The Old Town of Oslo ( no, Gamlebyen, ) is a neighbourhood in the inner city of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, belonging to the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

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 Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

of stone and

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

lying above ground, and large amounts of protected culture underground. The core area also has listed 1700s buildings. Towards

Ekeberg Ekeberg is a neighborhood in the city of Oslo, Norway. The Norway Cup soccer tournament takes place at Ekebergsletta every summer. "Sletta" means "the plain". The painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch is painted from Utsikten ("the view"), a p ...

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 Eras is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Albert Boton and Albert Hollenstein and was released by the International Typeface Corporation (ITC) in 1976. Eras is licensed by the Linotype type foundry. A distinct and curious feature of E ...

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 The Alna River''Berlitz: Oslo Pocket Guide''. 2013. London: Berlitz. ( no, Alnaelva) is a river that runs through Oslo, Norway, from Alnsjøen to the Oslo Fjord at Bjørvika. It also drains Breisjøen, Steinbruvann, Tokerudbekken, and Øst ...

's original course to the south and east, and water associated with the

Middelalderparken The Medieval Park ( no, Middelalderparken) is located in the borough of Gamle Oslo in Oslo, Norway. The park was opened in the year 2000 at Sørenga in what was once the southern part of the medieval city of Oslo. The park is located within an ...

in the west. The

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

Monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

(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 Akershus Fortress ( no, Akershus Festning, ) or Akershus Castle ( no, Akershus slott ) is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. Since the Middle Ages the fortress h ...

and castle (begun in 1297) and the

Hovedøya Hovedøya is one of several small islands off the coast of Oslo, Norway in the Oslofjord. The island is quite small, no more than 800 metres across in any direction, the total area is 0,4 square kilometre. It is well known for its lush and green ...

of the

Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

former

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

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 Haakon V Magnusson (10 April 1270 – 8 May 1319) ( non, Hákon Magnússon; no, Håkon Magnusson, label=Modern Norwegian) was king of Norway from 1299 until 1319. Biography Haakon was the younger surviving son of Magnus the Lawmender, Kin ...

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 Snorri (; ) is a masculine given name. People with the name include: * Snorri Þorbrandsson, a character in the Icelandic ''Eyrbyggja saga'' * Snorri Goði or Snorri Þorgrímsson (963–1031), a prominent chieftain in Western Iceland, featured i ...

Heimskringla ''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derived ...

, the city was built by King Harald Hardrada in 1050. Subsequent archaeological excavations and research have established that Oslo had an

urban structure Urban structure is the arrangement of land use in urban areas, in other words, how the land use of a city is set out. Urban planners, economists, and geographers have developed several models that explain where different types of people and busin ...

as early as the end of the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

. 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 A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ...

, the old Clement's Church and Old St. Mary's Church, were replaced with stone churches. King

Sigurd the Crusader Sigurd Magnusson (1089 – 26 March 1130), also known as Sigurd the Crusader (Old Norse: ''Sigurðr Jórsalafari'', Norwegian: ''Sigurd Jorsalfar''), was King of Norway (being Sigurd I) from 1103 to 1130. His rule, together with his half-broth ...

began St. Hallvard's Cathedral in the early 12th century. The cathedral was named after St. Hallvard of Husaby in

Lier, Norway Lier is a municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lierbyen. The municipality of Lier was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The area Åssiden was transferred ...

, 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 Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

casket A casket jewelry box is a container that is usually smaller than a chest, and in the past were typically decorated. Whereas cremation jewelry is a small container, usually in the shape of a pendant or bracelet, to hold a small amount of ashes. ...

that was placed on the

high altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganis ...

. He was Oslo's patron saint. King Håkon IV Håkonsson built a new

royal residence A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whic ...

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 , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

established their monastery in the south-eastern outskirts of town upon the north-facing slope of

(current Ekeberg slope). In 1299 King

Eirik II Magnusson Eric Magnusson (1268 – 15 July 1299) (Old Norse: ''Eiríkr Magnússon''; Norwegian: ''Eirik Magnusson'') was the King of Norway from 1280 until 1299. Background Eirik was the eldest surviving son of King Magnus the Lawmender of Norway, and his ...

died. As he had no sons, his brother took over the throne as

. 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 Akershus Fortress ( no, Akershus Festning, ) or Akershus Castle ( no, Akershus slott ) is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. Since the Middle Ages the fortress h ...

, 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 Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

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 The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

of 1348 and several

subsequent {{Short pages monitor