Nidaros Cathedral and Archbishops Palace, Trondheim

This is the absolute largest church in Norway. The west side is covered with stone carvings of biblical persons, bishops and old norwegian kings. See their website for details and try to remember all the different figures on display (Don't forget that there are figures on the tower as well)

Guided tours are possible. The church has its own ghost, a munk. Say hello from me if you see him ;-).

The crown jewels are also kept here. It's possible to see the jewels (under guard of course). Ask at the ticketoffice.

The Nidaros cathedral is situated in the middle of the historic city of Trondheim. It has been build in several stages over years, however most parts are of gothic style. There’s an admission to visit the cathedral and in the summer season, you can get guided tours in several languages. You can use the same ticket to visit the Archbishop’s Palace which is found next to the cathedral.

The work on the cathedral (Nidarosdomen), dedicated to St. Olav and built over his grave, was completed in 1320. Parallel with this work, the residence of Archbishop was built and formed the centre of power in an empire stretching from Norway to Greenland. The great era of power did not end until the King of Denmark introduced the Reformation and the Archbishop was forced to flea to England. The oldest parts of the church still in existence are from the middle of the 12th century. The west wall is the main façade of the church. The church was dedicated to Christ in medieval times, and was called “Kristkirken”, the Church of Christ. It is richly ornamented in stone, with magnificent stained glass windows from the 20th century. The church is built in the Gothic style, but the oldest existing parts are more of the Roman style.

Next to the cathedral you will find a set of buildings with an inner courtyard. This is where the archbishops lived and there is an interesting museum showing archaeological finds from one of the older buildings they discovered when building a new part of the museum. The exhibits show cathedral details, but also everyday food & drink items, bridles, weapons and other things. There is also an interesting copy of the mint with parts of the floor laid out as it was found and with an interesting solution to the need for humidity in the museum to save the display. This museum also has religious sculptures in one part, and a special exhibition which when we were there was about Vigeland, the famous artist with a special sculpture park in Oslo.
There is also a Home Front museum showing the wars with Sweden during the Danish time but also an interesting and moving part on Norway during WWII when Trondheim became famous for the German war ship Tirpitz which was sank after hiding in a fjord. There is not that much on the Tirpitz but on Qusling, the resistance and other facts.

Along with the cathedrals of Roskilde, Lund and Uppsala, the most important church building in Scandinavia and I would say easily the most interesting of them as it has a "gothic" and medieval feel to it which none of the others have although Lund tries to. You have to pay (NOK 40 2003) to get in, but that then includes admission to several of the museums in the Archbishop's Palace next door. The church was founded on the site where St Olav is said to be buried and has the great interior you would expect, nice (but modern) stained glass windows, a famous wishing well and much more to see. Still today, people make pilgrimages to it and there is a meeting room for pilgrims in the house opposite the main entrance. In medieval days, the stream of pilgrims was of course much greater though, as people wandered across the snowy mountains of Sweden and other places to get here. These days, it is mainly famous for being where royal church events such as weddings and installations take place.

Much to my dismay, cameras are not allowed to be used inside the cathedral. I actually saw security guards removing a tourist from the cathedral who tried to surreptiously use a video camera inside! This cathedral appears to be used only as a museum during the day--I saw no worship of anykind going on while we were there. In the Cathedral at Uppsala in Sweden I saw worship in small groups thoughout the building ----prayer groups, communion, child baptisms---yet cameras were freely allowed to flash away there!---Go figure!

So .....my few pictures of this magnificient building are all from the outside. Check these gargoyles out! I used a 400mm telephoto to get these because it is a long way up to the roof!

Norway´s national sanctuary and the most important monument from the Middle Ages, Nidaros Cathedral was built over the grave of St. Olav, Norway's patron saint whose reputation shone far beyond the borders of his country.

Nidaros cathedral is one of the Scandinavian largest building of the Middle Ages, erected on the grave of St. Olav 1070 but the oldest part still standing is from the 12th century. It was destroyed by fire several times and rebuilt each time: mostly in Gothic style though the oldest parts are in Roman style.