Oslo intends to move the Munch Museum, housing the biggest collection of paintings by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, to Bjorvika in the center of the city, under plans to create a waterfront cultural quarter.

The collection will be transferred to the same building as the Stenersen Museum, next to a recently opened opera house and near the planned national museum, Oslo City Council said on its Web site. The Deichmanske library will be moved to the area.

Authorities were forced to overhaul security at the current site of the Munch collection in Toyen, east of the city center, following the theft of two of the artist’s iconic works, “The Scream” and “Madonna,” in an armed raid in August 2004. The paintings, recovered two years later, were unveiled to the public last week after being restored.

The national museum will be built on land bought by the government for $34 million, the Ministry of Culture said in a release posted on its Web site.

An architecture competition will be held next year for the building, which is scheduled to open at the same time as the new Munch Museum in 2014, the ministry said.