The courtyard. Tours of the castle are apparently led by students in period dress and they provide entertaining anecdotal history but we preferred to wander around on the outside only on the grounds that we have seen the inside of many castles.
These are barracks from the 1780s, obviously restored and/or reconstructed.
The walls with a soldier guarding it. While we were there a number of Asian tourists posed next to the guard with their friends photographing them together.
During WWII, the Nazis used Akerhus as a prison and execution grounds and it is today the site of the Norway's Resistance Museum, providing a vivid and moving account of the tyrannical German occupation and the Norwegian struggle against it. The museum opened in 1970 and it presents the history of the "Homefront", the civilian and military resistance against the German occupation and collaboration regime from 1940 to 1945. The contents of the museum is a chronological gallery through five years of occupation of the country.
About 45, 000 Norwegians were imprisoned during the war and almost one in fourth were deported to concentration camps in the German Reich or the occupied territories. One third of the Jewish population in Norway were killed.
This photograph shows the re-taking of Akerhus fortress by the Norwegian Homefront in May 1945.
Leaving the castle, here are Andrew and Charlie in a particularly picturesque pose.
Less picturesque but Charlie is much happier as he is allowed off leash.
An unusual sculpture within the castle grounds. Is it perhaps a soldier carrying bags? There was no description of any sort around but it is an interesting piece of art.
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