[The establishment of the "dollhouse" at Oslo hospital]

The "Dollhouse" at Oslo Hospital was established in 1778 in a municipal institution built in 1538 to serve poor people that had become struck by illness. A medical doctor cared for the insane inmates' somatic ailments and a priest for the needs of the soul. However, from the beginning of the nineteenth century the medical view came to dominate. The first Norwegian law concerning "The Treatment and Care of the Insane" was approved in 1848, co-authored by the first medical superintendent at Oslo Hospital, Herman Wedel Major, the first institutional psychiatrist in Norway. The Oslo Hospital is still in operation, now for both sexes as part of the community-run psychiatric services in Oslo.