The King and Queen of Norway and the King and Queen of Sweden, the Norwegian Crown Prince and Crown Princess and the Swedish Crown Princess were present at the opening of the Nobel Peace Center on Saturday 11 June. Close to 5000 people visited the center’s installations, cinema, shop and café during the opening weekend.
The high-tech center contains an electronic wall newspaper with information about the Peace Prize winners and their work, and a cube-shaped passage that represents the world without national borders. In a room called the Nobel Field all the Peace Prize winners are portrayed on digital screens surrounded by fibre-optic strands of light that change colour in response to the visitors’ movements. A virtual book in the Nobel Chamber tells the story of Alfred Nobel’s life, and the most recent Peace Prize laureate is presented in the Passage of Honor.
Now that the Nobel Peace Center is open to the general public, it can start fulfilling its purpose, which is to focus attention on the issues of peace, war and conflict resolution.
“The public’s interest and enthusiasm have surpassed my expectations. The aim of the Nobel Peace Center is to be a discovery and learning center, and a place people will keep returning to,” said Director Bente Erichsen.