# Brannvakten

> This file is a plain-text rendition of a page on mytuur.com, generated from the same data as the HTML version.

Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/oslo/spot/brannvakten/

Content updated: 2026-06-22

Brannvakten stands beside Oslo Cathedral as a former main fire station, joining architecture with civic history. Unplastered red brick defines its neo-Romanesque exterior.

Built between 1854 and 1856, the building was designed by Christian H. Grosch and connected to the neighbouring Basarene. Before construction, grave chapels for the Collett and Leuch families occupied this site beside the cathedral cemetery. A permanent brigade of 35 men moved inside during the early 1860s, creating Oslo’s first permanently staffed fire station. The building remained the city’s main fire station until 1939, when a new headquarters opened at Arne Garborgs plass.

Today, protected parish offices for Oslo Cathedral occupy the former station within the Kirkeristen arcade. Its tower dried fire hoses, while watchmen scanned Oslo from the cathedral tower, about 80 metres above the ground. Until 1902, bells, shots, flags and torches signalled the direction of fires across the city. Look for the blue historical plaque on the wall, a small marker beside the red brick and cathedral surroundings.

- City: [Oslo](https://mytuur.com/en/city/oslo/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Brannvakten_6836e3f1f44f54dc86a1be7f_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Brannvaktembakside.JPG)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Brannvakten_6836e3f1f44f54dc86a1be7f_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Oslo_brannvakt_sørlig_fasade.JPG)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Brannvakten_6836e3f1f44f54dc86a1be7f_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Brannvaktenforside.JPG)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Brannvakten_6836e3f1f44f54dc86a1be7f_3.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:OB.F00016_Christian_Grosch.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Brannvakten_6836e3f1f44f54dc86a1be7f_4.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Oslo_brannvakt_vestlig_fasade.JPG)

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Oslo. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

## What is myTuur?

myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.