My latest article: Oscarshall Palace

My occasional series on great palaces continues in the June issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 6) with an article on Oscarshall, the neo-Gothic summer palace in Oslo that was built by King Oscar I in 1847-1852. After his early death Oscarshall was often neglected, but in the present reign it has woken from its slumber. The article also contains a small revelation, i.e. a newfound source indicating that Crown Prince Olav at first turned down the offer of Skaugum as he would rather live at Oscarshall. The magazine is already on sale in Britain and will go on sale in Norway on Thursday.

On this date: Oslo's 200th anniversary as capital

200 years ago today, on 22 May 1814, King Christian Frederik took up residence in Christiania, as Oslo was then called, an event which might be considered the date when Oslo became the capital of independent Norway. Following the Danish renunciation of Norway on 14 January 1814 Norwegian ministries had begun their work in Christiania on 3 March, and on 19 May, the day he accepted the Crown of Norway, Christian Frederik formally founded the first ministries. With ministries established in Christiania and the King in residence, the town may rightly be called a capital.
Christiania was at that time a small provincial town of some 10,000 inhabitants. Except for the derelict Akershus Castle and the Church of Our Saviour (now Oslo Cathedral) there were few buildings of any significance, but the following years saw Christiania expanded and rebuilt into a capital worthy of an independent kingdom, a process in which King Carl Johan played a decisive role.
Oslo dates from about the year 1000, and grew in importance towards the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth century, although it is incorrect, as some amateur historians have argued strongly, that Oslo may be considered the capital of Norway from the year 1314, when King Håkon V Magnusson made the Provost of St Mary's Church his chancellor. At that time the concept of a capital did not yet exist and the monarchy remained peripatetic for another three centuries or so, by which time Norway had lost its independence and become a Danish province.
In 1814 it was not yet the largest city (a qualification which belonged to Bergen), but its proximity to Denmark meant that it had become more important during Danish rule and it was in Christiania that a government commission was set up when communications between Denmark and Norway became very difficult because of the Napoleonic Wars and the British blockade from 1807.

My latest article: Carl Johan’s important choices for Oslo

This week this year’s third issue of Byminner, the journal of Oslo Museum, was published and there I write about the role played by King Carl XIV Johan in the development of Christiania (as the city was named then) as capital in the years after independence in 1814, particularly by making five defining choices. The article contains some new insights into the reasons behind the King’s decisions, and, as it happens, also has some relevance to this summer’s debate about the expensive wardrobe of Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

Queen opens gallery at Oscarshall Palace

Yesterday the Queen opened a new gallery, named “Gallery Queen Joséphine” in the former kitchen building at Oscarshall Palace in Oslo. The gallery will be the “home” of the scholarship the Queen set up two years ago and which every second year is awarded to a young graphic artist from one of the Nordic countries.
The works of the recipient will be exhibited at the gallery in those years the scholarship is awarded, while other exhibitions will be shown during the years between. The first exhibition, which opened yesterday, is “Tre reiser, tre landskap” (“Three Journeys, Three Landscapes”), which shows graphic prints by the Queen, Kjell Nupen and Ørnulf Opdahl, which were first exhibited in Helsingborg in 2011.
The gallery is named for Queen Josephine, the consort of King Oscar I, who built Oscarshall as their summer residence in 1847-1852. Of all her predecessors, Queen Josephine is the one the present Queen finds most interesting.

My latest article: The palaces and capitals of Carl XIV Johan

This year’s first issue of The Court Historian (Volume 18,1), an international academic journal published by the Society for Court Studies, is now out and the cover story is my article “Bernadotte Architecture: The Palaces and Capitals of King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden and of Norway”. For several reasons King Carl Johan got to build relatively little in Sweden, but Norway provided him with the chance to build virtually an entire new capital and Carl Johan personally made several significant choices which put his indelible mark on the Norwegian capital. However, the Swedish aspect of the story of Carl Johan and architecture is far from uninteresting, and I believe it is the first time that his architectural heritage in both kingdoms is seen in relation to each other, thereby providing some new insights – for instance making the much-discussed choice of Hans D. F. Linstow as the architect of the Royal Palace in Christiania seem almost self-evident.
In Aftenposten today I also have a short comment about Oscarshall Palace, correcting the claim made in that newspaper two days ago that this palace was never meant to be inhabited. As I have shown earlier, Oscarshall was intended to be a royal residence and was used as such by King Oscar I.

My latest article: Carl XIV Johan as King of Norway

To mark the 250th anniversary yesterday of the birth of King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden and of Norway I have written an article about him which appears in Aftenposten today. The article deals with his role as King of Norway from 1818, which has been accorded comparatively little attention by his many biographers. His political goals were so increase the King’s powers and to achieve an amalgamation between Sweden and Norway, neither of which he achieved. To the contrary, his long power struggle against Parliament led to the monarch’s power diminishing. However, he succeeded in his role as city planner and builder, leaving an indelible mark on Oslo, which means that his name and memory are ever-present in the Norwegian capital to this day.

Statue of King Christian Frederik to be erected outside Parliament

Next year Norway will celebrate the bicentenary of its independence and the government yesterday announced (external link) that its jubilee present to Parliament will be a statue of King Christian Frederik, which will be erected in the middle of Eidsvoll Square in front of the Parliament Building.
Christian Frederik, the cousin of King Frederik VI of Denmark and Norway, was sent to Norway as Lieutenant of the Realm during the Napoleonic Wars and led the rebellion when Frederik VI on 14 January 1814 ceded Norway to the King of Sweden. Christian Frederik was persuaded to call a constituent assembly, which met at Eidsvoll in April and which passed the Constitution which is still in force on 16 May. Christian Frederik was himself elected King the following day. However, his reign turned out to be short, as Sweden attacked Norway in July. A ceasefire agreed in Moss in August led to negotiations which ended with Christian Frederik’s abdication and Sweden and Norway agreeing on an arrangement whereby Norway retained its independence and its constitution in a loose personal union with Sweden.
Christian Frederik, who eventually became King of Denmark as Christian VIII, was later chastised for not having fought harder, but eventually more and more people have come to realise that opening negotiations rather than fighting to the last drop of blood was probably what saved Norway’s independence and constitution.
The idea of a statue of King Christian Frederik was brought up already in time of the centenary in 1914, but nothing happened then. Two years ago the then Secretary General of Parliament, Hans Brattestå, stated that the Presidium had rejected the idea of erecting such a monument. However, this was overruled by the government last year, and the Minister of Culture, Hadia Tajik, has now revealed that the statue will be placed in front of the Parliament Building. This is, in my opinion, the best possible solution, and will correspond nicely with the statue of King Carl XIV Johan in front of the Royal Palace.
There will now be a competition among sculptors and it is intended that the statue will be unveiled before the bicentenary on 17 May 2014.

Thousands cheer Aung San Suu Kyi in Oslo

It took her 21 years, but today Aung San Suu Kyi received one of the longest standing ovations I have heard as she finally was able to give her Nobel Peace Prize lecture in Oslo’s City Hall. Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 14 October 1991, while held under house arrest by the Burmese military junta, and it was therefore her sons Kim and Alexander who received the Peace Prize on her behalf in the City Hall on 10 December 1991.
In the following years she was unable to leave Burma, as she was quite certain that once out of the country, the junta would not allow her back in. But she has always said that once it was possible to leave Burma without fear of being denied re-entry, her first foreign journey would take her to Norway to hold the Nobel Peace Prize lecture she was unable to deliver in 1991.
And yesterday afternoon, having attended an ILO meeting in Geneva on her way, Aung San Suu Kyi arrived in Oslo, where she has a crowded schedule. Yesterday she met the Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, and held a joint press conference with him, before attending a banquet at Akershus Castle in the evening.
Today she was received in audience by the King and Queen and the Crown Prince, followed by the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in the City Hall at 1 p.m. You may read her acceptance speech in its entirety at the Nobel Prize website (external link).
Later in the day Aung San Suu Kyi visited the Nobel Peace Centre and thereafter attended the public celebrations in the City Hall Square, which saw some 12,000 people - and eventually also the sun - turn out to cheer her. Here there were speeches by, among others, former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland (sixth photo), now Chairman of the Nobel Committee, former Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik (seventh photo), who has earlier visited Suu Kyi in Rangoon, Harald Bøckmann (eighth photo), leader of the Norwegian Burma Committee, and John Peder Egenæs (ninth photo), Secretary General of Amnesty, who also called for China to release the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Liu Xiaobo. There were also musical performances by, among others, Bigbang (tenth photo) and Guro von Germeten and the Schwindelfrei Orchestra (eleventh photo).
However, the loudest applause was obviously for Aung San Suu Kyi, who lit the peace flame together with two children, and gave a warm speech thanking the Norwegian people for their support for democracy, human rights and refugees in general and the Burmese people in particular.
Tonight there is a banquet at Grand Hotel, where Suu Kyi is staying, and tomorrow Suu Kyi will make a day trip to Bergen to formally accept the Rafto Prize, which she was awarded in 1990, but was also unable to collect in person. On Monday she will visit Parliament before continuing to Ireland. Her European tour will also take in Britain, where she will be accorded the fairly rare honour of addressing a joint session of both Houses of Parliament on Thursday, and finally France before she will return to Burma.

What to see: Treasures from the Royal Collection, Oslo

As previously mentioned the government’s present to the King and Queen for their 75th birthdays is six exhibitions of treasures from the Royal Collection to be shown in various locations throughout the country. The first of these was presented to the King and Queen at an event at the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Oslo last Wednesday and will be on show there until 26 August.
This first exhibition is titled “Royal Journeys 1905-2005” and shows items from the Royal Collection related to various forms of journeys undertaken by the members of the present dynasty since its establishment in 1905, which at the same times reflects the wide range of the Royal Collection.
The exhibition is divided into four rooms, of which the museum’s great hall is dedicated to coronations and consecrations and the journeys across the country undertaken in connection with these ceremonies. The pièce de résistance of this room is the magnificent coronation coach made for the coronation of King Haakon VII and Queen Maud in 1906 and not seen in public since 1940. In this room one will also find Queen Maud’s spectacular coronation gown together with the dresses worn by Princess Astrid and Queen Sonja for the consecrations of 1958 and 1991, as well as the uniforms worn by King Haakon, King Olav and King Harald for the ceremonies in 1906, 1958 and 1991.
One room is dedicated to King Haakon and Queen Maud, and includes a mountain of luggage symbolising the fifty suitcases with which Queen Maud travelled. Here are also the young Princess Maud’s sketchbook and photographs made during her first visit to her future kingdom in 1893, items related to the royal election of 1905 and the new King and Queen’s departure from Denmark and arrival in Norway along with uniforms, dresses, orders and gifts from their state visit, all illustrated throughout with photos and video footage.
The next room focuses on King Olav and Crown Princess Märtha, but also includes World War II. Particularly dominant in this room are the sumptuous gifts King Olav received on state visits to exotic countries such as Iran and Thailand. The final room deals with the current King and Queen and the journeys they have undertaken within and without Norway since their accession 21 years ago.
The photos above show some of the many diverse items included in this exhibition. The first photo shows the coronation coach, followed by Queen Maud’s coronation gown and Ida Lorentzen’s painting of the consecration of King Harald and Queen Sonja.
The fourth picture shows the Grand Cross of the Russian Order of St Catherine, set with diamonds, which was given to the then Princess Maud of Britain on the occasion of her cousin Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia’s wedding in 1894. The fifth photo is of a gold casket given to King Haakon and Queen Maud by the Corporation of the City of London during their state visit to Britain in 1906.
The sixth photo shows an electrical Cadillac which Crown Prince Olav was given by his doting grandmother, Queen Alexandra of Britain. Next is Per Palle Storm’s bust of Crown Princess Märtha, followed by her miniature medals and family orders.
The ninth picture shows the blanket and pillow used by King Haakon during the campaign of 1940. Then comes presents given to King Olav during a Thai state visit, a detail of the royal table set for the return dinner during the official visit to Denmark in 2005 and finally a bust given to the King and Queen by Nelson Mandela on his last visit to Norway that same year.

On this date: Bicentenary of the University of Oslo

Today the University of Oslo (my alma mater) celebrates its bicentenary in the presence of the King and Queen and the Queen of Denmark.
A Norwegian university was one of the dearest wishes of Norwegian patriots as the eighteenth century gave way to the nineteenth, but the Dano-Norwegian King was reluctant to grant one. Eventually he gave way and on 2 September 1811 Norway’s first university was founded by King Frederik VI. His reluctance was perhaps understandable, as the foundation of the University is generally considered a significant step towards the independence Norway achieved three years later.
It was not immediately clear where the University would be located, but in 1813 it began its work in Christiania, as Oslo then was. The main University buildings in the city centre were the work of architects Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Christian Heinrich Grosch and were completed in 1852. Today they house the Faculty of Law, while the rest of the University moved to a new campus at Blindern in the middle of the twentieth century. The name of the University was originally Frederik’s Royal University (Universitas Regia Fredericiana) in honour of its founder. This was a thorn in the eye of King Carl XIV Johan, who feared Danish revanchism and tried unsuccesfully to have it changed. However, the name remained until 1939, when it was changed to simply the University of Oslo (Universitas Osloensis).
Today there are some 27,600 students at the University of Oslo, which employs 7,094 people. It has fostered five Nobel laureates and currently ranks 75th among the universities of the world.

Norwegian “archbishop” defies Parliament

The history of medieval Norway is full of archbishops opposing the political masters of the country, but this was probably not what one expected when it was decided last year to create a twelfth bishop as Primate of the Norwegian Church.
The post of primate had until the 1990s belonged to the Bishop of Oslo and thereafter to any of the eleven bishops elected, but because of complaints that it was difficult to reconcile the duties of primate with those of one’s diocese it was decided that a twelfth bishop without a diocese should be appointed primate. The title Archbishop has not been used in Norway since the reformation and one rather chose the designation “leading bishop”
After a lengthy debate it was decided by Parliament that the primate should be located in Trondheim rather than in Oslo and have her office in the Archbishop’s Palace in Trondheim (pictured above). This was in my opinion only logical, as the only major cathedral in Norway is to be found in Trondheim and the city could well be considered the ecclesiastical centre of the country.
Thus several MPs from the Trondheim area have reacted strongly against an interview with the leading bishop, Helga Haugland Byfuglien, in Adresseavisen yesterday, where she states that she will not move to Trondheim, will carry out most of her work in Oslo and will only go to Trondheim when necessary.
This is a rather blatant disregard for the decisions of Parliament and obviously no individual public servant is in a position to choose to ignore what has been decided by Parliament. If the leading bishop is not prepared to accept the conditions set for her job by Parliament she should not have accepted the post and unless she changes her mind it might soon be time for the government to consider her future in the post.

National memorial held in Oslo

Today a national memorial ceremony was held in Oslo in honour of the 77 victims of the terrorist attacks on the government buildings and the Labour youth camp at Utøya a month ago. The ceremony in Oslo Spektrum consisted mostly of music and recitals, in addition to which the names of all the victims were read out. The King, his voice breaking, and the Prime Minister both gave excellent speeches which will surely rank among the things each of them will be remembered for.
Among those present were survivors of the attacks, the families of those killed and many of those who came to the rescue. There was also a strong presence of royals and political leaders from the Nordic region. The King and Queen, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Princess Märtha Louise and Ari Behn, Princess Astrid and Johan Martin Ferner, and Marius Borg Høiby were joined by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Crown Princess Victoria, Crown Prince Frederik, the Presidents of Finland and Iceland and the Prime Ministers of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Ahead of the ceremony the foreign guests all laid flowers on the steps of the Cathedral.

Dignified defiance

Like everyone else I am still at loss for words with which to describe the atrocious crimes committed by the terrorist and traitor Anders Behring Breivik against his nation on Friday. But perhaps it will suffice to post these photos showing how I found Oslo today when I returned from holiday.