Øystein Ekroll

Between 1920 and 1968, a number of stone buildings were excavated in the Bryggen area of Bergen. Already during the excavation work, three of these stone buildings were identified as medieval buildings known from written sources. These identifications have later been repeated in the archeological and historical literature and, until today, have acquired the status of an accepted truth. In this article, I will look at the historical and archeological knowledge about these buildings and suggest a new interpretation

The Shrine of St Olav was the greatest treasure in medieval Norway, and the aim for pilgrims traveling to Europe's northernmost pilgrimage site. The shine was destroyed at the Reformation, but it eventually consisted of Three shrines, one inside the other, and resembled some of the most famous English shrines, e,g, Bury St Edmunds and Westminster Abbey.

The choir screen wall of Nidaros Cathedral. An architectural staging of the cult of st. Olav?By Oystein Ekroll The site of the grave of St Olav (d.1030) was also the site of the high altar of Nidaros (Trondheim) Cathedral, and the shrine of the royal saint was placed above the grave and behind the high altar. The grave site became the fixed point in the cathedral’s history, and its architectural development was focused around this point. As the cathedral was gradually developed and extended, the line of the choir screen wall marking the boundary between the sacred area and the rest of the cathedral stayed immobile through the centuries. Three generations of the choir screen wall are known, ranging from the simple, wide opening of the late eleventh century via the elevated screen of c.1200 to the present magnificent screen that was constructed after the devastating fire of 1328 and probably completed before the Black Death struck Norway in 1349/50. The present screen contains several...

Summary of the doctoral thesis: The Octagon – the eight-sided eastern termination of Nidaros Cathedral – was built c.1200-1210 as the architectural frame around the grave and golden shrine of St Olav, the most prominent medieval Scandinavian saint. As early as c.1070 St Olav’s shrine was well established as a place of pilgrimage, and when the Norwegian archbishopric was established in 1153 Nidaros became its seat due to the high prestige of St Olav. After 1153 the single-nave Christchurch of King Olav the Peaceful was replaced by a new cathedral in the Anglo-Norman style. The octagon was the completion of the Romanesque cathedral, but its architecture and decoration heralds the transition from the Romanesque to the new Gothic style in Norway. In Northern Europe, the octagon stands out as a unique building. Recent English research in tandem with my Ph.D. project has demonstrated that an important inspiration for the design of the octagon was ‘St Hugh’s Choir’ from c.1193-1205 in Lincoln Cathedral, especially its lost eastern polygonal end which was replaced by the ‘Angel Choir’ already c.1250-60. The Nidaros octagon preserves important architectural elements which has helped understand and reconstruct the lost part of St Hugh’s Choir. The octagon’s religious function as the physical frame around the grave and shrine of St Olav, is a physical expression of St Olav’s contemporary status c.1200 as king and martyr (rex et martiris) and the eternal king of Norway (rex perpetuus Norvegiae). The octagon was designed as a martyr church (martyrion) in the Early Christian mould, i.e. as a centralized building with the grave site and the shrine in its central room surrounded by an arcade wall and an ambulatory for the pilgrims. The most important inspiration for the octagon as a martyrion was probably the Holy Sepulcher Church in Jerusalem as rebuilt by the Crusaders c.1150. The octagon’s external diameter measured across the chapels is identical to the outer diameter of the Holy Sepulcher’s arcade wall, and the external diameter of the ambulatory wall is identical to the inner diameter of this wall. Older authors have claimed that the octagon was built in two separate phases separated by a decade-long pause. However, my analysis of the masons marks demonstrates that many of the masons were active not just on all parts of the octagon, but also during the construction work preceding and succeeding the work on the octagon. The octagon was therefore built in a single phase during a relatively short period, perhaps ten to twelve years. After the 1328 fire, the screen wall dividing the octagon and the choir and its two adjoining sides was demolished and rebuilt in the English Decorated Style. Its closest parallels are found in the London area, and an important inspiration for its design was probably St Stephen’s Chapel in Westminster Palace, the royal chapel which was the most prestigious building project at the time in England. The greatest and most unexpected result of my investigation of the octagon was the discovery that during the reign of Archbishop Erik Walkendorf (1510-22) five of the eight sides of the central room were marked and numbered, dismantled and subsequently rebuilt in the same design. This large work was probably caused by the instability of the central vault, pressing the walls outwards. The work was so well executed that its full extent was not realized until my survey of the octagon in 2011. But instead of executing this complicated rebuilding work, why was not the whole octagon just demolished and replaced with a larger, brighter and more modern high choir? My theory is that the octagon was consciously rebuilt as it had looked before in order to preserve its impression of antiquity, and this would enhance the prestige of the royal martyr. This period witnessed the dawn of the Nordic Renaissance, and the interest for national history was growing. Archbishop Walkendorf was an important representative for this movement. Age and history now gave legitimacy to royal families and kingdoms alike. The cult of St Olav enjoyed a great rejuvenation during this period, and new churches, chapels and altars dedicated to him were established from Amsterdam in the west to Tallinn in the east. The archbishopric of Nidaros played a much larger role in this than previously realized

Nidaros Cathedral in Norway was built above the grave site of King Olav Haraldsson, who was killed in 1030 and canonized and enshrined in 1031. His shrine was later places on the high altar of the cathedral which was placed above his grave. The cult of St Olava spread rapidly in the Norse cultural sphere and he was known as rex et martiris, later also as rex perpetuus Norwegie. In c.1180 Archbishop Eystein of Nidaros began building an octagon around the saint’s grave, completed c.1220. This article argues that early Christian and medieval martyria were the models and inspiration for the design of the octagon, especially the Holy Sepulcher Church in Jerusalem as it was rebuilt c.1150. The article argues for an Augustinian connection transmitting the inspirations from Jerusalem to Nidaros. Both the liturgy and legends of St Olav stressed the similarities and parallels between the passions of St Olav and Christ, and the Nidaros octagon is presented as an architectural parallel to the w...

The Shrine of St Olav was the greatest treasure in medieval Norway, and the aim for pilgrims traveling to Europe's northernmost pilgrimage site. The shine was destroyed at the Reformation, but it eventually consisted of Three shrines, one inside the other, and resembled some of the most famous English shrines, e,g, Bury St Edmunds and Westminster Abbey.