OSLO LANDMARKS

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Designed by the architectural company Snøhetta, The Oslo Opera House was completed in 2007. It really is a building for the people – appearing to rise out of the fjord, the functional white marble
roofing provides welcome walks, views and seating on sunny days in Oslo.

 

Clean lines in Italian marble and white granite.

 

View towards the Havnelageret. In its heyday it was the largest
concrete building in Europe.  The visiting Dutch Noah’s Ark is moored alongside.

 

She Lies – a work by Monica Bonvicini in front of the Opera House. It floats on a concrete platform and wind and water dictate how it turns on it’s axis.

 

The 22 story Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel to the left behind the yellow tower crane, and another view of the Barcode. Our personal favourite is the white Deloitte Huset designed by Snøhette, the same firm of architects who are responsible for the Opera House.

 

Paddleboarding past the Barcode.

 

Much more planned here with apartments and the new
Munch Museum. It will be a very exciting area when completed but has caused a lot of traffic chaos in the construction phase so far.

 

The amazing Dutch Ark of Noah built by Johan Huibers was visiting Oslo. Unbelievably, he has built another, so big it could swallow 5000 people. The plan is to tow it to Rio for the Olympic games. This one was enormous and we were tempted to go for curiosity’s sake but at 220kr each we decided to give it a miss.

 

Oslo City Hall in the background and the “Helena” taking sightseers around the Harbour.

 

St. GILES’ CATHEDRAL

This very beautiful cathedral is one of the most important landmarks to be found on The Royal Mile. With free entry, you just have to go in and marvel at the details. There are donation boxes inside if you wish to support it’s continuing restoration, and there is a small fee of £2 to obtain a sticker allowing you to photograph. We saw that many just ignore the request, either regarding a mobile as something other than a camera, or just simply doing what some say Scot’s are famous for – being tight fisted with their money!

 

The mother of the Scottish church and Presbyterianism. It dates back to the 11th century and has been remodelled many times.

 

My shot of Aurora standing almost dead center in the cathedral

 

A wonderful photo from Aurora of this incredibly beautiful ceiling at it’s artistic best.

 

You will find details that have survived from the late medieval period (1385-1560), in the Cathedral including  many carvings, tombs and memorials.non-religious carvings. Some of the oldest heraldic carvings from the 15th century can be seen in the Albany Aisle.

 

Plenty of very impressive stained glass windows to see.

 

The Reiger organ installed in 1992.

 

The East Window dates back from 1874.

 

The Great West Window was installed in 1985.  It’s the work of the Icelandic artist Leifur Breidfjörd. It is semi-abstract in style, and is a celebration of themes from the poet Robert Burns.