IN PHOTOS: The magnificent Nobel awards ceremonies

Sweden held its lavish annual Nobel awards ceremony on
Tuesday attended by laureates and royals, but their ranks were depleted when many VIPs flocked to the memorial for anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela in South Africa.

More than 1,300 guests at the banquet attended the Nobel dinner in Stockholm City Hall to dine, chat and listen to laureates including Britain's Peter Higgs and Francois Englert of Belgium, who won the Nobel Prize for physics -- speak at Sweden's most prestigious social event.

Meanwhile, the global chemicals weapons watchdog Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons accepted the Nobel Peace Prize 2013 in Oslo, Norway on Tuesday, where it was praised for its role during the Syrian crisis.

We present the images:

Opening photograph: Nobel prize laureates (front L-R) Francois Englert and Peter Higgs in Physics; Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel in Chemistry; James Rothman, Randy Schekman, Thomas Sudhof in Medicine; Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert J Shiller in Economics, applaud during the 2013 Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm on Tuesday.

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Nobel Peace Prize committee head Thorbjoern Jagland (L) applauds Ahmet Uzumcu, director general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, during the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony at the City Hall in Oslo.

The Hague-based global chemical weapons watchdog working to eliminate chemical arms stockpiles around the battlefields of Syria's civil war won the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize in October.

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Lars Peter Hansen (L) of the US receives his Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf during the 2013 Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm.

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Eugene F Fama (L) of the US receives his Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf during the 2013 Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm.

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Jenny Munro, daughter of Canadian author Alice Munro, collects the Nobel Prize in Literature on behalf of her mother, from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf during the 2013 Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm.

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Randy W Schekman (L) of the US receives his Nobel Prize in Medicine from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf during the 2013 Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm.

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Arieh Warshel (L) receives his Nobel Prize in Chemistry from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf during the 2013 Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm.

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Martin Karplus (L) receives his Nobel Prize in Chemistry from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf during the 2013 Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm.

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Francois Englert (L) of Belgium receives his Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf during the 2013 Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm.

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Peter Higgs (L) of Britain receives his Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf during the 2013 Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm.

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Sweden's King Carl Gustaf (2nd R), Queen Silvia (in red), Prince Daniel (C) and Prince Carl Philip (R) applaud during the Nobel Prize awards ceremony in Stockholm.

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US actress Claire Danes and her husband, British actor Hugh Dancy are seen among the audience during the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony at the City Hall in Oslo.