Famous Landmarks in Oslo
A medieval fortress, a neoclassical palace and a marble opera house line one fjord shore.
Oslo's principal landmarks sit within a short walk of one another around the inner Oslofjord. Akershus Fortress occupies a rocky spur guarding the harbour, its medieval stone bulk predating the rest of the centre by centuries. A few streets inland, the neoclassical Royal Palace closes the head of the city's main avenue, fronted by a square and backed by a park. Facing the water again, red-brick Oslo City Hall raises twin towers over the harbour front, finished at mid-century after a wartime pause. Newest of all, the Oslo Opera House meets the fjord directly in the Bjørvika district, its angled marble and granite surfaces built to look as though the structure is rising out of the water.
Akershus Fortress
1299
Pale stone ramparts and a cluster of steep-roofed towers stand directly above the water on a rocky spur, a compact medieval bulk beside newer harbourside development.
Akershus Fortress rose on a promontory above the Oslofjord as a combined stronghold and royal residence, built to protect the young city and give its rulers a base overlooking the harbour. For centuries it lent its name to the surrounding county, one of Eastern Norway's four historic main regions, and remained the seat of a smaller sub-county until 1842 and of the larger county until 1919. Beyond its military role, the fortress has served as a prison, and its buildings now house the Norwegian prime minister's temporary office.
- It gave its name to one of Norway's four historic main regions, Akershus.
- Its buildings currently serve as the temporary office of the Norwegian prime minister.
Photo: Falk2 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Royal Palace
1849 · Hans Linstow
A symmetrical, colonnaded neoclassical block standing at the head of a long central avenue, an open square before its main front and a landscaped park spreading behind it.
The Royal Palace was built in the first half of the nineteenth century as the Norwegian residence of Charles XIV John, a French-born ruler who held the crowns of Norway and Sweden in personal union. Designed in the neoclassical style, it stands at the end of a long central avenue, fronted by an open square and backed by a landscaped park. It remains the working residence of the reigning monarch, while the crown prince's household is based at Skaugum, outside the city.
- It was built for a king born in France who reigned over two separate northern kingdoms at once.
- The reigning monarch lives here, but the crown prince's household is based elsewhere, at Skaugum.
Photo: W. Bulach (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Oslo Opera House
2008 · Snøhetta
Angled white surfaces faced in Carrara marble and granite slope up from the fjord's edge, giving the building a low, tilted silhouette that appears to emerge from the water itself.
Completed in 2008 to a design by the firm Snøhetta, the Oslo Opera House is home to the national opera and ballet companies and is the largest cultural building erected in Norway since Nidaros Cathedral was finished around 1300. Spread across 49,000 square metres, it holds 1,100 rooms, including a main auditorium seating 1,364 people alongside two smaller halls, plus a main stage 16 metres wide and 40 metres deep. A government property agency operates the building, sited at the head of the Oslofjord.
- Its exterior is faced in marble quarried at Carrara, in Italy.
- It is the largest cultural building raised in Norway since Nidaros Cathedral, finished around the year 1300.
Photo: Ignaz Wiradi (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Oslo City Hall
1931–1950 · Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson
Two brick towers of slightly different heights, 63 and 66 metres, rise from a red-brick block on the harbour front, the taller one carrying a 49-bell carillon.
Oslo City Hall took nearly two decades to complete: construction began in 1931 and was halted for several years by the Second World War before finishing in 1950. Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson designed the red-brick building, using oversized bricks made locally at Hovin Teglverk, closer in size to medieval brickwork than to standard bricks of the 1930s. It houses the city council and municipal administration and hosts the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony each December beneath its taller, carillon-fitted tower.
- It hosts the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony every December.
- Its bricks were made to a size closer to medieval brickwork than to standard bricks of its own era.
Photo: Ryan Hodnett (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Viking Ship Museum
1926–1957 · Arnstein Arneberg
The complex has been closed since 2021 for an expansion project due to reopen in 2027; when open, its principal hall displays the intact hull of a ship recovered from the largest known ship burial ever excavated, alongside two further burial-ship halls built in stages during the twentieth century.
Arnstein Arneberg won a competition to design a home for Viking Age ships unearthed at Tune, Gokstad and Oseberg, with construction proceeding in stages: the hall for the intact Oseberg ship, from the largest known ship burial in the world, opened in 1926; halls for the Gokstad and Tune ships followed in 1932; a final hall delayed by the Second World War finished in 1957. The complex, part of the University of Oslo's Museum of Cultural History, has been closed since 2021 for an expansion designed by the Danish firm AART Architects, due to reopen in 2027.
- The Oseberg ship, displayed intact, comes from the largest known ship burial ever excavated.
- Construction of the final hall was delayed for years, partly by the Second World War, and only finished in 1957.
- The museum's 2016 extension design, by the Danish firm AART Architects, was named "NAUST".
Photo: Balou46 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
History
Oslo was founded near the end of the Viking Age, around 1040, and became a bishopric in 1070 and, around 1300, a royal capital under Haakon V, the period that produced Akershus Fortress on the fjord's edge. Long spells in personal union with Denmark reduced the city's independence, and in 1624 a fire destroyed the medieval settlement outright. King Christian IV had a new city built on the opposite shore, closer to the fortress for protection, and renamed it Christiania after himself, fixing the layout of today's centre. Oslo served again as a national capital during the 1814-1905 union with Sweden, the period behind the Royal Palace and the avenue leading to it. It became a formal municipality in 1838, was renamed Oslo in 1925, and absorbed the neighbouring municipality of Aker in 1948, after which its mid-century and contemporary landmarks followed.