Akershus Fortress and Castle
Medieval castle and later fortress above Oslo harbour, with a royal mausoleum, chapel and two museums.
Akershus Castle was begun in the late thirteenth century under King Hakon V and is first recorded in 1300. Set on a rocky point guarding the harbour, it held out against repeated sieges, including a Swedish attack in 1567, and was never taken by a foreign army. Christian IV had it rebuilt as a Renaissance residence in the early seventeenth century, work carried out largely by the Danish master builder Hans van Steenwinckel the Elder, and bastions were added around it.
Visitors can walk the ramparts and outer grounds freely and look over Pipervika and Bjorvika. Inside the castle are the banqueting halls, the chapel, the vaulted dungeons and the Royal Mausoleum, where Haakon VII and Olav V are buried. The wider fortress area holds the Norwegian Armed Forces Museum and Norway's Resistance Museum, which records the occupation of 1940-45. A guard change takes place daily and the site remains in military use.
Highlights
- Medieval castle begun around 1300 and never taken by a besieging army
- Royal Mausoleum with the tombs of Haakon VII and Olav V
- Ramparts and grounds open daily with views over the harbour
- Norway's Resistance Museum and the Armed Forces Museum on the site
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