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| Costs mount for royal remodelling projects. |
| [30.08.2007, 11:03pm, Thu. GMT] |
Remodeling costs for royal property in Norway have hit nearly NOK 800 million (USD 133 million) during the past decade and bills are still coming in, but much of the extensive restoration is nearing an end. The most recent remodelling and restoration project was officially finished on Friday, reported newspaper VG, when the stately old royal mansion on Oslo's Bygdøy peninsula was turned over to King Harald and Queen Sonja. Restoration of Bygdøy Kongsgården took six years and cost NOK 177.8 million to improve it enough that King Harald and Queen Sonja could be able to use it as a summer residence.The mansion and its surrounding park, which date back to 1733, was long known as the late King Olav's favourite residence. He would move there from the nearby palace every year, but it remains unclear how much time the current king and queen will spend there. The couple also has a summer home on an island south of Oslo, where the queen spends much of her summer, while the king is generally off sailing during July.
Another NOK 45 million is being spent rehabilitating the small castle known as Oscarshall, also on the Bygdøy peninsula in Oslo, while NOK 5 million has been used to remodel Stiftsgården in Trondheim, and NOK 7 million was spent on the royal residence Gamlehaugen in Bergen.
Nearly NOK 20 million was spent remodelling the official residence of the crown prince at Skaugum in Asker, west of Oslo. It's now the home of Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and their children.
The largest, and most controversial, remodelling project was the one carried out at the Royal Palace in Oslo. It cost more than NOK 500 million to remodel the palace to the style and standard desired by Queen Sonja.
The cost of the royal apartments within the palace, where the royals live, amounted to NOK 103 million alone. |
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