Oscarshall castle is located in the small fjord Frognerkilen

Frognerkilen

Frognerkilen is a bay in the inner Oslofjord, east of the Bygdøy peninsula.Its name stems from the neighbourhood Frogner, a name which was taken from a farm. It was formerly known, with Bestumkilen, under the name of Ladegaardsfjordene. This stems from older times, when Bygdøy was an island, named...

 on Bygdøy

Bygdøy

Bygdøy or Bygdø is a peninsula on the western side of Oslo, Norway. Administratively, Bygdøy belongs to the borough of Frogner.Bygdøy has several museums, like the Kon-Tiki Museum, which shows all year long the legendary expeditions of Thor Heyerdahl; the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History ; the...

 in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

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History

The castle was built from 1847 to 1852 by the Danish architect Johan Henrik Nebelong

Johan Henrik Nebelong

Johan Henrik Nebelong was a Danish architect, and brother of Niels Sigfried Nebelong, worked in Norway from 1840 to 1853. Best known for Oscarshall . Other buildings are Tollpakkhuset , Kommandantboligen . Reconstructions on Heddal stavkirke, Telemark ....

 for King Oscar I. Oscarshall was sold by King Carl IV

Charles XV of Sweden

Charles XV & IV also Carl ; Swedish and Norwegian: Karl was King of Sweden and Norway from 1859 until his death....

 to the Norwegian state in 1863, and has been at the disposal of Norwegian kings since.

The building is considered one of the main neo-Gothic works in Norway. The architectural

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 style is patterned on the English neo-Gothic castle, which was typical in Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

 in the mid-19th century. In addition to the main building, the property consists of a park that stretches down to the fjord, where an open pavilion is located.

The interior was wholly constructed by Norwegian artists and artisans.

After being restored in the 1990s, the castle opened to the public as a museum.

It is not to be confused with Oscarsborg Fortress

Oscarsborg Fortress

Oscarsborg Fortress is a coastal fortress in the Oslofjord, close to the small town of Drøbak. The fortress is situated on two small islets, and on the mainland to the west and east, in the fjord and was military territory until 2003 when it was made a publicly available resort island...

, which is situated near Drøbak

Drøbak

Drøbak is an unincorporated city and the centre of the municipality of Frogn, in Akershus county, Norway. The city is located along the Oslofjord, and has 13,358 inhabitants....

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