Norway: A project to build a sarcophagus for King Harald and Queen Sonja has been started

© 2019 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth 

In the Norwegian government's proposal for the state budget 2025, which was presented today, the government has proposed to allocate NOK 20 million in project funds for the acquisition of a sarcophagus. The acquisition is carried out by the Royal Court.

The sacrophagus will be used as the final resting place for the king and queen in The Royal Mausoleum at Akershus Palace. Snøhetta, which among others was beind the Opera House in Oslo, has been chosen to design the sarcophagus. According to today's press release from the Royal Court, the status of the project is that the work "to design the sarcophagus has begun in an early phase".

The mausoleum was inaugurated in 1949 and includes the double sarcophaguses of King Haakon and Queen Maud (in white marble, see the photo above) and King Olav V and Crown Princess Märtha (in dark green marble). The coffin of Queen Maud was after her funeral kept at Akershus, where it waited for the construction of the mausoleum, which is a additio to the Akershus Castle Church. Due to the war the work was stopped and was not finished before 1948. The work on the sacropahgus was, however, not finished before the year after. In December 1949 Queen Maud's coffin was brought from the crypt of Gamle Aker Church, where it had been kept since Apri 1940, to Akershus Castle.  

For more details (in Norwegian) and photos of the mausoleum please read the article "Det kongelige mausoleum" at Slektshistoriewiki (the Norwegian genealogy wiki).