Akershus from the outer grounds

Low ramparts reinforced with stone facing appeared around the old castle when cannon fire made medieval towers an unreliable defense. Royal engineers moved firing platforms out onto projecting bastions; the first major section of these fortifications was completed by sixteen oh four. Akershus Fortress itself rose on the headland between Bjørvika and Pipervika as a stone royal residence protecting both the harbor and the city from the water; soldiers lived behind its walls, royal supplies were stored there, and the governor was based there. Today people walk along the ramparts, while military institutions still operate in the fortress buildings.

In the spring of fifteen sixty-seven, the army of the Swedish king Erik XIV was advancing on Akershus Fortress. The Northern Seven Years' War was under way; the Swedes had already occupied a substantial part of Eastern Norway and now wanted to take the region's main fortress. Christen Munk, who commanded Akershus Fortress and governed the surrounding district on behalf of the Danish-Norwegian king, made a decision before the enemy reached the walls. He told the residents to leave Oslo and ordered the city set on fire, so that Swedish soldiers would not get housing, food, or fortified positions.

At that time, Oslo lay on the other side of Bjørvika, east of the fortress. Almost the whole city consisted of wooden houses. For the townspeople, Munk's order meant losing their homes and workshops; for Munk himself, what was at stake was the office that gave him status and income. The lensherr collected taxes, administered justice, and was responsible for the defense of the district entrusted to him. To lose Akershus Fortress meant losing the district as well.

The fortress was established on this headland at the end of the thirteenth century. After the attack on Oslo in twelve eighty-seven, King Haakon V ordered a stone residence with fortifications built here. The headland between Bjørvika and Pipervika made it possible to protect both the city and the harbor from the water. By Munk's time, the walls enclosed a garrison, royal stores, and the governor's residence.

The Swedes came up to the almost destroyed city and began a siege, but their guns lacked the power to breach the walls. They withdrew to Hamar, waited for reinforcements, and returned. During the second siege, Akershus Fortress suffered serious damage. Munk asked Bergen and Copenhagen for help. The Swedes repelled the first attacks by the arriving Danish detachments, but reinforcements from Western Norway then joined the Danish forces. The besiegers found themselves outnumbered and headed north, setting fire to the surviving houses and destroying bridges. Munk held the fortress and remained its master for another five years. The residents were left with a city that had almost completely burned down.

The siege showed that medieval towers were already poorly suited to artillery warfare. Afterward, royal engineers began surrounding the castle with low earthen ramparts faced with stone: such fortifications withstood cannonballs better and made it possible to fire from projecting bastions. An additional tax was collected for the construction, and people were sent to compulsory labor. The first major stage was completed by sixteen oh four. These are the ramparts that define the appearance of Akershus Fortress's outer grounds. They are now open for walks, although military institutions are still housed in the fortress buildings.

A tower in the old part of the fortress preserves Munk's name. Back in fifteen fifty-nine, he rebuilt a former water tower into a cannon tower and gateway tower; stone for the work was taken from Oslo's abandoned churches. The wooden houses of the city that Munk ordered burned are long gone. The stone of its churches remains in the tower of the man who held Akershus Fortress.