Gamlebyen

The Old Town of Oslo ( no, Gamlebyen, ) is a neighbourhood in the inner city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo and is the oldest urban area within the current capital. This part of the capital of Norway was simply called Oslo until 1925 while the city as a whole was called ''Kristiania''. Oslo's old town was established with the urban structure around the year 1000 and was the capital of Norway's dominion in 1314. The main Old Town area (i.e. the southern and central parts of Old Town) has several ruins of stone and brick lying above ground, and large amounts of protected culture underground. The core area also has listed 1700s buildings. Towards Ekeberg slope and further up are some 17th and 18th-century wooden houses that are zoned for conservation under the Planning and Building Act, though there exist in the Old Town many four-storey brick houses, built at the end of the 1800s, and some heritage railway buildings from different eras.

Mediaeval Oslo

The mediaeval town of Oslo is the area in which Oslo's mediaeval ruins of stone and brick are located. Ruins are located in the area known today as Old Town, roughly delineated by Hovin creek in the north, Alna river's original course to the south and east, and water associated with the Middelalderparken in the west. The Franciscan Monastery (partly covered by the Gamlebyen Church and Oslo Hospital) just east of Alna are also in the mediaeval town, despite its location on the "backside" of Alna. Also Akershus fortress and castle (begun in 1297) and the Hovedøya of the Cistercians former monastery belong to the mediaeval town. In the centre of the mediaeval town of Oslo is a square, the city's oldest market. The market was in the area where today's street intersections Oslogate - Bispegata are located.

Mediaeval Oslo had its heyday in the 1300s, when Haakon V Magnusson ruled first as duke (1284-1299) and then as king (1299-1319).

Church centre

Oslo was a village with St. Clement's Church and cemetery already extant around the year 1000. According to Snorri's Heimskringla, the city was built by King Harald Hardrada in 1050. Subsequent archaeological excavations and research have established that Oslo had an urban structure as early as the end of the Viking Age. Towards the end of the 11th century, King Olav Kyrre made the city a bishop's seat. Around the year 1100 Oslo's former two stave churches, the old Clement's Church and Old St. Mary's Church, were replaced with stone churches. King Sigurd the Crusader began St. Hallvard's Cathedral in the early 12th century. The cathedral was named after St. Hallvard of Husaby in Lier, Norway, who was shot when he tried to save an innocent pregnant woman who was accused of theft from two men. The church's most important sections were completed by 1130 when King Sigurd was buried in the chancel south wall, and the body of St. Hallvard was moved from his former grave in Lier and placed in a magnificent silver casket that was placed on the high altar. He was Oslo's patron saint.

King Håkon IV Håkonsson built a new royal residence in stone and brick. The bishop replaced a former bishop's palace with a new stone, Oslo Bishop's Castle. The Dominican monastery ( St. Olav's Monastery) was built close to the somewhat older St. Olaf's Church.

In around 1290 the Franciscans established their monastery in the south-eastern outskirts of town upon the north-facing slope of Ekeberg (current Ekeberg slope). In 1299 King Eirik II Magnusson died. As he had no sons, his brother took over the throne as Haakon V Magnusson. King Haakon had Oslo as his ducal seat while his brother was king, and he made Oslo his permanent royal residence. At the same time he started construction of the Akershus Fortress, as weapons development made the palace an easy target for artillery from Ekeberg Hill. In the early 1300s, St. Mary's Church was converted into a large brick cathedral with two strong west towers - a landmark for the entrance to the city.

In 1314 the king decided that the dean of St. Mary's Church was to be made Chancellor, and be given the State seal of "forever", and so he made Oslo the capital of the kingdom of Norway. King Haakon died in 1319, and was buried in St. Mary's Church. Under Hakon Magnusson, the city reached its peak in cultural diversity.

Destruction

After King Haakon's death the political situation became unclear and the city experienced an economic downturn. Not least the Black Death of 1348 and several subsequent