Editing Nidaros Cathedral (section)

==History==
[[File:Nidarosdom 1857.jpg|thumb|left|The Cathedral in 1857]]
Nidaros Cathedral was built beginning in 1070 to memorialize the burial place of [[Olav II of Norway]], the king who was killed in 1030 in the [[Battle of Stiklestad]]. He was canonized as Saint Olav a year later by [[Grimketel]], the Bishop of Nidaros (the canonization was later confirmed by the pope{{efn| Grimketel initiated the beatification of Olaf on 3 August 1031. This was before the time of the formal [[s:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Canonization|canonization]] process now in use}}).  Around 1070, King [[Olav Kyrre]], who was St. Olav's nephew, began building a large stone church on the site where the wooden church had stood. It was dedicated to the Holy Trinity but was commonly called Kristkirken (an earlier term for cathedral). The altar in this church was to be placed over the grave, and when the church was completed around 1090, St. Olav's shrine was moved here and placed over the altar. In this church, almost all Norwegian royals of the 11th and 12th centuries were buried. Kristkirken was about 50 meters long with a choir, nave, and west tower, and it was the largest church in Norway at the time.

Nothing of Olav Kyrre's church is visible today. It was gradually replaced by new building parts in the 13th century, but its outline can be seen in the ground plan: as was often the case in the Middle Ages, the later walls were built on the old foundations to save time and costs. During the restoration in the late 19th century, these foundations were excavated and measured, providing some knowledge of the church's architecture.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-25 |title=Nidarosdomen |url=https://www.snl.no/Nidarosdomen |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=Store norske leksikon |language=no}}</ref>

It was designated the cathedral of the [[Catholic]] [[Archdiocese of Nidaros]] from its establishment in 1152 until its abolition in 1537 under the Reformation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nidaros Cathedral: The Symbol of a Nation (My Little Norway) |url=http://mylittlenorway.com/2008/11/nidaros-cathedral/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004093018/http://mylittlenorway.com/2008/11/nidaros-cathedral/ |archive-date=2011-10-04 |access-date=2009-06-21}}</ref>

Since the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]], it has served as the cathedral of the [[Lutheran]] bishops of Trondheim (or Nidaros) in the [[Diocese of Nidaros]]. The architectural style of the cathedral is [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] and [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]]. Historically it has been an important destination for [[pilgrim]]s coming from all of [[Northern Europe]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Nidaros Cathedral |url=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/norway/trondheim-nidaros-cathedral |website=Sacred Destinations}}</ref>

In 1814, this church served as an [[election church]] ({{langx|no|valgkirke}}).<ref name="lhw">{{Cite web |title=Valgkirkene |url=https://lokalhistoriewiki.no/wiki/Valgkirkene |access-date=2021-06-20 |website=LokalHistorieWiki.no |language=Norwegian}}</ref> Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 [[Norwegian Constituent Assembly]] which wrote the [[Constitution of Norway]]. This was Norway's first national elections. Each [[prestegjeld|church parish]] was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in [[Eidsvoll]] later that year.<ref name="lhw" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Om valgene |url=http://1814.arkivverket.no/#about-elections |access-date=2021-06-20 |website=Valgene i 1814 |publisher=Arkivverket |language=Norwegian}}</ref>

Along with [[Vår Frue Church]], the cathedral is part of the ''Nidaros og Vår Frue'' [[parish]] in the [[List of churches in Trøndelag#Nidaros domprosti|Nidaros]] [[deanery]] in the [[Diocese of Nidaros]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110603071649/http://www.nidarosdomen.no/nb-NO/var+frue+apen+kirke/historie/historie.html Vår Frues historie (Nidaros Domkirkes Restaureringsarbeider)]</ref>