The town of Tolga in eastern Norway has inaugurated a granite bridge carved by Vietnamese artisans from a famous stone sculpting village in Danang.

It was built as part of a cooperation project between the Da Nang Literature and Arts Association and Norwegian sculptor Øyvin Storbækken to mark 35 years of Vietnam-Norway diplomatic relations, association Chairman Ho Hai Hoc said.

The 40-meter bridge was carved by 12 young Vietnamese artists undergoing training at the Danang Sculpture Center, under the supervision of Tolga native and master sculptor Storbækken.

The bridge, laid across a small water body in the heart of Tolga, had been built using 125 tons of granite quarried in Danang and transported to Norway by ship, and 40 tons of granite from Tolga, Hoc told Thanh Nien.

Granite bridge created by craftsmen Vietnam

It had taken two months to assemble the carved pieces and create the bridge using ancient European bridge architecture and Vietnamese designs.

The sculptors had been trained for three years for the project to improve their professional and English language skills, he said.

Hoc, who attended the bridge’s inaugural ceremony in Tolga, some 300 kilometers from the Norwegian capital Oslo, has since returned.

The bridge is the first of a series of sculptures planned for Tolga in cooperation with the Danang Sculpture Center.

Thanh Nien Newspaper