Town Hall
The once controversial town hall is only a few minutes’ walk from Karl Johans gate towards the waterfront. The imposing dark brown brick building with its twin towers was opened in 1950 to celebrate the city’s 900th anniversary.
The main approach to the town hall is up a wide ramp. There are side galleries adorned by wood panels illustrating pagan Nordic myths. Inside the main hall the décor is dominated by vast stylized murals by leading Norwegian painters. Entry to the main corridor is free as the building is home to the city’s political administration but the main hall is only open to tours which depart Monday to Friday from September to May and daily at other times.
Outside, at the back of the building there are six bronze statues representing the trades who worked on the building and a fountain with four massive female sculptures. When the weather is fine, this is a lovely spot with views of the harbor, the Akershus peninsula and the ultra modern Aker Brygge shopping and office complex.
Nobel Peace Centre.
This relatively new complex was built to celebrate and publicize the Nobel Peace Prize. This is awarded each year to an individual selected by a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament. Some past recipients have been Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.
The building’s ground floor features a series of displays about conflict and peace while upstairs there is a display on the Nobel family and the ‘Nobel Field’ where each of the past holders of the peace prize has a light bulb on a flimsy stalk.
Opera House
The dramatic marble Oslo Opera House is the home of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. The stark white exterior is in the form of an iceberg or a ship. In stark contrast, the interior glows with curving oak walls. The building is on the edge of the city, at the head of the Oslofjord. The structure includes 1,100 rooms, and there are three performance spaces. The Opera House was finished in 2007 with the opening event held in April 2008. Unlike the Sydney Opera House, the building was finished ahead of schedule, under budget.
The building won the culture award at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona in 2008.
The Royal Palace.
The Royal Palace is a monument to Norwegian openness. The palace is at the end of Karl Johand gate. It sits in a park which is open to the public. The building has no walls or strong barriers; just a small royal guard unit for effect. The building was commissionjed by Karl XIV Johan in the early 19th-century but he died before it was completed.
Norway was handed to Sweden at the end of the Napoleonic war in 1814 and was ruled by Karl who was the Swedish King from 1818. Swedish power was devolved, however, and the union was ended officially in 1905.
The palace is partially open to the public during the summer but you can watch the changing of the guard any day at 1.30pm.