The Royal Lodge or The Royal

Villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

( Norwegian: ''Kongsseteren'', ''The King's Seter'') is located in Holmenkollen in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and is in the

Norwegian royal family Members of the Norwegian royal family are people related to King Harald V of Norway or former Norwegian monarchs who are royals and who hold royal titles. The term does not include non-royal relatives. The current family who holds the throne a ...

's private possession. The property is used mainly in winter, and the royal family usually celebrates

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

there, and stays at the Royal Lodge during the

Holmenkollen Ski Festival The Holmenkollen Ski Festival ( or ) is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. History It takes place in March and has been arranged every ...

every year. King Haakon VII and Queen Maud received the Royal Lodge as a gift from the Norwegian people for the coronation in 1906. It was financed by a fundraising campaign. The villa was designed by architect Kristian Hjalmar Biong, who won the architectural competition with their project "Slot over Slot." Some of the details are taken from the Norwegian stabbur tradition, especially the corners of the building. Otherwise, the character of the neo-baroque style with some elements of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

. The Baroque can be found particularly in the gable walls symmetrical plant ornamentation in strong colors, which is inspired by Norwegian

wood carving Wood carving (or woodcarving) is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculpture, ...

art in the 18th century. The Royal Lodge was completed in 1911."Kongsseteren"

Store Norske Leksikon The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' (, abbreviated ''SNL'') is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. It has several subdivisions, including the Norsk biografisk leksikon. The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian publishe ...

(in Norwegian) King

Olav V Olav V (, ; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991. Olav was born at Sandringham House in England, the only child of Prince Carl of Denmark and Princess Maud o ...

often resided at the Royal Lodge. On 17 January 1991, while staying at the lodge, he became ill and died there.

References

External links

Royal Lodge at the Norwegian Royal Family's Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Lodge Holmenkollen Houses completed in 1911 Buildings and structures in Oslo H National Romantic architecture in Norway Art Nouveau architecture in Oslo Art Nouveau houses 1911 establishments in Norway