Travel Guide Eidsvoll

The small manor house north of Oslo is symbolically important to Norwegians. It was here that the Norwegian Constitution, strongly inspired by the Napoleonic Code, was signed. In proclaiming the Norwegian Constitution on May 17, 1814, the Constitutional Assembly was reacting to Denmark's cession of Norway to Sweden. With this text, created in six weeks, Norway declared itself an independent state, which provoked a declaration of war from Sweden. But the main articles - the most politically liberal that were drafted at the time - were retained. This makes it the oldest constitutional text still in force in Europe today.