BACKGROUND INFORMATION [ABOUT TRONDHEIM] Trondheim is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is the third most populous municipality in Norway, although the fourth largest urban area. Trondheim lies on the south shore of Trondheim Fjord at the mouth of the River Nidelva. Among the major technology-oriented institutions headquartered in Trondheim are the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research (SINTEF), and St. Olavs University Hospital. According to the sagas, the city was founded by king Olav Tryggvason in 997, but archaeological evidence suggests that there was already a settlement, or a seasonal a trading post on the left bank of the estuary. Olav Haraldsson (‘the holy king’) built a royal residence close to the settlement in the early 11th C, and served as the capital of Norway during the Viking Age until 1217, when the kings took residence in Bergen. Trondheim remained the clerical centre of Norway, where Olav Kyrre, the son of Olav Haraldsson’s half-brother Harald Hardrada, established a see with resident bishhop and funded the building of a large stone-built church for this purpose. This was commenced around 1070 on the site of the present cathedral. From 1152/-53 the city was the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nidaros until the Reformation in 1536-37; since then, it has remained the seat of the Lutheran Diocese of Nidaros. The current municipality dates from 1964, when Trondheim merged with Byneset, Leinstrand, Strinda and Tiller, and the municipality was further expanded 1 January 2020 when Trondheim merged with Klæbu. The main attractions of Trondheim are: - Nidaros Cathedral and the Archbishop’s Palace, located side by side in south of the city centre. The cathedral, built partly on the foundations of Olav Kyrre’s church, is the most important Gothic monument in Norway and is said to have been the most important Christian pilgrimage site of Northern Europe during the Middle Ages. Today, it is the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world, and the second largest in Scandinavia; - DORA 1, a German submarine base that housed the 13th U-boat Flotilla during the Second World War occupation of Norway. Today the bunker houses various archives, among them the city archives, the university and state archives. More recently, DORA has been used as a concert venue; - Kristiansten Fortress, built in the 1682-84, extended 1740, located on a hill above the eastern bank of the river. It repelled the invading Swedes CHePiCC Summer School 2022 11
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