Troldhaugen (Edvard Grieg's Home)

Troldhaugen is the villa where the composer Edvard Grieg and his wife, the singer Nina Grieg, lived from 1885 until his death in 1907, set on a wooded headland beside Nordåsvatnet lake at Troldhaugvegen 65 in Paradis, south of central Bergen in Vestland, Norway. The site is run as a museum and concert venue and combines several buildings in one compact grounds. The white wooden villa remains furnished largely as the couple left it, with Grieg's Hamburg Steinway grand piano, family portraits, and rooms that give a sense of daily life in the late nineteenth century. Down the slope toward the water stands the small composing hut, painted red, where Grieg worked in solitude and where several of his best-known pieces took shape. A modern museum building holds exhibitions on his life and music, a shop and a cafe, and a concert hall seats a small audience for recitals. Lunchtime concerts of Grieg's piano works are held in the hall during the summer months and are a main reason to time a visit around midday. A short path leads to the burial site, where the composer and his wife are interred in a chamber cut into a rock face overlooking the lake, a quiet spot that many visitors find the most moving part of the grounds. The lakeside paths offer the best photographs, particularly of the villa framed by trees and the hut at water level. A typical visit lasts around two hours, with extra time if a concert is attended. Crowds are heaviest on summer days when cruise ships are in Bergen, usually from late morning to mid-afternoon; early opening hours and late afternoon are calmer. Bybanen light rail line 1 runs to Hop, from where the walk takes about 15 minutes, and bus 20 from the centre is an alternative. Adult admission is around NOK 190, with children under 16 entering free.