| After numerous sieges,
fires and the seven year War of the North 1563-70,
the Medieval Castle of Akershus was renovated to
withstand new technologies of warfare. The castle
was also considered too vulnerable on its land-ward
side. The work on turning Akershus Castle into a
bastion-fortress complete with ramparts and mouts
began during the 1580s, and continued at full
speed into the beginning of the 17th Century.
Largely for defensive reasons, the town of Oslo
was moved closer to the fortress in 1624, thereby
changing the functions of the fortress to that of
a citadel on the Italian model, with city and
fortress as one unit, with the same outer wall.
Akershus Castle itself was rebuilt into a
renaissance castle. Towards
the end of the 18th Century the fortress had lost
much of its significance. The city needes room,
and in 1815 it was decided that nearly the whole
of the remaining fortress ramparts should be
demolished. The prison and slave quarters were
extended, and from 1900 to 1950 they were used as
a national prison.
Today Akershus Fortress is still
military area, with the Norwegian National
Defence College, the Norwegian Armed Forces Staff
College, the Military Police Station Oslo, Armed
Forces Museum and many others situated inside.
And the Fortress still has a commandantship that
is Norway's oldest military unit. The Royal
Mausoleum is also inside the Fortress, which is
one reason why H M the King's Guards (HMKG) has a
force there. The Fortress is open to the public
during daytime.
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| The Fortress Police at
Akershus(a.k.a. Military Constables) was first
established in 1888, but was replaced by ordinary
military guards (conscripts) in 1894. This
solution wasn't satisfactory however, and the
Fortress Police was re-established in 1906. The
Fortress Police is a small unit with military
police authority, whose task is to maintain law
and order at the fortress area (together with
HMKG).
The current emblem was approved by HM
the King on Oct 26th, 1994.
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