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Oslo travel guide — Oslo tourism and travel information

Welcome to Oslo Travel Guide, extensive source of tourist information and travel services offer related to Oslo and Norway. Book cheap hotels, cheap flights and get car rental. We also offer Oslo travel guide books and maps and atlases. Please visit Norway travel guide for more travel and tourism iformation and attractions in the Norway.

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about Oslo

Oslo is the capital city of Norway, and has 518,929 inhabitants, which is 11.4% of the total population in Norway. The conurbation extends into the surrounding county of Akershus and has a population of 801,028 (Jan. 2004). The urban municipality (bykommune) of Oslo and county (fylke) is the same entity, covering an area of 454.0 km², of which 115 km² is built-up and 7 km² is agricultural. The open areas within the built-up zone amounts to 22 km².

Oslo history

According to the Norse sagas, Oslo was founded around 1048 by king Harald Hardråde. Recent archaeological research has uncovered Christian burials from before 1000, evidence of a preceding urban settlement. This called for the celebration of Oslo's millennium in 2000. The origin of the name is still somewhat unclear. It has been regarded as the capital city since the reign of Håkon V (1299-1319), who was the first king to reside permanently in the city. He also started the construction of the Akershus castle. A century later Norway was the weaker part in a personal union with Denmark, and Oslo's role was reduced to that of prvincial administrative centre, with the kings residing in Copenhagen. The fact that the University of Oslo was founded as late as 1811 had an adverse effect on the development of the nation.

Oslo was destroyed by fire in 1624, and was rebuilt at a new site across the bay, near Akershus castle, by king Christian IV of Norway and given the name Christiania (later Kristiania). The original name of Oslo was restored in 1924. But long before this, Christiania had started to regain its stature as a centre of commerce and culture in Norway. In 1814 Christiania once more became a real capital when the union with Denmark was dissolved. Many landmarks were built in the 19th century, including the Royal Palace (1825-1848), the Parliament (1861-1866), the University, The National Theatre and the Stock Exchange. Among the world-famous artists who lived here during this period were Henrik Ibsen, Edvard Munch, Knut Hamsun and Sigrid Undset (the latter two won the Nobel Prize for literature).

Oslo's prominence in the political, cultural and economical life of Norway has been and still is a source of considerable controversy and friction. This has not changed during the last century, despite numerous attempts at decentralizing power by giving incentives to investors in other regions and moving government institutions outside the Oslo area.

The city was once referred to as Tigerstaden (City of Tigers) by the author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson around 1870. This name has over the years achieved an almost official status, to the extent the 1000 year jubilee was celebrated by a row of tiger sculptures around the City Hall. A harsh picture of the city was drawn by Knut Hamsun in his novel Sult (Hunger) from 1890 (cinematized in 1966).

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cheap flights to Oslo

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City Travel Guide is exclusive partner of Essential Travel Ltd., leading online travel insurance company, we can offer you health travel insurance for Oslo, accident health Oslo travel insurance, all using our online Oslo travel insurance form. We also offer travel insurance for other cities in Norway. This offer is available for UK residents only.

Oslo real estate

City Travel Guide comes with Oslo real estate guide with several tips on home valuation, realtors comparison, secrets on finding the "right" home, loans guide and other helpful real estate advices. Our partners also maintain Oslo property for sale and rental listings, real estate laws and reviews. We will try to help you with buying property in Norway, choosing real estate agents, property finders, relocation help, and information for English speakers wanting to buy real estate in Oslo.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Oslo".




This city is also known as: Oslo.

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