Select Page
Heritage, Museums and Landmarks

Akershus Fortress, the Royal Palace, the Fram Museum, the National Museum, Vigeland Park and more — this section offers historically grounded interpretations of Oslo’s major landmarks. Each site is presented not merely as an attraction, but also as part of Norway’s political, cultural and social history.

How the statues around the Royal castle tell the complicated story of a nation finding it's new identity

How the statues around the Royal castle tell the complicated story of a nation finding it’s new identity

Statues and art work tell the story of how a nation that had spent four centuries as a Danish province ...
Botanical Garden in Oslo has been here for more than 200 years. But it was meant to be the university

Botanical Garden in Oslo has been here for more than 200 years. But it was meant to be the university

Oslo Botanical garden was established more than 200 years ago. Here's some how, why and what ...
Akershus, maleri av Eilif Peterssen, 1900

Akershus’ 700 Years of Secrets: From Medieval Stronghold to Modern Powerhouse

The king was so tired of aggressive Swedes shooting arrows from the top of Ekeberg into old Oslo. So he ...
The Vigeland Park: How Gustav Vigeland shaped humanity in 80 acres

The Vigeland Park: How Gustav Vigeland shaped humanity in 80 acres

He had a troubled relationship with his father—and at least four women. How could the sculptor Vigeland still so intensely ...
The royal palace with Carl Johan III in front. Public domain photo. Via snl.no.

Oslo’s Royal Palace and how it came to be

Built in the 1820s and 1840s, the Royal Palace in Oslo redirected the city’s growth and symbolised a new nation ...
Photo: Wolfmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 - Southern facade of Oslo Cathedral (Norwegian: Oslo domkirke), a Lutheran cruciform church built 1697 (restored ca. 1850, 1950, 2010, etc.) at the Stortorvet Square in Oslo, Norway.

Oslo Cathedral, faith, and the making of a plural city

Norway is among the most secular countries in the world. But we have a lot of churches anyway. This is ...
Oslo City Hall: A living monument of the building of a nation

Oslo City Hall: A living monument of the building of a nation

Oslo City hall is more than a building, it is a monument of the building of a nation ...
The Night Man in Stensparken

The Night Man in Stensparken

Stensparken belongs to the wider Fagerborg–St. Hanshaugen landscape that forms the emotional and geographical backdrop of The Half Brother, Lars ...
Walk the talk on the roof of the Opera

Walk the talk on the roof of the Opera

Democracy and equality can be expressed in many ways. One of them is to step on cultural icons. Literally, as ...
Villa Grande

From Villa Grande to the Holocaust Center: a house, a nation, and the problem of reckoning

The history of Villa Grande is not a footnote to Norwegian history. It is a condensed version of it. In ...
The Oslo Opera House: Where the City Meets the Sea

The Oslo Opera House: Where the City Meets the Sea

Oslo Opera house is both a cultural palace and a public space. Welcome in. And out ...
Inside MUNCH Museum Oslo: Beyond The Scream

Inside MUNCH Museum Oslo: Beyond The Scream

Edvard Munch is one of the world´s most famous painters. Join my guided tour in the MUNCH museum, and learn ...

Subscribe

Get updates when new posts are published