Visiting Ladegaardsøen and OscarshallBlogs All Kinds Of Blogs

About hundred and fifty years ago Oscarshall was commissioned as a summer and pleasure palace for the Norwegian-Swedish King Oscar I and his Queen Joséphine. It was completed in 1852. Today it is the property of the state and is placed at the disposal of the King.
The palace is considered to be one of the finest examples of Neo-Gothic architecture in Norway and is one of the country’s most important embodiments of the National Romantic style so popular in Norway during the period. In 1881, King Oscar II opened the palace to the public as a museum.

Oscarshall was closed from autumn 2005 through summer 2009 due to necessary, extensive restoration work on the buildings and interior. The palace was officially reopened on 20 August 2009 and today we went on our first visit to this very intriguing castle at Ladegaardsøen or the peninsula of Bygdø.

From Frognerkilen the royalties and their companies could arrive by boat and pass the first building and walk through the park up to the palace.

They could take a break at the smoking pavillion and walk around the fountains before aproaching the stairs up to the palace.

It is forbidden to take photos inside the building, but at the royal castle´s website they have presented one image of the dining hall . You may also find a preliminary draft of the decorations at the tourist shop wall.

Joachim Frich has made the large landscape paintings and Adoph Tidemand the smaller paintings above. The drafts was changed when performing the paintings and you can see that the images of Romsdalshorn to the right, was changed into two different wall paintings.

A nice way to arrive or leave Ladegaardsøen is by ferry. We took the ferry from Dronningen to Bygdønes with the Norwegian Maritime Museum and the various craft/ships like Fram, Gjøa and Kon-Tiki.

The Oslofjord-waves was very calm on our voyage back to Oslo centrum, and another island-jumping tour must be planned for visiting other islands close to the City Hall.