Trondheim has ancient origins as the original capital of Norway, where Harald Fairhair (865-933) was recognized as King, as well as his son Haakon I (“the Good”). Another warrior king of the Viking Age, Olav Trygveson, gave the city its name in 997 (although it has been also known, on and off, as Nidaros). Like most figures of the Viking Age, Olaf’s life is a fantastic, swashbuckling tale. Apparently born in Orkney as his mother fled the murderers of his father (a Viken King), he ended up in Kievan ‘Rus, then married a widow-Queen of the Norsemen in Ireland & England, eventually assembling an army to claim the throne and consolidate power in Norway (on the way converting to Christianity and imposing his new faith on his subjects).
The imposing Nidaros Cathedral (the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world) owes its stature and existence to Olav Haraldson who won the kingship in 1015, also trying to impose Christianity on a reluctant population. It was the miraculous appearance of plants growing inside his fresh-smelling opened tomb (we’re told) that catapulted the king into his role as St. Olaf ( patron saint of Norway) and brought the newly faithful to seek blessings from nearness to him. His body was thereafter moved from newly established church to newly established church by the current King, until after 40 years of wandering it came to rest here in 1070 when construction began on the Cathedral. In 1568, after the Reformation, the body was hidden in an attempt to stop such a Catholic practice. It has never been found. Now a Lutheran Cathedral, receiving State funding, it further relies on tourism and special concerts to pay for the enormous maintenance costs.
The third largest city of Norway, Trondheim hosts a large student population and an international chamber music festival.