Nidaros Cathedral ( no, Nidarosdomen / Nidaros Domkirke) is a

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominat ...

located in the city of

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmark ...

county. It is built over the burial site of King Olav II (c. 995–1030, reigned 1015–1028), who became the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person. I ...

of the nation, and is the traditional location for the consecration of new kings of Norway. It was built over a 230-year period, from 1070 to 1300 when it was substantially completed. However additional work, additions and renovations have continued intermittently since then, including a major reconstruction starting in 1869 and completed in 2001. In 1152, the church was designated as the cathedral for the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Archdiocese of Nidaros The Archdiocese of Nidaros (or Niðaróss) was the metropolitan see covering Norway in the later Middle Ages. The see was the Nidaros Cathedral, in the city of Nidaros (now Trondheim). The archdiocese existed from the middle of the twelfth ce ...

. In 1537, during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

, it became part of the newly established state

. It is the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world. The cathedral is the main church for the ''Nidaros og Vår Frue''

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

, the seat of the Nidaros domprosti (arch- deanery), and the seat of the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

of the

Diocese of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herbor ...

. The Preses of the Church of Norway is also based at this cathedral. The church seats about 1,850 people.

History

Nidaros Cathedral was built beginning in 1070 to memorialize the burial place of Olav II of Norway, the king who was killed in 1030 in the

Battle of Stiklestad The Battle of Stiklestad ( no, Slaget på Stiklestad, non, Stiklarstaðir) in 1030 is one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway. In this battle, King Olaf II of Norway () was killed. During the pontificate of Pope Alexander III, t ...

. He was canonized as Saint Olav a year later by Grimketel, the Bishop of Nidaros (the canonization was later confirmed by the pope). It was designated the cathedral of the

from its establishment in 1152 until its abolition in 1537 under the Reformation. Since the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

, it has served as the cathedral of the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

bishops of Trondheim (or Nidaros) in the

. The architectural style of the cathedral is Romanesque and Gothic. Historically it has been an important destination for pilgrims coming from all of Northern Europe. In 1814, this church served as an election church ( no, valgkirke). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814

Norwegian Constituent Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly (in Norwegian ''Grunnlovsforsamlingen'', also known as ''Riksforsamlingen'') is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised ...

which wrote the

Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , b ...

. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information ...

later that year. Along with Vår Frue Church, the cathedral is part of the ''Nidaros og Vår Frue''

in the Nidaros deanery in the

Building and restoration

Work on the cathedral as a memorial to St. Olav started in 1070. It was finished some time around 1300, nearly 150 years after being established as the cathedral of the diocese. The cathedral was badly damaged by fires in 1327 and again in 1531. The nave was destroyed and was not rebuilt until the restoration in early 1900s. In 1708, the church burned down completely except for the stone walls. It was struck by lightning in 1719, and was again ravaged by fire. Major rebuilding and restoration of the cathedral started in 1869, initially led by architect

Heinrich Ernst Schirmer Heinrich Ernst Schirmer (27 August 1814 – 6 December 1887) was a German-born architect most noted for his work in Norway. Schirmer worked in Norway from 1838 to 1883 and left his mark on a number of public buildings. He contributed significant ...

, and nearly completed by Christian Christie. It was officially completed in 2001. Maintenance of the cathedral is an ongoing process. The oldest parts of the cathedral consist of the octagon with its surrounding

ambulatory The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...

. This was the site of the original high altar, with the reliquary casket of Saint Olav, and choir. Design of the octagon may have been inspired by the Corona of Canterbury Cathedral, although octagonal shrines have a long history in Christian architecture. Similarly, the choir shows English influence, and appears to have been modeled after the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral. It is joined to the octagon by a stone screen that fills the entire east side of the choir. The principal arch of this screen is subdivided into three subsidiary arches: the central arch frames a statue of Christ the Teacher, standing on the top of a central arch of three subsidiary arches below him. The space above the principal arch, corresponding to the vault of the choir, contains a

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

by the Norwegian sculptor

Gustav Vigeland Gustav Vigeland (11 April 1869 – 12 March 1943), born as Adolf Gustav Thorsen, was a Norwegian sculptor. Gustav Vigeland occupies a special position among Norwegian sculptors, both in the power of his creative imagination and in his produc ...

, placed between statues of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

and the

Apostle John John the Apostle ( grc, Ἰωάννης; la, Ioannes ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ;) or Saint John the Beloved was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee a ...

. Built into the south side of the ambulatory is a small well. A bucket could be lowered to draw up water drawn from the spring that originated from St. Olav's original burial place. (This was covered over by the construction of later cathedrals). The present cathedral has two principal altars. At the east end of the chancel in the octagon is an altar at the site of the medieval high altar, behind which stood the silver

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including '' phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''fer ...

casket containing the remains of St. Olav. This silver-gilt reliquary casket was melted down for coinage by Christian II and St. Olav's remains buried in an unknown location under the cathedral. The only relic known to have survived is a

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates wit ...

in a silver-gilt reliquary. Shaped as a forearm, it was given by Queen Josephine to St. Olav Catholic Cathedral in Oslo. The original reliquary casket was in the form of a church, with dragon heads on its gables. The dragons are similar to those carved on the gables of Norwegian stave churches. Surviving medieval reliquary caskets in Norway frequently also bear such dragon heads, for instance, that at

Heddal Stave Church Heddal Stave Church ( nb, Heddal stavkirke, nn, Heddal stavkyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Notodden Municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the village of Heddal. It is the church for the Hed ...

. He was the church's and the kingdom's patron saint. The current altar was designed to recall in marble sculpture the essential form of this reliquary casket. It replaces the previous baroque altar, which was transferred to Vår Frue Church. The second altar is in the crossing, where the transept intersects the nave and the chancel. It bears a large modern silver

. It was commissioned and paid for by Norwegian American emigrants in the early twentieth century, and the design was inspired by the memory of a similar silver crucifix in the medieval church. The medieval chapter house may also be used as a chapel for smaller groups of worshipers. All the stained glass in the cathedral dates from its rebuilding in the 19th and 20th centuries. The windows on the north side of the church depict scenes from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. T ...

against a blue background, while those on the south side of the church depict scenes from the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

against a red background.

Organs

Two organs are installed in the cathedral. The main organ was built by the Steinmeyer firm in 1930, and was erected in the north transept. It then had 125 stops. Installation of the Steinmeyer organ was commissioned in 1930 for the 900th anniversary of the

. The organ was funded mostly by donations, particularly by Elias Anton Cappelen Smith. In 1962, the organ was heavily rebuilt and moved to the west nave. Many stops were removed; some of them were used to build a new choir organ. This organ was fully restored in 2014. The old Baroque organ built by noted German organ builder Joachim Wagner (1690–1749) during the period 1738–40 was carefully restored by Jürgen Ahrend between 1993 and 1994. It has 30 stops and is located at a gallery in the north transept.The Nidaros Cathedral Wagner Organ (Department of Musicology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

Tourist attraction

Today, the cathedral is a popular tourist attraction. Nidaros Cathedral is the site of the observation of Olav's Wake ( no, Olavsvaka). This religious and cultural festival is centered upon the anniversary of the death of Saint Olav at the

. Tourists often follow the historic

Pilgrim's Route The Pilgrim's Route, (''Pilegrimsleden'') also known as St. Olav's Way or the Old Kings' Road, was a pilgrimage route to the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway, the site of the medieval tomb of St. Olav. The main route is approximately ...

( no, Pilegrimsleden) to visit the cathedral for this and other events.

Alleged bombing plot

The cathedral is also familiar to enthusiasts of Norwegian

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...

, as it is featured on the cover artwork of '' De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas'', the 1994 studio album by Mayhem. It was rumored that members of the band who had already been associated with the burnings of other Christian churches in Norway had planned to destroy the cathedral in relation to the release of the album. When police arrested former Mayhem bassist Varg Vikernes on 19 August 1993 they had found of explosives in his home.

Media gallery

Die Nidaros Kathedrale in Trondheim. 02.jpg, From north-east Nidarosdomen fra øst.jpg, From east Vinterdomen.jpg, From Elgeseter bridge Nidaros Cathedral Trondheim.JPG, From north-east in 2011 Trondheim (8273937847).jpg, At night Nidaros detailss.jpg, Detail of west front More details Nidaros.jpg, Statues on west front Nidaros Cathedral 01.jpg, The altar Organ_at_Nidarosdomen_06.jpg, organ Nidaros Cathedral Ceiling 01.jpg, Ceiling Nidaros Cathedral Interior.jpg, Interior Nidaros Cathedral Interior 2.jpg, Interior Nidaros Cathedral Interior 3.jpg, Interior

Choirs

*Nidaros Cathedral Choir * Nidaros Cathedral Boys' Choir *Nidaros Cathedral Girls' Choir *Schola Sancta Sunnivae *Nidaros Vocalis *Nidaros Oratory Choir

References and notes

Notes

Footnotes

Literature

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Nidaros Cathedral Official website

Nidaros Cathedral

Experience Nidaros

Nidaros Cathedral and the Archbishop's Palace

Nidaros Cathedral bells ringing (short video)

Wagner Organ, Nidaros Cathedral

St. Olav Festival, Trondheim
{{use dmy dates, date=June 2021 Churches in Trondheim Churches in Trøndelag Cathedrals in Norway Lutheran cathedrals in Norway Long churches in Norway Stone churches in Norway 13th-century churches in Norway Churches completed in 1300 11th-century establishments in Norway Former Roman Catholic cathedrals in Norway Christian pilgrimages Romanesque architecture in Norway Gothic architecture in Norway Coronation church buildings Norwegian election church