Oslo City Hall: Home of the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony
Oslo City Hall hosts the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony every year on December 10th.
Every year on December 10th – the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death – the Oslo City Hall hosts the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Peace Prize Recipients give a lecture and receive their medal in the grand Central Hall decorated with murals by Henrik Sorensens.
Located in the center of downtown, overlooking Oslo fjord, the Oslo City Hall is decorated with works by Norwegian artists from 1900-1950.
Nobel Peace Prize medals are awarded in the Central Hall, decorated with murals by Henrik Sorensens.
Designed by architects Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson, Oslo City Hall creation spanned a dramatic thirty-year period in Norway’s history. Construction began in 1931 but was delayed by the occupation of Norway during World War II.
Inaugurated in 1950, Oslo City Hall is the seat of the City Council. Public tours are offered every day in June, July and August, as well as Mondays and Wednesdays the rest of the year.
Nearby the Nobel Peace Center offers interactive exhibits celebrating the work of Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Vigeland Sculpture Park
One of Norway’s most-visited and unique attractions, the Vigeland Sculpture Park showcases the life work of sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943). Vigeland includes 212 bronze, granite and wrought iron sculptures depicting the human life cycle.
More than 200 sculptures depict the human life cycle at Vigeland Sculpture Park
Sculptor Vigeland created a full-size model of each figure, leaving the granite carving and bronze casting to his craftsmen. To avoid clothing styles “dating” the sculptures to a specific time period, Vigeland created them all nude.
The park is free and open year round 24 hours a day.
The Scream
Nordic painter Edvard Munch pioneered expressionism. His most famous painting — The Scream — portrays an agonized figure against a blood red sky, with the Oslofjord landscape in the background.
Munch created several versions of The Scream in different media between 1893 and 1910. The earliest painted version is housed in the National Gallery of Norway.
The Munch Museum holds two versions of The Scream, along with a large collection of other artworks left to the city of Oslo by Edvard Munch.
A Favorite of Art Thieves
The Scream has been the target of several high-profile art thefts. In 1994, during the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, the original version of The Scream was stolen from the National Gallery. It was recovered several months later.
In 2004, two Munch works — The Scream and Madonna — were stolen from the Munch Museum. Both paintings were recovered in 2006, and returned back to display in 2008 after undergoing restoration.
One of the world’s most expensive cities
Business Week reports that in 2010, Oslo is the world’s second most expensive city out of 399 global locations surveyed by ECA International. The ECA survey found an average lunch in Oslo costs in $43. At the grocery store, a single can of beer costs $4.71 while a dozen eggs costs $6.72 in Norway’s capital.
Getting to Oslo
We’ve visited Oslo during winter holidays, arriving on British Airways via a Heathrow connection. If you like ice skating, ski jumps and fresh snow, December is an ideal time to visit. English is widely spoken and getting around on public transportation is easy.
If long sun-filled summer days are more appealing, sailing into Oslo via the Olsofjord on a cruise ship or ferry offers a breathtaking view. Visiting Oslo via cruise ship is an affordable option for visiting this expensive city, since one is buying food, accommodations and transportation in US dollars rather than Norwegian kroner. Cruise ships generally dock very close to city hall. Read about our last visit here.
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