Festivals

The largest festival in the city of Oslo is the 17th of May celebration. It is the Norwegian national holiday, celebrating the signing of the constitution is 1814. One of the main components of the celebration is the children's parade. It originated in the days when Norway was still under Swedish rule. Although the Norwegians knew that the Swedes would not allow a large nationalistic parade, the people of the city knew that the Swedish army did not have the heart to fire on children. The focus of the parade is the place, where the children and other groups march to greet the royal family. The celebration has occurred ever year since, except for during WWII, when nationalistic activities were prohibited by the Nazis. Another large festival that was celebrated recently was the 1000 year anniversary of Oslo. Various celebrations and happenings went on throughout the entire year of 2000. One of the things that the city did was to put up hundreds of statues of tigers throughout the city. (Oslo is known as the tiger city.) The fact that Oslo celebrated its 1000

The city of Oslo has numerous museums. The city has over 60 art museums and also many museums dedicated to various portions of Norwegian history, culture, and industry. Among the most interesting are the Viking Ship museum and the Folk Museum. The Viking Ship museum contains several authentic Viking ship and many pieces of Viking artifacts. Probably the most interesting museum, however, is the Folk Museum. Many different forms of architecture developed in Norway due to how isolated certain valleys and cities were from the rest of the country. Many old buildings from throughout the country have been moved to the Folk Museum. By walking around the museum, one can see authentic examples of Norwegian architecture from throughout the entire country.