Emanuel Vigeland

August Emanuel Vigeland was born in Halse og Harkmark in Mandal, Vest-Agder county.

From October 1899 to February 1902, Vigeland stayed abroad, first as a student in Paris, then in Italy, Spain and the UK.

In 1909, Vigeland was commissioned to decorate frescoes, stained glass and lighting equipment for the first Norwegian Crematorium (Det gamle kapell).

The same year he was invited to participate in the competition for the decoration of fresco paintings and stained glass in the new assembly hall at the University of Oslo.

The inside walls and roof are covered in a giant fresco, Vita, depicting human life, love and death.

It is rumoured that Emanuel was annoyed by always being in the shadow of his better known brother Gustav Vigeland and that this gesture of morbid humour was his posthumous revenge.

The amazing acoustics of the mausoleum can be heard in recordings by various artists: In 1902, Emanuel Vigeland married Valborg Kristine Madsen (1879–1951).