The Cannonball on the Wall

We go back to 1716 when the Swedish King Charles XII attacked Oslo, or Kristiania as it was called then, with 7,000 men. The Swedes advanced through Ås and continued over the ice on Bunnefjorden, as the roads towards Kristiania had been blocked. On March 21, they reached Kristiania, but Norway fired cannons at the Swedes, causing the ice to crack. The Swedes landed on Bleikøya, Hovedøya, and Nakkholmen. The forces eventually landed on Bygdøy and then moved across Frognerkilen towards Gamle Aker Church. By that time, Kristiania had been evacuated. Only Akershus Fortress stood against the Swedish attack, doing everything it could to send the Swedes back where they came from. After a month of siege, the Swedes were forced to retreat in defeat.

One of the cannonballs fired at the Swedes from Akershus Fortress ended up embedded in the wall of the Departementsgården building. When Departementsgården was demolished in 1914 to make way for Oslo's new main post office, the cannonball was preserved and embedded into the wall of the new building. You can still see it there today.

And what happened to the power-hungry Swedish King Charles XII? He tried again two years later, now with 40,000 men, against Fredriksten Fortress in Halden. As he peeked up from the moat, he was hit in the head by a bullet and died at just 36 years old. Charles XII became king at the age of fifteen and spent most of his reign waging wars. It is said that it was a Swedish bullet that killed him at Fredriksten Fortress, as the Swedes were tired of his constant warfare. However, in Myking on the west coast of Norway, Jo Vedlo Hodne has been credited with the fatal shot, and a monument has been erected in his memory.

The Swedish king has also been popularized in modern culture, such as in Brødrene Dal og mysteriet med Karl XIIs gamasjer and Sabaton's concept album Carolus Rex. You can also see him in many films, including the six-hour long Karl XII from 1925. But best of all, you can see an actual cannonball from the war against Charles XII in the wall of the old post office!