Royal Palace, Oslo

Slottet, Royal Palace
Slottet, Royal Palace
	Royal Palace in Oslo from the front
General information
Town or city	Oslo
Country	Norway
Construction started	1825
Completed	1849
Client	Charles III of Norway
Design and construction
Architect	Hans Ditlev Franciscus Linstow
Other information
Number of rooms	173

The Royal Palace (Norwegian: Slottet, Norwegian: Det kongelige slott or Norwegian: Det kongelige slottet) in Oslo, Norway is the official home of the present Norwegian monarch. It was built in the early 19th century as the Norwegian home of King Charles III. He was King of Sweden as well as Norway. The palace has 173 rooms.

History

Before the Royal Palace was built, Norwegian royalty lived in Paleet. It was a very nice town house in Christiania. Paleet was given to the government of Norway by a rich merchant named Bernt Anker in 1805. During the last years of the union with Denmark, it was used by the viceroys of Norway. In 1814, the first king of independent Norway, Christian Frederick used it as his home.

King Charles III John picked the site for the Royal Palace on the western side of Christiania in 1821. He had the inexperienced Dutch-born architect Linstow design the building. The Parliament approved the cost of 150 000 Speciedaler. Work on the site started in 1824. On 1 October 1825, the king laid down the foundation stone beneath the altar of the future Royal chapel.

The cost of the foundation works caused the building to cost more than expected. They had to stop construction in 1827. It was started again in 1833. During this time, the Storting would not approve more money for the construction. They did this because they did not like that the king was trying to create closer ties between Norway and Sweden. In 1833, Linstow changed his plans to reduce the cost. Improved relations with the king made the Storting approve the money to finish the construction. The roof was put on in 1836. The inside of the building was finished during the late 1840s. King Charles John, who died in 1844, never lived in his palace. The first people to live in the palace were his son Oscar I and his queen Josephine.