Nobel Peace Prize laureates’ home away from home

Copyright © Nobel Peace Center 2005, Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen

Nobel Peace Prize laureates visiting Oslo enjoy re-visiting the Nobel Peace Center. "My home away from home," said one of them when asked about the Center located on the City Hall Square.

On a red carpet, surrounded by security and press photographers - this is how we are used to seeing the Nobel Peace Prize laureates when they are in Oslo. It’s also the case when the laureates visit the Nobel Peace Center after the Nobel Peace Prize-ceremony in December. But once in a while, they pop by the Peace Center unannounced. As it happened when UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan came with his wife to see the exhibitions, wondering if there was a discount for Nobel Prize laureates.

Photo: Ingvill Bryn Rambøl / Nobel Peace Center

Or when former U.S. President Jimmy Carter suddenly was standing in our entrance hall, and managed to create a tumult of excitement amongst the staff. On the days when there are no red carpets or a high amount of security – which is most days of the year- the Nobel Peace Center has its own welcome-ritual when Nobel Peace Prize Laureates come to visit. The staff line up in the entrance hall to greet the guest. We want the Laureate to feel like they are coming home when they are visiting the Nobel Peace Center.

The very first Peace Prize laureate to ever visit the Nobel Peace Center was Nelson Mandela. The South African Liberation Leader and former President, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, actually visited the Center two days before its opening in June 2005.

Nobel Peace Center

Mandela was on a visit to Norway to attend a large peace concert in Tromsø. Outside the Nobel Peace Center, he was met by Director Bente Erichsen, then Chair of the Nobel Committee, Ole Danbolt Mjøs and the then Director of the Nobel Institute Geir Lundestad. He smiled at the cameras and said he was happy to be back in Oslo, but made no comments to the media until later that day: 

"I was told not to say anything," said the 86-year-old. - “I'm going to ignore that order, and I hope I don't lose my job for that reason. I will not leave this country without expressing my gratitude. You helped us. We will never forget that,” said a grateful Mandela.

Photo: Inge Andersen / Nobel Peace Center

Wangari Maathai was the second Nobel Peace Laureate to visit. She was there when the Nobel Peace Center was officially opened by King Harald on June 11, 2005. Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace in Kenya, and she visited the Nobel Peace Center seven times before she died in 2011. She used to say that "the Peace Center is my home away from home".

Another Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been to Oslo and at the Nobel Peace Center several times is Shirin Ebadi. Iran's first female judge, freedom-advocate and regime critic, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. During a visit in June 2015, she took a big chunk of time out of her busy schedule to sit down with a class of high school students visiting the Peace Center. It was a different and inspiring visit for the students and teachers from Fyrstikkalleen High School that day - a day they probably will never forget. 

Nobel Peace Center

Some lucky students also got to meet His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, when he visited Oslo in 2014 - a visit that received a lot of attention because the Dalai Lama was not being allowed to visit the Norwegian Parliament and meet with politicians. And Bishop Desmond Tutu has been stuck in the elevator at the Nobel Peace Center.

A total of 27 individual Nobel Peace Prize laureates have visited the Nobel Peace Center during the 15 years the Center has been open, as well as representatives of a wide range of organizations that have received the Nobel Peace Prize over the years. And if you were wondering; Nobel Peace Prize laureates do get in for free!