All right, it's a tiger made out of bronze, so there will be no unexpected meals consisting of tourists on the menu. Sure enough, there's a story there.
Oslo's nickname is the Tiger City. In 1870, Norwegian poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote a poem, "Sidste Sang," that described a fight between a horse and a tiger. Supposedly, the tiger was a metaphor for the city and the horse represented the countryside. I'll take their word for it. In any event, the tiger doesn't represent danger; it stands for excitement.
On the other hand, some say that the Danish word for beggar was Tigger, and Oslo became known as the city of beggars to some. Switching to Tiger was a reaction to that. The truth? Who knows? It's a nice-looking tiger, though.
It was a gift to the city in 2000; that marked Oslo's 1,000th anniversary.
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