Christiania to Oslo
After a fire in 1624, the Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV rebuilt Norway’s chief city on a new site and named it Christiania after himself. It kept his name, later spelled Kristiania, for 300 years. From 1 January 1925 the capital took back its medieval name, Oslo.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 13 October 2026Suggest a correction
- Oslomedieval city, from about 1050
- Christiania1624–1877
- Kristiania1877–1924 (city offices from 1897)
- Oslofrom 1 January 1925
The first Oslo
King Harald Hardraade founded Oslo around 1050, on a site east of the Aker River. In 1299 Haakon V moved his residence there from Bergen, making it in effect Norway’s capital. It lost that role in 1397, when Norway entered the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Sweden and Copenhagen became the union’s capital.[2]
The name is old Norse, Ósló. Its second part, -ló, means a meadow by water. The first part is debated; the most common reading is ás, a pagan god, which would make Oslo “the gods’ meadow by the water”.[3]
A king’s new town
In 1624 fire destroyed the whole city. King Christian IV of Denmark–Norway decided to build a new town further west, under the walls of the Akershus fortress, and called it Christiania.[2] When Norway entered a union with Sweden in 1814, Christiania became a national capital again.[2]
The spelling changed before the name did. From 1877 the city was written Kristiania in the land register and the state calendar, and from 1897 the city’s own offices used it too.[1]
Back to Oslo
In summer 1924, three hundred years after Christian IV’s town was founded, the Storting decided that the city’s official name would become Oslo from 1 January 1925. Until then, Oslo had been the name of the district on the old medieval site; that district is now called Gamlebyen, the Old Town.[1]
Timeline
c. 1050
Oslo founded
Harald Hardraade founds the city east of the Aker River.[2]
1299
Capital
Haakon V moves his residence from Bergen to Oslo.[2]
1624
Christiania
After a fire, Christian IV builds a new town by Akershus and names it after himself.[2][1]
1814
Capital again
Christiania becomes a national capital in the union with Sweden.[2]
1877
Kristiania
Official registers start spelling the name with a K.[1]
1924
The Storting decides
Parliament votes to rename the city Oslo.[1]
19251 January 1925
Oslo
The new old name takes effect.[1]
Sources
- [1]Christiania – Oslo · Store norske leksikon (Knut Are Tvedt)
- [2]Oslo · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- [3]Oslo – Norges hovedstad · Store norske leksikon
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.