Akershus Fortress or Akershus Castle is a medieval castle that was built to protect Oslo, the capital of Norway. It has also been used as a prison. The first construction on the castle started around the late 1290s, by King Haakon V, replacing Tønsberg as one of the two most important Norwegian castles of the period . It was constructed in response to the Norwegian nobleman, Earl Alv Erlingsson of Sarpsborg’s earlier attack on Oslo. The fortress has successfully survived all sieges, primarily by Swedish forces, also by Charles XII in 1716. In the early 17th c., the fortress... was modernized and remodelled under the reign of the active King Christian IV, and got the appearance of a renaissance castle. The fortress was first used in battle in 1308, when it was besieged by the Swedish duke Eric of Södermanland, who later in the same year won the Swedish throne. The immediate proximity of the sea was a key feature, for naval power was a vital military force as the majority of Norwegian commerce in that period was by sea.
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| Opened: | 1290 |
| Country: | Norway |
| Latitude: | 59.9066 |
| Longitude: | 10.7362 |