DOORS IN OSLO # 40

Original it was the house of the city recorder / bailiff from 1640 - 1727. The municipal treasurer took over the house, but he was not honest. He was taken for embezzlement, and the house was given by the king to Christiania municipality.

"Christiania Oppfostringshus", 1778 -1917 in Kongens gate (The Kings road).

Christiania is the old name on Oslo, and "Oppfostringshus" is something like a nurturing home (bit sad that it doesn't stand home, but house).

The home was for poor legitimate children (that means not children that was born outside marriage). Both boys and girls lived here, 25 of each gender. It seems that it was children from craftsmen that came here. Some orphans, others had one or both parents so poor that they could not feed the kids. It was not only a home, but also a school for the kids living there.

The nurturing home struggled to survive financially, the owners bought Christiana's biggest newspaper and educated the children to become typographers. Like that they got work that culd bring them out of poverty.

The children got sing lessons and to earn money the children also had to sing in funerals and high mass.

Needless to say, even if this home was like Oliver Twist, it is nothing to be proud of.
It became a home for just 40 boys until as late as 1978 -and oh boy, have they some stories to tell!