But this place drew an emotional chord, struck without ceremony. Visiting the site of the attack isn’t comfortable. It shouldn’t be. That’s the point.