Sagstua

Sagstua sits in Oslo, a small cottage beside the water of Sagdammen, and locals sometimes call the spot Sagløkka. It is all that remains of a larger group of buildings.

The place began as a sawmill and a crofter's cottage under Skullerud farm, chosen for the water power the dam could deliver. Water power drove Norway's sawmills before electricity, so old industrial sites like this one sit close to rivers and lakes. The mill and its outbuildings stood on the western side and lasted until the end of the Second World War. Most came down after the war as the city grew and changed. A fire destroyed the original cottage in 1999. The building you see today went up in the early 2000s, in the same style as before.

The Ljanselva environmental project uses the cottage as its base for meetings and workshops. The group looks after the local river, and the place still brings people together. The surrounding area is popular with walkers, so history and outdoor life share the same ground. Just south of the cottage lies Sagdammen, reconstructed to its appearance from the 1800s, the water that once ran the sawmill.