Oslo City Hall: Inside the Nobel Peace Prize venue

The City Hall is the two red-brick towers, which are easy to walk past on the way to Aker Brygge, the National Museum or the Nobel Peace Center. 

Don't walk past, go inside. This is one of the best free cultural attractions in Oslo, and it takes just a few minutes. This is not a museum, it's a working political space filled with art.

The Main Hall hosts the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony every December, but the ceremony connection is the least interesting thing about the building. The murals are the reason you should come here.

The Main Hall

After security (there's a bag check, usually not taking long), you'll walk straight into the Main Hall. It's a big room. Stand in the middle, as the murals are designed to be viewed from a distance, working almost like a public storybook painted across every wall.

What you're looking at is Norway after the Second World War. The artworks are full of normal people going about their daily work: workers, sailors, families, farmers and builders. 

The building was planned before the war, and built across a long period, interrupted by the war, and opened in 1950. That timeline shows in the art: reconstruction and collective effort. It's a statement about the type of society Norway wanted to build.

The Nobel ceremony room

The Main Hall is where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each year in December. If you want to learn more about the Peace Prize, visit the Nobel Peace Center across the square. Do City Hall first, then cross over the square for the exhibition.

Around 10 December every year, access can be restricted due to the Peace Prize ceremony and related events. 

The bells

Maybe the most interesting thing about the building, the towers consist of 49 bells, and the carillon plays hourly from morning until midnight. The playlist can be unexpectedly contemporary. Tunes include Grieg, Björk, the Assassin's Creed Valhalla soundtrack, and the Twin Peaks theme. 

The playlist changes regularly, so don't count on hearing a specific tune. Check the official carillon page for the playlist. In June, July, and August, there are live carillon concerts on Sundays at 15:00.