Construction boom for museums in Oslo: With the new National Museum, the third spectacular temple of art in Norway’s capital has now opened its doors.
Norway’s new national museum for art, architecture and design has opened at the port of Oslo. At a solemn ceremony in front of the massive building, Queen Sonja (85), who is interested in art, symbolically cut a ribbon on Saturday afternoon.
Sonja’s husband King Harald V. (85) was there on two crutches, as was Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit (both 48) and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (61).
“This is a big day for Norway,” said museum director Karin Hindsbo in front of a cheering crowd. 15,000 free tickets were awarded for the opening weekend.
After the new city library – the Deichman Library – and the new Munch Museum, Norway’s capital is getting a third architecturally striking cultural building in the last two years. The city’s spectacular opera has also been located near the water for a long time.
The new national museum behind the Nobel Peace Center is not a glass new building, but a broad and heavy-looking building. “A building that can last for hundreds of years,” said the German architect Klaus Schuwerk from the kleihues schuwerk architects’ office. The Norwegian state spent the equivalent of around 600 million euros. Around 6,500 works are exhibited in the museum, including an edition of the famous motif “The Scream” by painter Edvard Munch. In total, the inventory includes 400,000 items.
