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The Nobel Peace Center Address: Henrik Ibsens gate 51The Norwegian Nobel Institute was founded on February 1, 1904, for the purpose of assisting the Nobel Committee in its task of deciding who is to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Director of the Institute is the Nobel Committee's permanent secretary, and the Institute can be regarded as the Committee's secretariat. To begin with the Institute rented offices in Victoria Terrasse in downtown Oslo, but by May 1905 it was able to move into its present building in Henrik Ibsens gate 51. The award ceremony was moved there the same year, having previously taken place in the Storting. The building, originally built in 1867 as a private residence, had then undergone extensive renovation. The Institute contains offices, a meeting room, the Nobel Hall, a research department, and a well-stocked library with a reading room. The Nobel Committee holds all its meetings in a special meeting room devoted exclusively to this purpose. The tradition has gradually developed of using the Nobel Hall both for the announcement of the year's Peace Prize in October and for the Laureate's press conference on December 9, the day before the award ceremony in the Oslo City Hall. The Nobel Institute arranges meetings, lectures and seminars, as well as holding so-called Nobel Symposia. The symposia are attended by specially invited experts and decision-makers from many countries who gather to discuss selected topics relating to peace and conflicts. The Nobel Peace Prize is an international prize which is awarded annually by the Norwegian Nobel Committee according to guidelines laid down in Alfred Nobel's will. The Peace Prize is one of five prizes that have been awarded annually since 1901 under the auspices of the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm for outstanding contributions in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. Starting in 1969, a Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has also been awarded. Whereas the other prizes are awarded by specialist committees based in Sweden, the Peace Prize is awarded by a committee appointed by the Norwegian Storting. According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize is to go to whoever "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". The prize includes a medal, a personal diploma, and a large sum of prize money (currently 10 million Swedish crowns). The Nobel Peace Prize has been called "the world's most prestigious prize". With the award to Al Gore and the IPCC in 2007, a total of 95 individuals and 23 organizations have been awarded the Peace Prize. The Prize is awarded at a ceremony in the Oslo City Hall on December 10, the date on which Alfred Nobel died. Opening hours 15 September - 14 May: Monday - Friday: 08.00 - 15.45 Saturdays and Sundays: Closed 15 mai - 14 september: Monday - Friday: 08.00 - 15.00 Saturdays and Sundays: Closed
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