Nidarosdomen

The Nidaros Cathedral is considered to be one of the most important buildings in Norway and Norwegian history. The lutheran cathedral and congregational church is also considered to be a national treasure and sanctuary, and is the official church for coronations in Norway, even though the last coronation was performed in 1906, when Haakon VII was coronated. After the abolition of the coronation ceremony, the cathedral has been used for benedicting regents.

In medieval times the cathedral also went under the name "Cor Norvagiae" ("The heart of Norway"), since the church was the burial site for Olav II (King of Norway between 1015-1028), a martyr who was killed on July 29th 1028 in the battle at Stiklestad. The body of Olav den Hellige was placed in a shed after his death, and rumour has it that a blind man regained his sight when he went in there and smeared the King's blood on his eyes. King Olav's body was exhumed the year after his demise, and it was revealed that his hair, nails and beared had continued to grow. The public thought that a miracle had happened, and King Olav II was declared a saint and given the name Olav den Hellige (Holy Olav or Olav The Holy). In 1050 the Nidaros Cathedral's construction commenced on his burial site, and today, the high altar is situated on the exact spot of his grave.

The original church, which was built around 1030, was a wooden church, but it was later substituted with a long church built in stone. Through the course of time, the cathedral has been haunted by fires, in 1327, 1432, 1451, and in 1531. After the fire in 1531 the nave was left in ruins for almost 400 years, before the rebuilding started in 1908, which lasted until 1930. In 1708 the cathedral burned down to the ground, except for the boulder wall. Lightening struck the church in 1719, and the church burned again. A huge restoration of the cathedral was started in 1869, and was officially finished in 2001, 132 years after it started. The cathedral has two big pipe organs of great historical value, the oldest of which was built in Germany in the late 1730's, and mounted in 1741.

The west front (see photo) have sculptures covering most of the wall. When the restoration of the west front started about 100 years ago, very few of the original sculptures had survived through history. Most of today's sculptures have therefore been modelled during the 1900's. Among the sculptures are Adam, Eve, Simon the Apostle, The Prophet Daniel, the crucifixion group (containing Jesus, Maria and John), The Virgin Mary, The Patriarch Abraham, St. Denis (the patron saint of France) and King Salomon.

On the south side of the cathedral, the Archbishop's palace was built around 1160. The palace was the archbishop's home up until Norway's last archbishop, Olav Engelbrektsson left the country in 1537 when he was forced to loose the fight against the danes who had ravaged and burned the palace. The restoration of the palace was carried out through the 1960's, but a fire destroyed many of the buildings in 1983. Archaelogical digs was performed after the fire, and the findings from these are now on display in the museum on the site, which also displays original sculptures and other original details from the cathedral. The new wing also houses the Norwegian Church's National Center for Liturgy and NTNU's Center for Medieval Studies (NTNU is the Norwegian University of Science and Technology).

The cathedral attracts visitors from all over the world, and an estimated 400.000 tourists visit the national sanctuary every year, many of whom are pilgrims from, for the most part, the other Nordic countries.

Click here to see a collage I made with several photographs from the cathedral.
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