On Friday, October 14, St. Olaf College will host King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway during their official state visit to the United States. This is the King of Norway’s third visit to the college, the first being in 1965 when he was crown prince and the second in 1995 with Queen Sonja. While on campus, Their Majesties will engage in a private tour of recently opened Tomson Hall, visit a Norwegian language class, and attend a Sammenkomst (gathering) in their honor at Boe Memorial Chapel.
 

The event in Boe is open to the campus community and general public but tickets are extremely limited. Tickets will be available at no cost and there is a limit of two tickets per request. Tickets for St. Olaf students, faculty, faculty emeriti, and staff will be available for pick up on a first-come, first-served basis on Thursday, September 29, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and at the same times on Friday, September 30.

Visit the St. Olaf home page beginning Friday, September 30, at 5 p.m. to see if tickets are still available for the general public on a first-come, first-served, pick-up basis. 

 

Any tickets remaining will be made available to the general public on Monday, October 3, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

 

All tickets will be distributed at the Buntrock Commons Office (room 147) on the second level of the student center by the Cage café. No requests will be accepted by phone or email.

 

Special Notice: The Sammenkomst ceremony for the King and Queen of Norway on October 14 is SOLD OUT. All tickets have been distributed. Please see information below on live streaming of the event.

For security reasons, all ticketed attendees of the Sammenkomst must be seated in Boe Chapel by 2 p.m. on Friday, October 14. No one will be admitted after that time, even those with tickets to the event. Doors will open at 1:15 p.m. Access will be by the main campus plaza doors only.

Attendees will not be allowed to photograph or in any other way record the event in Boe Chapel.

 

For those unable to attend, on-campus viewing will be available in Viking Theater in Buntrock Commons and Tomson Hall 280, and the event will be streamed live and archived online.

The campus community and general public are also welcome to gather in designated areas on the campus green to greet Their Majesties upon their arrival, which is expected to occur at approximately 10:45 a.m.

Other Norwegian royal visits to St. Olaf include King Olav V in 1987, Crown Prince Haakon in 2005, Princess Martha Louise in 2006, and Princess Astrid in 2008.