State preservationists normally target historic buildings in their efforts to protect Norway’s architectural heritage, but now they’ve already decided to make sure that the Opera House that opened in Oslo in 2008 will be preserved as well.
“We don’t just have responsibility for historic buildings, but also modern architecture of high international standard,” Jørn Holme, who heads preservation agency Riksantikvaren, told news bureau NTB. “The Opera is such a building.”
He said all state entities involved (Riksantikvaren, state building agency Statsbygg, the National Opera itself and Opera House architectural firm Snøhetta) agreed on a preservation order. “It was not a difficult case,” Holme said.
His agency reported that a record number of buildings were placed under protection last year and several more are expected to become what’s called fredet this year, too. They include the National Gallery, Filmteatret and St Halvards Cloister in Oslo, Hotel Terminus in Bergen and the Sellevåg wooden shoe factory in Sogn og Fjordane.
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