Norway · 13th century
Akershus Fortress (Norwegian: Akershus Festning, pronounced [ɑkəʂˈhʉːs ˈfɛ̂sːtnɪŋ]) or Akershus Castle (Norwegian: Akershus slott [ɑkəʂˈhʉːs ˈslɔtː]) is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. It is located on the banks of the Oslofjord. Since the Middle Ages the fortress has been the namesake and centre of the main fief and later main county of Akershus, which was originally one of Norway's four main regions and which included most of Eastern Norway. The fortress itself was located within the Akershus main county until 1919, and also within the smaller Akershus sub-county until 1842.
The castle has also been used as a military base, a prison and is currently the temporary office of the prime minister of Norway.
Text adapted from “Akershus Fortress” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Akershus Fortress ranks #154 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #1 of the 26 mapped in Norway. Founded 1290, it is older than 64% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 1080 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 23,913 times in the last 60 days, more than 98% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Oslo, 1 km away. See how Norway compares in the castle statistics.
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