Villa Grande

Villa Grande is an imposing mansion on Bygdøy in Oslo, built beginning in 1917 according to designs by architects Christian Morgenstierne and Arne Eide for industrialist Sam Eyde. After changing owners several times, and many years of being left incomplete, the house was eventually taken over by the state in the 1920s. However, it truly gained infamy during the German occupation of Norway in World War II: from 1941 to 1945 it served as the residence of Vidkun Quisling and his wife, and during that time the villa was renamed “Gimlé.” Under Quisling the house was transformed into a lavish “leader’s residence,” befitting his role as head of the collaborationist regime. After liberation in 1945, the building was briefly used as headquarters by Allied forces; later it served various functions — including embassy use, hospital or institutional purposes. In 2005 the mansion was repurposed to house the Center for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities (HL-senteret), turning a symbol of oppression into a centre for remembrance, research and education about the Holocaust and minorities’ rights. Today Villa Grande stands both as a preserved historic building and as a powerful reminder of Norway’s wartime past — a place where memory, architecture and human rights converge.