Oslo is a wonderful city... and a very expensive city. If you can’t afford the Oslo Pass, which entitles you to free entry to all museums, free public transportation, and free parking, don’t worry. You can visit all of the following attractions free of charge, and they’re all within walking distance of Central Oslo, so you won’t have to pay for transportation, (except, perhaps, to refuel, but be warned--food in Norway is rather expensive as well)...
Frognerparken
About half an hour’s walk northwest of central Oslo is Frognerparken, which might be described as the city’s lungs, but for the fact that Oslo is so verdant and spread out that comparing the city to an amphibian that breathes through its entire skin might be rather more apt. Even such animals have gills, however, and Frognerparken serves this purpose for them (it contains numerous ponds and is bisected by a stream), as well as much of Oslo’s human population. What distinguishes it from being a merely pleasant city park, however, is the presence of dozens of bronze figures lining its central walkway, executed by Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943), Norway’s greatest sculptor. These lead to a fountain and an even more impressive granite monolith composed of interlacing human forms.
Royal Palace and Slottsparken
Norway’s citizens voted overwhelmingly for the country to become a monarchy when it achieved independence from Sweden in 1905. As Norway had not been an independent state since 1380, it lacked a royal family, and Prince Carl of Denmark (Norway’s other former ruler) was chosen as king, taking the name Håkon VII. He ruled until 1957 and is beloved by Norwegians for his role heading the country’s government in exile during the Nazi Occupation (1940-1945). His son, Olav V, known as "Folkekongen" ("The People’s King") for his common touch, ruled until 1991. His son Harald V, who shocked the country by marrying a commoner in 1968, is currently the country’s monarch.
Although the relatively modest Royal Palace itself is only open to the public for irregular tours (usually at 2pm in the summer, and there is a charge), you can watch the changing of the guard daily at 1:30pm in front of the palace, which faces down onto the city center. Slottsparken, a green area which surrounds the palace, is open to all, and surprisingly seems to be one of Oslo’s least visited public parks. The area to the rear of the palace, with benches overlooking a pair of ponds, is thus an excellent place to take a solitary respite from this most relaxed of capital cities.
Aula Maxima
Just down the hill from the Palace, on Karl Johan’s gate, sit the classical buildings of the University of Oslo, Norway’s oldest and most prestigious university. The largest, appropriately named the Aula Maxima, contains a little-visited lecture hall containing a series of murals painted by Edvard Munch between 1911 and 1916. Representing life, education, and the arts and sciences, their bright colors and optimistic themes stand in stark contrast to the morbid master’s more famous small canvases, although they’re rendered with the same broad, expressionist brushstrokes.
Nasjonalgalleriet(National Gallery)
Just behind the Aula Maxima, the Nasjonalgalleriet (National Gallery) contains many of Munch’s darkest and most famous works, including "The Scream" and "Madonna" (copies of which were stolen in August 2004 from the Munch Museum). As well as the inevitable collection of 19th-century Norwegian artists, their Danish contemporaries are well-represented. In particular, the works of the neoclassicist Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783-1853) and the under-appreciated Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) merit particular attention. Unfortunately, the rather confusing floorplan, relative dearth of explanatory materials, and cursory collection of non-Scandinavian paintings (assembled with more emphasis placed on the reputation of the painters than the quality of the individual works) make the museum pale in comparison to its impressive counterpart in Bergen. As it’s stuffy in summer and chilly in winter, there’s no reason to see much more than the highlights.
Stortinget (Parliament)
Situated on Karl Johans gate, at the end of Eidvollsplass, the park which bisects central Oslo, stands the peculiarly shaped yellow-brick Stortinget (Parliament) building. Completed in 1866 to a plan by the architect Victor Langlet, it can be visited on daily English-language-guided tours at 10am and 1pm from July 1 to August 15, and at the same times on Saturdays only during the rest of the year.
Norway’s Parliament has met since 1814, when a group of revolutionaries sought independence from Denmark and promulgated the country’s constitution. Seeking to recall the medieval assemblies that ruled Norway prior to Danish rule, the framers named the body the "Storting" (literally "Great Assembly.") This accounts for its unusual "qualified unicameral" system, where all members are elected simultaneously by popular vote every four years, but a quarter of these members are then elected by their colleagues to form a Lagting (Upper House), while the remainder compose the Odelsting (Lower House). Legislation originates in the Odelsting, while the Lagting only has the power to amend legislation.
Although Norway fell almost immediately under Swedish rule, the new overlords allowed the consitution to remain, meaning that it is the world’s second-oldest constitution still in force, after its American counterpart. Unfortunately, it too reflected the prejudices of its times, as Article 2, included at the behest of the clergyman Nicolai Wergeland, banned Jews from the country. Ironically, it was through the efforts of his son Henrik Wergeland, Norway’s national poet, that this restriction was removed in 1851. It was subsequently reinstated under Nazi occupation by Vidkun Quisling, the collaborationist whose name has since become a synonym for treason.
Akershus Festning
Quisling’s Nazi masters used Akershus Festning, the medieval fortress overlooking Oslo’s harbor, as a prison and execution ground. Today, however, its grounds are given over to a large park, whose walls afford a host of attractive views over the city and Oslofjord. While there’s a charge for entering the Norges Hjemmefront Museum (Norwegian Resistance Museum) and Akershus Slott (the fortress’ castle in which Norway’s kings are buried), you can get a reasonable summary of the fortress’ history at the information center. Whatever you choose to do, the fortress contains a wealth of old buildings that reward idle strolls and lawns that positively invite sunbathing during the brief, but beautiful, Norwegian summer.