The Royal Estates and Parks
The Department of Royal Estates and Parks is responsible for the management, maintenance and development of the Royal estates. This includes the buildings and their interiors as well as the park areas adjoined to the Royal estates. The estates must be treated as protected.
The responsibility for maintaining the buildings is shared between the Royal Court and the Norwegian government building and construction adviser Statsbygg, which handles the external maintenance of the buildings.
The department also performs administrative tasks and caretaker services on the private royal estates and manages the King's rights to Stiftsgården in Trondheim and Gamlehaugen in Bergen.
Estate Management
The Section for Estate Management ensures that the royal properties are always prepared for all activities. Rooms and interiors at the Royal Palace, Oscarshall summer palace, and Bygdø Royal Farm are maintained and ready for the various events throughout the year. The Section’s has its own craftsmen who carry out restoration and maintenance of antique furniture and interiors in collaboration with the Royal Collections. The use of original materials and old craftsmanship traditions are kept alive.
Larger-scale renovation and rehabilitation projects are headed by the section, in cooperation with Statsbygg, in close collaboration with Statsbygg and the Directorate for Cultural Heritage.
The Royal Estates and Parks
The Garden Section
The Garden Section is responsible for the operation and upkeep of parks and gardens adjoined to the Royal estates.
Upkeep of the parks with their 2 000 trees is a considerable task, managed by the Garden Section's arborist. Environment-friendly methods and promoting biodiversity are given priority. This includes the preservation of old trees and converting lawn into flowering medows.
The department is led by the Palace Steward, Per Arne Bjørnstad.
The Palace Park
Facts about the Palace Park
Size: 200 decares
Contains approximately 1 000 trees.
Established as a consolidated park between 1824 and 1860, alongside the completion of the Royal Palace in 1849. Parts of the Queen’s Park has served as a park since 1751.
The Palace Park has three ponds of approximately 5 200 square metres. They contain roughly five million litres of water. Part of the Palace Park has been converted into flowering medows, covering an area equivalent to six football fields.
Opening hours
Most of the Palace Park is open 24 hours a day, every day.
The Queen's Park is open from May 18 to October 1, from 07:00 in the morning to 20:00 in the evening.