Christiania Theatre Laura Gundersen in 1849. The foundation of the first Norwegian theatre in Oslo, Christiania Norwegian Theatre in 1852, was but a temporary rival, as it was forced to close down in 1862. The theatre was a result of the controversy surrounding the Norwegian and Danish languages and was created as a counterpoint to the Danish language dominated Christiania Theatre. Henrik Ibsen was artistic director of the Christiania Norwegian Theatre from the autumn of 1857 and served as the theatre leading director until its bankruptcy in 1862. From 1856, the Christiania Theatre promised to employ native actors. In 1872, Norwegian became
Freetown Christiania of the then ruling coalition, who to the question in parliament whether the new buildings at Christiania were only economically motivated, answered: In order to present a reasonable use of area after an eventual "cleaning", the Danish government commissioned an architectural competition. 17 proposals were received, of which only eight have met the formal competition requirements. All of the proposals were rejected by the jury. The cost of the architectural competition was 850,000 Danish kroner. Christiania has countered the government's plans for normalization with its own community driven planning proposal, which after eight months of internal workshops and meetings gained