Explore Oslo

Oslo City Hall, the red-brick seat of the city council by the harbour, was built from 1931 to 1950 to designs by Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson, with a pause during the Second World War. Its two towers rise 63 and 66 metres; inside, murals by Henrik Sørensen and Alf Rolfsen cover the main hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each December.

Oslo Cathedral was built in 1694–1697 as Our Saviour's Church on Stortorvet and is the seat of the Bishop of Oslo and the church of the royal family and parliament. Inside are a Baroque altarpiece and pulpit from around 1700, stained-glass windows by Emanuel Vigeland and a ceiling painted by Hugo Lous Mohr between 1936 and 1950.

Akershus Fortress is a medieval stronghold on a headland above the Oslofjord, begun at the end of the 13th century under King Haakon V and rebuilt as a Renaissance residence under Christian IV. Its ramparts and grounds are open to walk, and within the walls stand Akershus Castle, the Armed Forces Museum and Norway's Resistance Museum.

The Royal Palace is the official residence of the Norwegian monarch, completed in 1849 at the top of Karl Johans gate to designs by Hans Linstow. Visitors see the Neoclassical facade, the equestrian statue of Charles XIV John on the Palace Square and the changing of the guard, and walk in the Palace Park; the interior opens only for guided tours in summer.

The Oslo Opera House in Bjørvika, designed by Snøhetta and opened in 2008, is the home of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. Its sloping roof, clad in white Carrara marble and granite, rises from the fjord and can be walked up to the top; the glass foyer is open by day, and the main auditorium seats 1,364.

Vigeland Park is Gustav Vigeland's sculpture installation inside Frogner Park, set up mainly between 1940 and 1949 as the result of more than 40 years of work. Over 200 sculptures in granite, bronze and wrought iron line an axis from the main gate across the Bridge to the Fountain and up to the Monolith, a granite column of intertwined human figures.