Stupet
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| Stupet - home of Conrad Mohr | |
The reception room at NHH, Stupet (the precipice), takes its name from the house of which it was originally a part. The room was originally the dining room in the mansion of Mr Conrad Mohr, merchant and Honorary German Consul in Bergen. As the name suggests, Mohr’s house was built near the edge of a cliff. It was situated near Nordåsvannet, a scenic lake in the southern part of Bergen. One of the closest neighbouring properties was Gamlehaugen, the residence of Mohr’s good friend and Norway’s first Prime Minister after independence Christian Michelsen.
Stupet was designed by architect Jens Z. M. Keiland and was built in 1897. Most of the interior decoration was done by the painter Gerhard Munthe, who was one of Norway's most prominent decorative artists in the 1890's. Munthe's unique ornamental style was inspired by Norwegian folk art and medieval art, amongst other things. He is perhaps best known for his decoration of Håkonshallen, although unfortunately his work there was destroyed in World War II.
The interior of Stupet is a typical example of the great interest in Norway's national history and art that predominated in the 1890's and 1900's. The materials are characteristic: exposed timber walls and doors inspired by the portals of stave churches, the most Norwegian of buildings. The furniture and interior decoration are a mixture of antiques from the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteen centuries, as well as some newer replicas of older pieces of furniture. The furniture invokes a feeling of the Hanseatic period, a time in which Bergen thrived as a centre of international trade.
Stupet - the reception and function room at NHH
Stupet was a gift to NHH from Dr. Anton Mohr, a professor at the school and son of Conrad Mohr. When Dr. Mohr took over the large estate by Nordåsvannet, the mansion had deteriorated to the extend that he found it necessary to replace it with a smaller, more practical residence. He donated the mansion's dining room (96 m2) and all of its contents to the school. At that time NHH was in the process of building a new campus at Breiviken, and Foreningen for NHH i Bergen (the Association for NHH in Bergen) assumed the financial responsibility for moving the room. It was a painstaking and expensive job. Foreningen for NHH i Bergen also donated funds for the purchase of porcelain and crystalware to serve 24 people, and an anonymous donor gave a complete set of silver tableware. In 1963 the room was completely restored and placed in its own annex to the main building at the new NHH campus, on the edge of a precipice overlooking the sea.
The dining room has been preserved exactly as it stood in the mansion at Nordåsvaanet. Many prominent guests have visited this room and been served at the large dinning table. Among then were Norway's own King Håkon VII as well as the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Other guests included Christian Michelsen and prominent figures from Norway's political cultural and academic life at the time, poet/ author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, the sculptor Gustav Vigeland, the explorer and politician Fridtjof Nansen, the politician and prime minister Wollert Konow and and the painter Nikolai Astrup. The composer Edvard and his wife Nina were also guests and Nina resided with the Mohrs for several months following her husbands death.
