Old Christiania's hill: Vår Frelsers gravlund, Damstredet, Gamle Aker and St. Hanshaugen: a walk in Oslo

A short climb through the part of St. Hanshaugen where Oslo people still live in pre-1900 wooden suburb houses. From the graves of Ibsen and Munch in Vår Frelsers gravlund you cross to the cobbled lanes of Damstredet and Telthusbakken, pass Oslo's oldest standing building, Gamle Aker church, and end on the hilltop park where the town lit its midsummer bonfires, with one of the city's best free views. Finish with a beer at Schrøder on Waldemar Thranes gate.

Best time: A dry weekday morning or a summer evening; in winter the cobbles of Damstredet and Telthusbakken get icy

The route, stop by stop

1
Our Saviour's Cemetery
Opened in 1808 and Christiania's only burial ground in 1811-1833; closed to new graves since 1969. In the Æreslund (honour grove) and around it lie Ibsen, Bjørnson, Wergeland, Camilla Collett, Ivar Aasen, Christian Krohg and Edvard Munch. 25 min.
Created in 1808 during famine and a cholera epidemic, it is the most famous cemetery in Norway and was the preferred burial ground of the city's bourgeois families. It includes…
2
Damstredet and Telthusbakken
One of the few places in central Oslo with an intact group of small suburb houses; protected, restored in the 1960s-70s, and home to artists such as Sigrun Berg. Walk up Damstredet, then along Telthusbakken. People live here: keep voices down. 20 min.
Two cobbled lanes of early-1800s painted wooden houses, a surviving piece of pre-industrial Oslo tucked between the centre and the river.
3
Old Aker Church
Probably built between 1080 and the mid-1100s, it is Oslo's oldest building still standing; the central tower was added only in the 1850s. Look at the difference between the fine ashlar of the aisle and the rougher stone of the nave on the south side. 15 min.
A Romanesque stone basilica believed to have been built around 1080, and the oldest existing building in Oslo. It is still an active parish church, surrounded by the Old Aker…
4
St. Hanshaugen Park
Oslo's oldest municipal park, on a knoll 83 m above sea level with a view to the fjord and Holmenkollen. Named in the 1840s when townspeople began lighting midsummer (sankthans) bonfires here. See the 1875 water-tower house on top, the Svanedammen swan pond and the statue of folk-tale collector P. Chr. Asbjørnsen; summer outdoor café. Bus 37 stops at St. Hanshaugen. 30 min.
Oslo's oldest municipal park, laid out from the 1860s on a bare rock where the city burned its Midsummer (St. Hans) bonfires. From the top, 83 m above the sea by the 1875…
5
Restaurant Schrøder
The old brown pub at Waldemar Thranes gate 8 just below the park, for a pint and a plate of Norwegian home cooking. Hours not verified for 2026: check before you go.
A brown restaurant-pub from 1926 (on Waldemar Thranes gate since the 1950s), Harry Hole's local in Jo Nesbø's novels; since 2026 new owners including food writer Andreas Viestad…

Walking directions

Old Christiania's hill: Vår Frelsers gravlund, Damstredet, Gamle Aker and St. Hanshaugen

The route, stop by stop

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