Grand Hotel Oslo is located right in the heart of the city, on the parade street Karl Johan, with many attractions and shopping just outside the door.
Grand Hotel is located right in the heart of Oslo, on the parade street Karl Johan. The hotel is within walking distance of the Royal Castles, Aker Brygge, Akershus Fortress, the Storting, and the Norwegian Opera.
Our rich and tasty breakfast buffet is served in Grand Café, on the ground floor. Here we give you the best start to the day, in historic and beautiful surroundings.
Grand Hotel has been a grand venue, a gathering place, and a home for artists, thinkers, and creators for 150 years. Using artificial intelligence, we will recreate special moments dating all the way back to 1874 in honor of Grands rich history.
Our Concierges are here for you who want to get the most out of Oslo.
Reserve parking in the center of Oslo when staying at Grand Hotel Oslo.
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Grand Hotel Oslo is located right in the heart of Oslo, on the parade street Karl Johan, with many sights and shopping just outside the door.
Oslo's most famous hotel meets one of the world's strictest environmental requirements. Grand Hotel Oslo was awarded the official Nordic environmental certification "Swan label" in November 2019.
Businessman and art collector Christian Ringnes has on the occasion of the renovation of Grand Hotel Oslo bought three works of art that are lent to the hotel. Two of the artworks are located in the lobby area, and in the Palmen Restaurant hangs the sumptuous chandelier "Ca' Rezzonico", signed by British Cerith Wyn Evans.
The Grand Hotel was opened in 1874 by confectioner Julius Fritzner, after Professor Chr. Heiberg's three-storey private residence had been converted into a hotel. The café was opened first. The necessary remodeling was carried out by architect Jacob Nordan, and the decoration work by Fritzner's good friend Wilhelm Krogh, who was a decoration painter and theater painter at the Kristiania Theater.
Originally, the café was raised above street level, and guests had to climb an external staircase, but in the late 1870s the floor was lowered and the premises redecorated. From that point on, the café became the gathering place for all of Kristiania. Professor Christen Heiberg's three-storey house on the corner of Karl Johan street 31 was one of numerous distinguished bourgeois houses that were built around 1840 along "den nye Slotsvej", as Karl Johan was called in the early days.
The beginning
The Grand Hotel was opened in 1874 by confectioner Julius Fritzner, after Professor Chr. Heiberg's three-storey private residence had been converted into a hotel. The café was opened first. The necessary remodeling was carried out by architect Jacob Nordan, and the decoration work by Fritzner's good friend Wilhelm Krogh, who was a decoration painter and theater painter at the Kristiania Theater.
Originally, the café was raised above street level, and guests had to climb an external staircase, but in the late 1870s the floor was lowered and the premises redecorated. From that point on, the café became the gathering place for all of Kristiania. Professor Christen Heiberg's three-storey house on the corner of Karl Johan street 31 was one of numerous distinguished bourgeois houses that were built around 1840 along "den nye Slotsvej", as Karl Johan was called in the early days.
1886 – opening of Speilen
In 1886, the capital's most impressive ballroom "Speilen" opened. Here you could dine to music from the best orchestras. The hall had a beautifully decorated ceiling, old pink columns and wall areas filled with mirrors. This became the meeting place for the academics and diplomats.
The most beautifull banquet hall Norway has ever had, opened in 1894, with Henrik Ibsen, among others, present. "Rococo" spanned two floors, and was richly decorated with Krogh's paintings along the ceiling and walls. The artist carnivals, countless balls, and Petra Sands' soirées were held here to raise income for her orphanage. Last but not least, the "Balselskabet Foreningen" with Queen Maud and King Haakon as high patrons held their events in this hall. When Roald Amundsen returned to Oslo after his successful expedition to the South Pole in 1912, a celebratory banquet was held at the Grand Hotel.
Ibsen at Grand
There is no doubt that Ibsen made the 1890s the most famous in Grand's history. From the time he moved home in 1891, he resumed the habit he had acquired abroad of visiting his ancestral café every day. For nine years he walked Norway's most famous walk twice a day: down Arbins street, past the university clock where he always checked if the pocket watch was running correctly, and on to the Grand Café. With his long coat, pleated trousers, floppy hat and with an umbrella in his hand, he was one of the area's most characteristic figures as he wandered into the café and sat down in his special armchair "Reserved for Dr. Ibsen".
In the summer, he preferred the shady, cool glass veranda Palm Garden, (later Palmen). Lunch consisted of rolls, book beer and a dram. And often a "pjolter". The Grand was his second home and the café knew how to appreciate its famous guest. At Christmas 1899 they gave him four glasses with his name engraved on them: one each for beer, wine, dram and "pjolter"!
History
The Grand Hotel, with Norway's best location, has been a landmark in Oslo ever since the city was called Kristiania. Proud and venerable on the corner of Karl Johan street and Rosenkrantz street, the Grand Hotel is Norway's most famous and traditional hotel. Every Norwegian knows where the Grand Hotel is!
On the famous corner balcony, Henrik Ibsen and Fridtjof Nansen received ovations from the people. In recent years, the Grand Hotel has been modernized and renovated several times.
Per Krohg's paintings
Per Krohg's famous picture in the Grand Café was painted in 1928. The painting shows the Grand Cafe's interior and some of Norway's most famous artists, with whom Krogh also grew up. He painted the picture in St. John's Church, which was to be demolished. There he had a well-worn plush armchair from the 1890s at the Grand, as well as sketches of the Grand's regulars. He himself says that he first placed the plush chairs and tables, pulled the curtains aside and then introduced each guest who entered by name: "Ladies and Gentlemen, here comes, for example, Jæger, and then I placed the figures where they should be" . Finally came Ibsen.
The image connected the past with the new and modern. We have to believe that all these celebrities seen in the picture were never present at the same time.
Paintings for food stamps
There was more drama around Munch: "Sitting at the Grand with Hans Jæger, who is going to prison tomorrow", wrote Munch to Arne Garborg in 1888. And the waiters gave credit, but it also happened that the guests had to sit in pledge from the morning until they was rescued in the afternoon.
Waiter Ulleberg gladly exchanged services with Munch. For a painting, Munch got Chateaubriand with beer and dram for NOK 30. Waiter Olsen, on the other hand, was offered "The Sick Child" a hundred steaks at 50 øre (0,50 NOK) each and said no. "Madonna" was bought by another waiter, who unfortunately sold it before fame and appreciation came, while shoemaker With became the happy owner of "Music on Karl Johan" in exchange for a pair of new boots.
Kristiania's bohemian
It was at Grand that they gathered, Kristiania's bohemian. They wanted a settlement with an outdated social system, gender roles and family structure. They tried to live by their nine commandments. The first read: "You will write your own life", which characterized their attitude as artists. Christian Krohg followed this command and kept writing and drawing until his last years. He was guest of honor No. 1 at "Dagligstuen" and Ibsen's heir, which was emphasized by Grand in 1914 when the management presented him with a decanter and burgundy glass in towed crystal, which were always on his regular table.
The bohemian's ninth and last commandment was: "You shall kill yourself", and that could be done with "pjolter". The young radicals got the name of the drink from P. J. Holter, who had been in London and brought whiskey and soda home. Competitions were held and the winner managed 24 pjolters, but in the end had to requisition half a port to "have something to sleep on".
Grand Café
"A lot could probably be said about the Grand Café – it would become a lot of Oslo's history", wrote Edvard Munch in 1928. And today you cannot tell Munch's history without mentioning the Grand. Even less Ibsen's.
Because the story of Grand is also the story of some of the country's greatest artists with the Grand Café as the center of their spiritual life. And if Ibsen made the 1890s the hotel's most famous, Kristiania bohemian made the previous decade the most dramatic. The 80s and 90s were a time of an abundance of artists and bohemians full of life. The Grand Café was opened in 1874 in Schweigaard's apartment two meters above pavement level, with an entrance from Rosenkrantz street. "Dagligstuen" was the name of the café. The walls were covered with mirrors, there were marble tables, plush furniture, and a doorbell for use when you wanted to catch the waiter Østbye, who ran between the service counter and adjacent rooms with red-rimmed eyes because of all the tobacco smoke.
1911-1913
In 1911-13, the Grand was rebuilt to the appearance it has today, with white granite from the Sognefjord, and the characteristic bell tower with a copper roof and a magnificent view. At that time, the hotel was completed with 120 rooms and 50 bathrooms.
The choice of the name "Grand" was natural because the building was so large, and because Kristiania was about to become a big city. The town celebrated its anniversary the same year the Grand Hotel opened, and its new center and main street was Karl Johan. In addition, it is possible that the Fritzner brothers were inspired by the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, which was to be completed around the same time.
Historic banquet halls
The Speilen and Rococo halls were among Oslo's largest and most famous party venues. Here, tickets were sold for celebrations of polar heroes, writers and Oslo jubilees. Several regular events for specially invited guests also took place, and perhaps the most colorful was the Artists' Association's carnival, where a new theme was chosen each year. Theater and decoration painters transformed the halls into what they were supposed to be, for example an ice desert when the theme was once polar expeditions. Rumors spread about the parties and balls in Speilen. Membership in the Balselskapet's association was a dream for most people, and something you had to be invited Each year the ball was opened by the King and Queen, who led the festive polonaise.
In 1957, a catastrophic fire hit Speilen and Rococoo. It is said that butler Eugen Olsen sat with water up to his calves and cried, while large crystal crowns fell down with a crash. The halls were rebuilt and reopened in 1961.
Business cycles
Business cycles have always gone in waves, and then it can be good to have a place of origin to go to. Oslo had two periods called the working time, where people became rich overnight on shares, and the Grand Café was turned into a stock exchange. The champagne flowed and the cigars were high. It is said from that time that little Charlie, who was polishing shoes in front of the toilets in the basement on Friday, appeared in Speilen on Saturday morning as a guest with leather shoes, a floppy hat and a gold chain, and seemed to be having a great time. During this period, the waiters at the Grand Cafe had to put signs on the tables stating that working in the premises was prohibited.
We also had the prohibition period (ie from 1919 – 27 when liquor was prohibited). When the law was introduced, the Oslo police arrested 900 people for drunkenness during the first months. The "Pocket Lark Act" was introduced, and the art of home production of alcohol was further developed.
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