It’s been a while but here is statue of the week 57!

So Maria, Wendy and I were talking the other day about writing. We do this every six weeksish. Maria mentioned that she missed my blog and that I should get in the groove and start blogging again. I have several statues that I had already taken photos of back in 2012, which was when I last blogged. So I found the photos, worked out which were the last statues I blogged about and here I am 🙂

Statue of the week is in the same vicinity as statue of the week 56, just outside the Stortinget. This is Christian Michelsen (1857 – 1925). Michelsen was a shipping magnate and was elected to the Norwegian parliament (Storting) in 1891, becoming the prime minister in 1905. 1905 is a significant date in Norwegian history as this is when the union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved. Michelsen was heavily involved in the dissolution. The union required that laws relating to foreign affairs could not be passed by the Norwegian parliament, they required the consent of the Swedish parliament. Norway was not happy about this and wanted control over foreign affairs and created a bill providing the Norwegian parliament with this power. Sweden disagreed and King Oscar (of Sweden and Norway) refused to sign the bill. As a result the whole of the Norwegian cabinet resigned. King Oscar was unable to form a new government and was declared unfit to rule and therefore ceased to be King of Norway. This formed the legal basis for the dissolution of the union. Later there was a national referrendum which showed the Norwegian will to dissolve the union. Another referrendum was held asking Norwegians if Prince Carl of Denmark would be an acceptable person to become King of Norway – a democratic monarchy. The Norwegian population said yes and Prince Carl became King Haakon VII of Norway. Michelsen remained a politician until 1907 when he resigned.