Norwegian War Museum
By Robert Kelly
Photos by the author
Next week we’ll showcase part 2 of Robert’s trip, the Danish War Museum.
My wife is Danish, and we usually travel to Denmark each spring. Though my understanding of the
Danish language is not too bad, hanging around the in-laws’ place for two to three weeks straight tends to get rather boring.
So, I’m always looking for other things to do like going to sporting events, checking out the gaming scene at clubs like Tinsoldaten in Aalborg, or Einherjerne’s in Aarhus. We always take a side trip or two, so when my sister in law offered two return tickets on the Copenhagen to Oslo mini-cruise we jumped on it.
The price of the tickets was very reasonable and included a room with a washroom. We found out that they seem to have made most of their money at the onboard restaurants and duty-free shops. It was $120 Canadian for a buffet diner for two with water. The cruise leaves Copenhagen each day at 1630 hrs, arriving at Oslo for 0945 hrs the next morning. You get to spend the whole day in Oslo, and then the ship leaves Oslo at 1630 for Copenhagen, arriving at 0945 hrs the next morning.
That gave us essentially an eight-hour visit to Oslo. My wife agreed that we could go to the museum if we had time at the end of the day. Luckily (or not) it was just above freezing…in May, so by the end of the day, she was ready to get on board the ship and get warm. So, we made it to the museum (which was right beside the ship) with about 90 minutes to spare. It had free admission, which seemed strange in such an expensive country.
My wife took a seat in the lobby and I made a mad 45-minute dash through the museum taking a bunch of photos. I then went to the gift shop and purchased a souvenir Norwegian Guardsman figure to add to my collection of Danish soldiers. It was then on to the ship and an overnight cruise back to Copenhagen.
Passing Kronborg Castle (the inspiration for Hamlet’s Castle) north of Copenhagen. It had quite the battery of guns pointed at us. I visited this castle one very cold winter day a few years ago, and it was well worth it. Just an hour by train north of Copenhagen. You can also pay a little extra on your train ticket to give you ferry access to Sweden. Its only a 15-minute ferry ride, but you can also say you visited Sweden as well.
Oscarsborg Fort in the Oslo Fjord. A deathly fear of heights kept me from going to the railing to get a better shot. This fort sunk the German ship Blucher in 1940. The movie, “The King’s Choice” has a scene about the sinking in it. There is a model of this fort below.
The ship docked in Oslo harbour.
The view from the ship as we approach Akershus Fortress where the museum is located.
A Norwegian Palace Guard.
Entrance to the Museum
The United Nations section.
Napoleonic artillery
The World War 2 Section
Oscarsborg Fortress model and the Blucher
A really well-done U-Boat display with Enigma
Norwegian uniforms and equipment.
The Fallschirmjagers
Modern era M113 with Norwegian 20mm turret and distinctive cam pattern.
105mm howitzer with the sight mount in the right position (levelled), but the sight has been removed.
Mortars, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons.
I didn’t have a lot of time to see this museum, but as I speed marched through I was quite impressed with what I saw. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to take a lot of photos and many of the ones I did take were from behind glass, which affected the quality of the photos.
If you are in Oslo you should drop by. In one of the most expensive cities in the world, it is possibly the only true bargain.
Weblinks
https://www.visitnorway.com/listings/akershus-fortress/432/
http://www.forsvaretsmuseer.no/ Norwegian Armed Forces Main site (in Norwegian)
- http://www.forsvaretsmuseer.no/Forsvarsmuseet The museum I visited (in Norwegian)
- http://www.forsvaretsmuseer.no/Oscarsborg/ENGLISH-summary
https://kongeligeslotte.dk/en/palaces-and-gardens/kronborg-castle.html Kronborg (Hamlet’s Castle)
Next week, the Danish War Museum