Gamlebyen Church is a private church, belonging to Oslo University Hospital and is also called Oslo Hospital's Church. It is leased to the Diocese of Oslo of the Church of Norway and serves as the parish church for the Gamlebyen parish in Oslo. Up to 1925 it had the name Oslo Church, but when the city changed its name from Kristiania to Oslo, the church got the present name. The present church building is listed in 1796 partly on the foundations of the Franciscan monastery church built around 1290. The church is located at the foot of the north-facing slope Ekeberg, across the street from the Gamlebyen Cemetery. The chapel at the cemetery is abandoned as a burial chapel and leased to the Ethiopian community in Oslo. At funerals, the church itself is now used instead.
Abbey Church which was built towards the end of the 1200s, was one of Oslo's earliest buildings constructed of brick which came from Duke Hakon's brickworks on the riverbanks of Alnaelva. After the Protestant Reformation in 1536 the church was converted into a hospital. In 1567, during the Swedish attack, the first church was destroyed. On the ruins of the abbey, the building was divided into several floors and served thereafter as a hospital building with a church on the first floor. The house now known as the 'stone building' was added later. This is regarded today as the oldest hospital building. During the 1700s there were also several buildings, including 'Dollhuset' for psychiatric patients.
In 1734, a new church was built on the foundations of the nave. After the last fire on 13 January 1794 the church was rebuilt in Louis XVI style two years later, again in brick. The old medieval choir was demolished and replaced with a tower that stands there today. The newly built church was opened on 11 May 1796. In the 1800s the church was rebuilt several times. In the period 1934-1939, it was renovated by architect William K. Essendrop, reestablishing its earlier appearance. The flat murtaket was replaced with an arched vault, and a new sacristy was built. The church was reopened on Christmas Eve 1939, in the presence of King Haakon VII.
The church has seating for just 200 people. It is one of the oldest churches in Oslo that is still in use. The main building is from 1796. The Stone Building is from 1737. In 1880, seating was added and changes were made to the altar and pulpit. From 1934 to 1939, extensive restoration reestablished the look of 1796. The pulpit from 1880 hangs above the altar but is not in use.
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The Palazzo Colonna is a palatial block of buildings built in part over ruins of an old Roman Serapeum, and has belonged to the prestigious Colonna family for over twenty generations.
The first part of the palace dates from the 13th century, and tradition holds that the building hosted Dante in his visit to Rome. The first documentary mention notes that the property hosted Cardinal Giovanni and Giacomo Colonna in the 13th century. It was also home to Cardinal Oddone Colonna before he ascended to the papacy as Martin V (1417–1431).
With his passing, the palace was sacked during feuds, and the main property passed into the hands of the Della Rovere family. It returned to the Colonna family when Marcantonio I Colonna married Lucrezia Gara Franciotti Della Rovere, the niece of pope Julius II. The Colonna"s alliance to the Habsburg power, likely protected the palace from looting during the Sack of Rome (1527).
Starting with Filippo Colonna (1578–1639) many changes have refurbished and create a unitary complex around a central garden. Architects including Girolamo Rainaldi and Paolo Marucelli labored on specific projects. Only in the 17th and 18th centuries were the main facades completed. Much of this design was completed by Antonio del Grande (including the grand gallery), and Girolamo Fontana (decoration of gallery). In the 18th century, the long low facade designed by Nicola Michetti with later additions by Paolo Posi with taller corner blocks (facing Piazza Apostoli) was constructed recalls earlier structures resembling a fortification.
The main gallery (completed 1703) and the masterful Colonna art collection was acquired after 1650 by both the cardinal Girolamo I Colonna and his nephew the Connestabile Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna and includes works by Lorenzo Monaco, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Palma the Elder, Salviati, Bronzino, Tintoretto, Pietro da Cortona, Annibale Carracci (painting of The Beaneater), Guercino, Francesco Albani, Muziano and Guido Reni. Ceiling frescoes by Filippo Gherardi, Giovanni Coli, Sebastiano Ricci, and Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari celebrate the role of Marcantonio II Colonna in the battle of Lepanto (1571). The gallery is open to the public on Saturday mornings.
The older wing of the complex known as the Princess Isabelle"s apartments, but once housing Martin V"s library and palace, contains frescoes by Pinturicchio, Antonio Tempesta, Crescenzio Onofri, Giacinto Gimignani, and Carlo Cesi. It contains a collection of landscapes and genre scenes by painters like Gaspard Dughet, Caspar Van Wittel (Vanvitelli), and Jan Brueghel the Elder.
Along with the possessions of the Doria-Pamphilij and Pallavacini-Rospigliosi families, this is one of the largest private art collections in Rome.