Opening of new National Museum in Oslo postponed to 2022

The new National Museum, which is being built on Vestbanen in Oslo, will not open until 2022. The reason? Delays in the construction project.

The effects of the corona pandemic, combined with delays in deliveries and installation of security doors, means that Statsbygg’s completion of the new National Museum is taking longer than planned. 

Thus, the opening will be postponed once more. 

In November last year, delays in two critical deliveries led to the opening being postponed for six months.

Hoping for 2022

The opening of the new National Museum is postponed until 2022.

“Hopefully, it will not be far into 2022 that we can open the doors to the public,” the National Museum’s director Karin Hindsbo noted.

“The new National Museum is a complex building with strict safety, temperature, and climate requirements. 

“The construction work has been completed, but there is still some testing that needs to be done,” CEO Harald Nikolaisen of Statsbygg said.

Postponed for the second time

According to the press release, the security doors now function mainly as they should, but there is still some work to be done with electrical, security, and climate control.

The infection situation has presented challenges with transport and logistics and halted some deliveries. 

There have also been delays due to the quarantine for specialists and craftsmen from abroad.

With its almost 55,000 square meters, the new National Museum will be the Nordic region’s largest art museum, and the cost framework for the construction project is NOK 6.1 billion. 

The opening of the new National Museum was originally supposed to be in the autumn of 2020, but in November last year, it was moved six months until the spring of 2021. 

Now the opening is further delayed.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today