Today's adventure began with a wonderful walking tour of Trondheim, Norway with the highlight being Nidaros Cathedral. I was prepared for a brisk Norwegian morning, but it turned out to be a perfect day to be out exploring the city. Before getting into the history of the Cathedral, I want to share some interesting facts and pictures from around Trondheim. Our city walking tour was scheduled for quick paced 2 hour hike that turned into a 3 hour casual walk with lots of questions and sites to see.
I will start by saying that Trondheim is currently the 3rd largest city in Norway with a population around 210,000. Of that population almost 50,000 of them are college students as Trondheim is home to one of the largest universities in the country! The Norwegian University of Science and Technology being the largest in terms of enrollment with approximately 42,000 students. Trondheim was founded in 997AD as a center for trade and served as the capital of Norway through the Viking Age until 1217AD. Since its incorporation in 1838, Trondheim has merged with several surrounding communities. Its current municipality was formed in 1964. Trondheim received its original name, Kaupangen, from Viking King Olav Tryggvason. For several hundred years the city served as the king's seat as well as the capital city!
Starting in the 1500's the city has had many devastating fires, each nearly destroying it. The last major fire occurred in 1842. At that point the streets were widened (ignoring property rights of the citizens) and wood structures were banned - all buildings built from that point forward had to be made from stone. In many cases people still chose to cover the stone with the bright colored wood siding we have come to expect throughout Norway.
A few of the sites we stopped to visit on the way to Nidaros Cathedral included:
The Old Town Bridge - built in 1681 as a draw bridge to unite both sides of the city.
The Cities Central Square - highlighting a statue of King Olav Tryggvason.
Views of the islet Munkholmen - formerly a place of Execution, a Prison, a Fortress and a Monastery.
The Statue of Leif Erikson at the Harbor.
The King's Palace - currently his seat and home when visiting the region. However that has averaged only about once a year for the past 30 years...
In addition, to all these wonderful stops we took about 30 minutes to explore the highlight of the City Walking Tour: Nidaros Cathedral.
Nidaros Cathedral was built over a 230-year period, from 1070 to 1300. This Cathedral was built over the burial site of King Olav II, who is known as the patron saint of the nation. In 1814, this church served as an election church. Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the Constitution of Norway.
Two organs are installed in the cathedral. The main organ was built by the Steinmeyer firm in 1930. Originally it had 125 stops. Installation of the Steinmeyer organ was commissioned for the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Stiklestad. In 1962, the organ was heavily rebuilt, moved to the west nave and now had 146 stops (what pushes the air through the pipes).
The old Baroque organ built by noted German organ builder Joachim Wagner between 1738–40 was carefully restored between 1993 and 1994. It has 30 stops and is now located at the gallery in the north transept.
In addition to being a sanctuary to Christians, the cathedral was well know to enthusiasts of a Norwegian black metal band known as Mayhem. Nidaros was featured on the cover of their "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" album. Unfortunately, it was rumored that members of the band were associated with the burnings of Christian churches in Norway. It is believed that they planned to destroy the cathedral upon the release of the album. When police arrested former Mayhem bassist Varg Vikernes on 19 August 1993 they found 150 kilograms (330 lbs.) of explosives in his home and believe it may have been destined for Nidaros Cathedral.
One last interesting fact about Nidaros Cathedral is that it holds the status of being the northern most medieval cathedral in the world and can seat over 1800 parishioners. We hope that you have enjoyed reading about this amazing cathedral and next time you play The Blog Master: Exploring Europe and draw Nidaros Cathedral (AC-No-006) as one of your Norway Attraction Article Cards you will be able to share some history with your fellow gamers!!
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