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Karl Johans Gate, starting at Oslo Sentralstasjon (Oslo Central Station, also called Oslo S or simply Jernbanetorget ("railway square" in Norwegian), and ending at the Royal Palace, forms the backbone of downtown Oslo. Many major museums and historic buildings lie between the parallel streets of Grensen and Rådhusgata. West of downtown are Frogner and Majorstuen, residential areas with fine restaurants, shopping, cafés, galleries, and the Vigeland sculpture park. Southwest is the Bygdøy Peninsula, with a castle and five interesting museums that honor aspects of Norway's taste for maritime exploration.
Northwest of town is Holmenkollen, with its stunning bird's-eye view of the city and the surrounding fjords, a world-famous ski jump and museum, and three historic restaurants. On the more multicultural east side, where a diverse immigrant population lives alongside native Norwegians, are the Munch Museum and the Botanisk Hage og Naturhistorisk Museum (Botanical Gardens and Museum of Natural History), where you can see Ida, the oldest primate fossil ever found, our 47-million-year old ancestor. The trendy neighborhood of Grünerløkka, with lots of cafés and shops, is northeast of the center.
Oslo’s Historical Museum showcases artifacts from the Stone Age up to modern times. During the summer, there are guided tours in English twice a day. Kids under 18 get in free, and from October to April, you can buy half-price tickets on the last Saturday of each month.
Also known as the Norwegian Home Front Museum, striped prison uniforms, underground news sheets, and homemade weapons tell the history of the resistance movement that arose before and during Norway’s occupation by Nazi Germany. A gray winding path leads to two underground stone vaults in which models, pictures, writings, and recordings trace the times between Germany’s first attack in 1940 to Norway’s liberation on May 8, 1945. Every year, on the anniversaries of these dates, Norwegian resistance veterans gather here to commemorate Norway’s dark days and honor those who lost their lives. The former ammunitions depot and the memorial lie at the exact spot where Norwegian patriots were executed by the Germans.
One of Scandinavia’s largest cities, Oslo has changed and evolved greatly over its thousand years. This two-floor, meandering exhibition covers Oslo’s prominence in 1050, the Black Death that came in 1348, the great fire of 1624 and subsequent rebuilding, and the urban development of the 20th century. Among the more interesting relics are the red coats that the first Oslo police officers wore in 1700 and the town's first fire wagon, which appeared in 1765.
Located in the beautiful Villa Grande, this museum and research center presents a sobering exhibition on Nazi Germany's murder of 6 million European Jews, including a third of the Jewish population in Norway.
Ever dreamed of taking a selfie with Vikings, joining a (virtual reality) raid, or watching chieftains strut down a (hologram) catwalk? This digital Viking museum also features 3D models of Viking ships and other artifacts on loan from the Viking Age Museum.
