New book and exhibition in the National Museum about the world’s most important room - The Security Council Chamber.

Norwegian architecture, design, and works of art inform the room where some of the most critical decisions of our time are made, namely the Security Council Chamber at the UN Headquarters in Manhattan, which will now be the focus of a new book and exhibition.

Advance viewing and book presentation for the press: Wednesday, 13 June, 11:00, the National Museum – Architecture, Bankplassen 3.

The work of the UN Security Council is constantly referenced in news items, and TV footage has made the Security Council Chamber’s horseshoe-shaped table and large-scale mural painting famous. Less well known is the fact that the room was designed by the Norwegian architect Arnstein Arneberg (1882–1961). The UN Headquarters in New York was completed in 1952 in accordance with drawings by a group of architects led by the American Wallace K. Harrison (1895–1981). But how did it come about that a Norwegian architect designed the most prestigious room? One essential factor was of course the influence of the first UN Secretary General, the Norwegian Trygve Lie.

Exhibition opening and book launch for the general public: Thursday, 14 June, 18:00, the National Museum – Architecture, Bankplassen 3

About the book The Security Council Chamber: The world’s most important room

The book is an anthology edited by Jørn Holme, the director of the Directorate for Cultural Heritage. A wide range of essays provide an overview of the room’s history both as a work of art and architecture, as a political venue, and as the object of a meticulous restoration carried out in recent years. The original atmosphere of the UN Headquarters from the 1950s is still felt strongly in the Security Council Chamber. The book will be published by Forlaget Press.

About the exhibition “The Security Council Chamber”The exhibition will use architectural drawings, photographs, and archival material to examine how Arneberg received the commission and how he chose to solve the task at hand. Concurrently with his work on the Security Council Chamber, Arneberg also worked on the interior of Oslo City Hall. There are several intriguing similarities between how Arneberg used materials and artistic decoration to underscore the works’ representational nature.

The Security Council Chamber: The world’s most important room) and the exhibition “The Security Council Chamber” are a collaboration between the National Museum and the Directorate for Cultural Heritage.

Points of contact:

For the National Museum: Press and Media Manager Elise Lund, tel. 99321943, elise.lund@nasjonalmuseet.no

For the Directorate for Cultural Heritage: Director of Communications Siri Wolland, tel. 98202735, swo@ra.no

For Forlaget Press: Editor Trygve Riis Gundersen, tel. 97799920, trygve.gundersen@fpress.no