Hotel Royal Christiania Hotel Royal Christiania Hotel Royal Christiania is a hotel located on Biskop Gunnerus' gate in Oslo, Norway. Formerly known as the Hotel Viking, the building was the design work of architects Knut Knutsen and Fredrik Winsnes for which they were awarded the Houens fonds diplom in 1961. The hotel was financed and built by Oslo Municipality to accommodate the 1952 Winter Olympics. At the time of its formal opening on December 10, 1951, it was the largest hotel in Scandinavia. Today, the hotel remains one of the largest in Norway, with 532 rooms and 21 conference rooms, and is now
European Capital of Culture Culture and was conceived in 1983, by Melina Mercouri, then serving as minister of culture in [Greece]. Mercouri believed that at the time, culture was not given the same attention as politics and economics and a project for promoting European cultures within the member states should be pursued. The European City of Culture programme was launched in the summer of 1985 with Athens being the first title-holder. During the German presidency of 1999, the European City of Culture programme was renamed to European Capital of Culture. A new framework makes it possible for a city in a candidate country or