Nearly one thousand years old, and still with the vigour of a youth. This is one description which might fit our beloved town. Visiting Trondheim, you will arrive to the peninsula between the River Nid and the fjord. This is where you will find the merchant centre of Trøndelag, and this is where you will meet the essence of our history. Here the European culture is reflected in great buildings like the Nidaros Cathedral or the wharves along the River Nid. Blended together with our own culture, this is something new. This is Trondheim.

The place

At a latitude of 63 degrees N you would not expect to find such lush surroundings. Woods and arable land stretches out for miles. This owes partly to the fertile deposits from the ice-age, and to the profitable climate. In these settings, on the relatively small peninsula, families gathered. The peninsula provided a natural shelter against both wild animals and plundering. By time it became a cradle of the Viking civilization.

Vikings

In the days of the Vikings, the heathen Earls of Lade ruled this powerful region of Norway. Their fiercest enemies were several royal pretenders to the throne of Norway, and with them Christianity. Although Christian, the pretenders were seasoned vikings leading bands of battle-scarred troops. The mouth of the River Nid was for them strategically the most advantageous harbour of Trøndelag. From here they could control the fief of the Earls of Lade.

In 995 Olav Trygvasson returned to Norway from years in exile. He had won repute for being a great viking chief. During a stay in England he became a Christian. He left England accompanied with several priests and set sail for Trondheim, the Norwegian centre of Power, to start christianising Norway. He made Trondheim into a trading centre in 997. He was later slain in defending the throne at the battle of Svolder in 1000. This year Leif Eiriksson of Greenland set sail from this Trondheim town to cross the Atlantic where he discovered America (Vinland). The next king to take up residence in Trondheim was Olaf Haraldsson. His keen interest of christianising Norway cost him his life at Stiklestad the 29. of july in 1030. Due to the legend of the miraculous preservation of King Olaf he became a Christian martyr and soon Norway's patron saint (St. Olaf). Subsequently Trondheim gained a reputation as a pilgrimage centre.

Another king residing in Trondheim were King Harald Hardr˚de. In 1066 he sailed from Trondheim in his bid to conquer England. He fell at Stamford Bridge, a well known in English history.

The Church and it's Power

The kings moved away, but by then the town had become the seat of a powerful archbishop whose authority was built on the sainthood of King Olav whose schrine stood on the altar of the Church of Christ. This church was extended and finally became an imposing Gothic cathedral (The Nidaros Cathedral). It was destroyed by a fire in 1328 and later it was to be ravished by fire several times. In 1869 the spirit of the national revival in Norway led to a new drive to restore this national monument in all its glory. The job has taken more than a hundred years, and the church is still not complete. In the Middle Ages the archbishops built their palatial residence in stone close to the cathedral. Parts of it was severely damaged by fire in 1983, but is now being restored. Another close neighbour in Trondheim is the Cathedral School whose history dates back about 900 years.

Reformation

But the protestant Reformation in 1536 reduced Trondheim overnight to an insignificant provincial town. About a hundred years later though the city saw an influx of foreign merchant families who established small trading empires in Trondheim. The merchants built themselves large mansions in the architectural style of the panelled wooden buildings typical of this region of Norway. Stiftsgården, now the royal residence in Trondheim, is preserved and is a masterpiece of this architectural style.

Town fires

Town fires were frequent as the town's wooden buildings were set closely together on narrow streets. After the Hornemann fire in 1681, the King commissioned general J.S. v Cicignon to plan a new town with broad streets so that fires could be contained. Cicignon's town plan with 33-metre broad streets did not prevent fires. However, it is still in evidence in the central parts of the town. By building Kristiansten fort and new fort on Munkholmen (a small island) Cicignon put Trondheim on the map again as an important outpost in the north-west corner of Europe.

River, Fjord and Expansion

In the 19th century the 800-year-old river based harbour became too small to serve the international traffic of steamboats and a fledgling railway system. The sandbanks off the shore formed the basis of a large reclamation project that provided the town with vast new areas for expanding its harbour and railway terminal. Around the turn of the century Trondheim started expanding beyond the triangular peninsula, across the river eastward, westward and southward. The new urban areas have modern one-family houses as well as large blocks of flats. A large suburban community has been built at Heimdal, south of Trondheim. Industry and commerce too look beyond the town centre for expansion and new possibilities.

Although most of the harbour is well developed parts of it retain areas for sports and recreation. The yachting club is found in the Skansen area, just outside the old town port. Here the members meet for a weekly regatta. Summer 2001Trondheim hosted the Cutty Shark Sailing Ships Race.