Oslo National Theatre

You’re now standing in front of the beautiful neoclassical facade of the Oslo National Theatre. Built at the end of the 19th century by architect Henrik Bull, this theatre was the largest stage in the country for over a century. On the facade, you can see the names of Ibsen, Holberg, and Bjørnson, Norway’s greatest playwrights. Two of them, Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, stand guard over the main entrance, ready to welcome you into their literary world. Ibsen himself sat in the front row with his wife during the theatre’s grand opening. His plays have since become staples of the theatre’s programming, performed almost every year, and the venue even hosts the International Ibsen Festival. His most famous play, A Doll’s House, is listed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. It’s a sharp critique of gender roles in marriage and the notion that a woman cannot truly be herself in a society built by and for men. At the time of its release, the play faced fierce criticism and was banned in several countries, before achieving international success and being adapted numerous times for the screen. As for Bjørnson, he’s considered Norway’s national poet. His work fought to awaken patriotic consciousness in a country with a proud past, yet living under Danish and later Swedish rule for centuries. No wonder he’s the one who wrote the Norwegian national anthem, and also won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1903. Today, the theatre is officially recognised as part of Norway’s national heritage.