Monday 2 March 2009

My World - The Royal Palace - Oslo Norway

The Royal Palace (Norwegian: Slottet or formally Det kongelige slott) in Oslo was built in the first half of the 19th century as the Norwegian residence of Norwegian and Swedish king Charles III (Carl Johan, Charles XIV of Sweden) and is used as the official residence of the present Norwegian Monarch. The crown-prince couple resides at Skaugum in Asker Municipality outside Oslo, while the three princesses of Norway live on estates in Oslo, Fredrikstad and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Until the completion of the Palace, members of the Bernadotte dynasty resided in Paleet, a magnificent town house in Christiania bequeathed to the State in 1805 to be used as a royal residence. King Charles III of Norway never saw his Palace completed, but his successors Oscar I, Charles IV and Oscar II used it regularly during their stays in Christiania (now Oslo). They spent most of their time in their Swedish capital Stockholm, but tried to spend some months in Norway every year. Oscar II was a frequent visitor, but preferred to use his seaside villa at Bygdøy during his summer holidays, while his Queen Sophia mostly stayed at the country residence of Skinnarbøl near the Swedish border for the sake of her health. Oscar II was absent from his Palace during 1905, the year of the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden, but his son, Crown Prince Gustaf, paid two short visits in his vain attempts to save the union.

The Bernadotte dynasty resigned their Norwegian throne in 1905 and was succeeded by the Danish prince Carl, who took the name of Haakon VII when he accepted his election as king of completely independent Norway. He was the first monarch to use the Palace as his permanent residence. The palace was designed by the Danish-born architect Hans Ditlev Franciscus Linstow (1787-1851). The project was initiated in the Norwegian parliament in 1821, the foundation stone was laid down by the king in 1825, and the building was completed in 1849, during the reign of Oscar I.

During the reign and residence of King Olav V from 1957 to 1991, the Royal Palace was not renovated and insufficiently kept up. When the current monarch, King Harald V, started a comprehensive renovation project, it was criticized due to the amount of money needed to bring the Palace up to a satisfactory state. Since public tours began in 2002, the general public has been able to view and appreciate the renovation and splendour the palace now boasts.

Source Wikipedia.













Royal Guardsman in front of the Royal Palace

40 comments:

Louise said...

It is beautiful, especially with the snow. Thanks for all the history, too!

I visited there in 1993 or 1994. Right now I cannot remember which. I believe it was under renovation at the time. I was with some cousins from Iceland, and we sat on the palace grass because it was so soft and beautiful. We were soon escorted off the soft and beautiful grass by some security personnel!

Sylvia K said...

Really beautiful shots! and thanks for the history, it always makes the photos even more interesting. Have a great week! Thanks for sharing!

EG CameraGirl said...

Palaces are expensive to keep up but are wonderful as a focus of national pride...and fabulous to tour. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful - regal shots!
Well done, John. Always a pleasure to visit!
Cheers, Klaus

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful palace. That's great that it has been restored and open to the public. Interesting post.

Anonymous said...

Nice to know that renovation has been done and the public allowed inside to appreciate and take pride in a heritage as beautiful as that.

Thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures and for including the palace's history as well :)

Arija said...

A wonderful post. It is good to have a little history lesson to go with your lovely pictures. In contrast to the English, where the Queens palace is rather mre remotely fenced off from the public, it is good to see that in the Scandinavian countries royals are much more trusting of, and integrated with their subjects.
Your photos are splendid, especially the one with the stairs leading up.

Susan at Stony River said...

What a lovely place! History is one of my favourite subjects and I enjoyed this post very much. Bravo to King Harald for renovating the palace for the people: I hope I can see it one day too.

Mojo said...

Somehow the words "king" and "elected" don't seem to go together. But I suppose we've pretty well had the same situation in the States the last several years. Hopefully we've done better this time around.

Wonderful photos as always. The guardsman looks mildly amused to be a subject... I doubt you'd see that in very many places!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

John: What a wonderful view of the palace, very nice place to see.

Photo Cache said...

really magnificent outside. i can just imagine what it looks inside after the renovation.

Anonymous said...

I think you've done SLOTTET justice, John! Your pictures are lovely, and make you want to step inside your world. I wonder how many more tourists Norway will receive this coming season, due to all these lovely Norwegian photoblogs that we are seeing?

david mcmahon said...

We could do with some of that snow, John!

My favourite shots are #3 and #4.

Rose said...

I bet that this is more impressive in person.

BTW, I have an award for you at my blog...as I told your wife, it does not offend me if you don't acknowledge it on your blog. I just wanted an excuse to share your blog with others.

imac said...

Magnifico Post and interesting history lesson John.

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Anonymous said...

Et flott innlegg!!
Håper det kommer et like fint innlegg om Rådhuset. ;)

Jane Hards Photography said...

This was fascinating for me because of the conncetion to my island from Norwegian roots. Majestic images too.

Garden Angel said...

Her gikk jeg jo om lørdagen:)
Flotte bilder fra slottsplassen!
Først tenkte jeg at det måtte være gamle bilder, da jeg så den bare plassen.
Men så hadde du fått med snøhaugene på de neste bildene..
Så da er de vel ganske ferske da!
Fine var de i allefall:)

Takker så mye for koselig kommentar hos meg:)
Ja...jeg kjente det selv idag, at våren virket veldig fjern.
Måkte snø fra gårdsplass og veranda jeg også.
Uff...verandaen var nesten borte i all snøen:(
Fikk vekk det verste..

Men det har da smeltet litt idag;)
Optimist jeg vet du...hehe
Fortsetter å drømme om våren jeg:)

Men duuuuu.....håper ikke det blir fine blomsterbilder oppe i høyden der..før her..hehe
Husker jo at Lene planta løkblomster hun også:)
Hehehe
Takker for tips om Topaz! Skal prøve å finne ut av det...med litt hjelp fra min bedre halvdel;)
Ha en fin uke!

Unknown said...

I love the blue doors in the first photo!Great!

Anonymous said...

Flott post John, og veldig pene bilder. Tenk å stå der å glo i timer da, skal ha en god posjon ro i kropp og sjel da :)

maryt/theteach said...

Gorgeous building and plaza, John! A real pleasure to look at! :)

raf said...

Ah, this is a great post, John, about the grand palace and all its history. Thank you!

Dirkjogt said...

Really impressive, but I think that's with most of the Royal buildings.

SandyCarlson said...

The grandeur does to me what grandeur does--knocks me over!

Oman said...

That was indeed majestic and you captured it greatly.

My contribution this week is the beautiful island-paradise of Camiguin posted here

Anonymous said...

I've learned a lot from your post today. I do think it's a shame the palace isn't in the middle of a lovely park or garden, though.

CP Su said...

Wow, what a great piece of architecture ... very grand !

What amazes me the most is it's not even gated ...

magiceye said...

impressive facade
interesting history

Reader Wil said...

Very beautiful and informative post John! I have seen the palace, but only from a distance! Our royalty and yours are friends.

Unknown said...

You know I didn't realise Norway still had an 'active' Royal family, very interesting and a lovely Palace.

CTG Ponies said...

Wow, that's impressive!

:.tossan® said...

Exelênte photo! Abraço

Minha cura
é o dia lindo,
meu ímpeto
é o silêncio
nada mais,
por isto
que fotográfo!
*tossan

Lew said...

Impressive building and nice that it has now been renovated and opened for public tours. Great photography as always!

vincibene said...

Thank you for this wonderful post!
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Anonymous said...

Flådig villa, men det ser nästan ut som en kuliss...vissa bilder
Storartade bilder!

Ivar Østtun said...

Knivskarpe bilder. D700 funker skjønner jeg :-)

Liker det andre bildet ditt. Ser nesten ut som om slottet er padde flatt. Kult.

Ivar Østtun said...

Jo jeg brukte Lucis littegrann, men det meste er gjort i PS Raw. Har brukt litt tid om kveldene på å kikke på Adobe TV på nett. Mye å lære. ( tv.adobe.com )
Derfor er det litt smått med blogging og kommentering rundt om.