Norway (1820-1864)


A few years after Norway entered into a union with Sweden, a competition was held to select a new national anthem. The winning poem was commonly known as “Sønner af Norges det ældgamle Rige” (“Sons of Norway’s ancient empire”). It remained in use as the de facto national anthem until at least 1864 when the current anthem was written and “Sønner av Norge” was used in more formal situations until around the time of Norwegian independence.