Nobel Peace Prize Conference Room Revealed After 125 Years... Portrait of Nobel and Photos of Past Laureates Displayed

Maria Corina Machado Chosen for Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize conference room has been opened to the media for the first time in its 125-year history.

On October 9 (local time), the BBC reported that the Norwegian Nobel Committee released video footage showing the scene in the Nobel Institute conference room in Oslo, the capital, on October 6, just before beginning the meeting to decide the prize winner.

Since the Nobel Peace Prize began in 1901, the Nobel Committee has never revealed scenes from its meetings, and the convening of the meetings has always been conducted in strict secrecy. This time, however, the conference room and some of the committee members were captured by the media for the first time. However, the content of the meeting after it began remained confidential.

EPA Yonhap News

The footage revealed an elegant conference room adorned with chandeliers and oak furniture. On the wall behind the round table hung a portrait of Alfred Nobel, while photographs of previous laureates decorated another wall. According to the BBC, the five committee members and the secretary-general shared coffee and conversation before entering the final discussions of a selection process that had lasted for several months.

Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, described the meeting, saying, "We discuss, we argue, and it is conducted in a heated atmosphere," adding, "Of course, we try to reach a decision every year based on consensus in a civilized manner."

This year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Maria Corina Machado, a 58-year-old female opposition leader from Venezuela. Machado is a politician who has led a pro-democracy movement against Venezuela's authoritarian ruler, President Nicolas Maduro.

The Nobel Committee described Machado as "a brave and dedicated guardian of peace," and "a woman who has kept the flame of democracy burning in deepening darkness." The committee particularly emphasized that "Machado has shown that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace." As a result, the much-anticipated awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to former U.S. President Donald Trump did not materialize.