Karl Johans gate

Karl Johans Gate ( German " Karl- Johann -Straße " ), informally called " Karl Johan ", is the main avenue and downtown Oslo. It is named after the Swedish- Norwegian king Karl III Johan (Jean Bernadotte ) and extends from the main railway station in the southeast to the royal castle in the northwest. From the station to the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, it is a pedestrian zone. Along the " Karl Johan " contains well-known institutions such as the Cathedral, the National Theatre, the university buildings and the Grand Hotel the Grand Café.

Description

The road consists of two parts with different histories. The eastern part of the station square to the place Egertorget lay within the city walls of the Danish king Christian IV and was not initially regarded as a coherent road. Parts were called Østre Gade, Kirkebakken and Kirkestredet, from about 1840 was called the whole stretch of road Østre Gade. The western part was related to the Castle of the architects HD Linstow as a visual axis and street parade scheduled Avenue. It was built in the 1830s and received in 1840 the name Slotsvej (German: " Schlossweg "). 1852, according to Karl Johans death, she was named after the late monarch. At that time already was, the monumental university buildings. As a result, the western part of the " Karl Johan " similar to many avenues and ring roads of the 19th century as urbanistic showpiece state and bourgeois splendor developed. The land owners of the northern side of the new Avenue bought, among other things, the land on the south side, they presented gifts to the city, with the condition that the town make to today's " student parking " in which, however, later the National Theatre was built .. During the Parliament of the construction in the 1860s, the connection was to the eastern part at the highest point, the Egertorget, closed; the different character of the two road sections remained. The adapted for pedestrian part has predominantly commercial character. With regard to the centennial anniversary of the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 2005, there were also significant transformations of " Karl Johan ". The street furniture ( light poles ) have been aligned with those of the 1920s. Already in the 1980s the tram from Oslo Karl Johans gate, which had there first runs as a horse track almost 100 years disappeared.

Pictures

Egertorget, Karl Johans gate 1880

Karl Johans gate 33-45 1890

Karl Johans gate May 17, 2003