St. Mary's Church () was a medieval church located in
Oslo
Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
, Norway. The church ruins are located in
Middelalderparken near the neighborhood of
Sørenga in the borough of
Gamlebyen.
History
St. Mary's Church had been built of stone in stages with final additions made in the 14th century. A major remodeling in the 1200s gave the church a new Gothic choir. Major rebuild in the 1300s added two large towers to the west and a new and large cruciform choir. It was the royal chapel and had an important political role, as its
provost from 1314 also was
Chancellor of Norway. The church was set on fire in connection with the Swedish war of independence from the
Kalmar Union
The Kalmar Union was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden as designed by Queen Margaret I of Denmark, Margaret of Denmark. From 1397 to 1523, it joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (then in ...
in 1523. In the aftermath of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
, it was so dilapidated that it could not be repaired and was demolished in 1542.
Excavations were first conducted in 1867 by
Nicolay Nicolaysen
Nicolay Nicolaysen (14 January 1817 - 22 January 1911) was a Norway, Norwegian Archaeology, archaeologist and Norway's first state employed antiquarian. He is perhaps best known for his excavations of the ship burial at Gokstad ship burial, Gok ...
(1817–1911) under the direction of
Gerhard Fischer (1890–1977) and later in the 1960s under the leadership of
Håkon Christie (1922–2010). Traces of an older wooden structure were discovered which were dated by Håkon Christie to around the year 1050. Remains of two people, deemed to be King
Haakon V
Haakon V Magnusson (10 April 1270 – 8 May 1319) (; ) was King of Norway from 1299 until 1319.
Biography
Haakon was the younger surviving son of Magnus the Lawmender, King of Norway, and his wife Ingeborg of Denmark. Through his mother ...
and his Queen consort
Euphemia of Rügen, were discovered during excavations of the ruins of the church and re-interred in the
Royal Mausoleum in
Akershus Castle.
The area where the Norwegian Crown Prince Residence of
Skaugum is located today in the municipality of
Asker
Asker (), also called Asker proper (''Askerbygda'' or ''gamle Asker'' in Norwegian), is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway, located approximately 20km southwest of Oslo. From 2020 it is part of the ...
, originally belonged to the St. Mary's Church.
Skaugum Estate page at the official Norwegian Royal website
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References
Oslo Old Town
Mary's
Mary
Archaeological sites in Norway
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