Trondheim

Categories: Sør-Trøndelag | Coastal cities | Municipalities of Norway | Trondheim | Cities in Norway

Trondheim is a city and municipality in the county of Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. With its more than 154,000 inhabitants, Trondheim is the third largest city of the country, and the centre of the Trondheim Region. The highest elevation is in Storheia, 565 metres (≈1850 ft) above sea level. The city is situated next to a large fjord – Trondheimsfjorden (130 km long). As a consequence of the northern location of the city, clear summer nights in June and early July are bright as an overcast day. In December, the sun rises at 10:00, and then stays very low above the horizon, and sets at 14:30. Trondheim has a moderate coastal climate, mostly sheltered from the more windy conditions on the coast. The highest temperature ever recorded is 35°C on July 22 1901 (see also Geography of Norway).

The main regional theatre, Trøndelag Teater, is situated in Trondheim (which is also the oldest theater in the world still in use). The cathedral and the synagogue of Trondheim are both the northernmost in the world. The local newspaper is Adresseavisen, the oldest active newspaper in Norway (established 1767). Regional television stations are NRK Trøndelag and TVTrøndelag. The NTNU university is located in the city. There are more than 25,000 students in Trondheim.

Concise history

Trondheim was founded as Kaupangen (the market place or trading place) by Viking King Olav Tryggvason in 997 A.D. Fairly soon, it came to be called Nidaros. In the beginning it was frequently used as the seat of the King, and therefore, for a time, the capital of Norway (until 1217).

Leif Ericson lived in Trondheim around 1000 A.D. as a Praetorian guardsman (Old Norse: "hird"-man) of King Olav. A statue of Leif, donated by the "Leif Ericsson Society" in Seattle, is located at the seaside, close to the old Customs Building, the cruise ship facilities and the new swimming Hall. The statue is a replica, the original being located at a Seattle marina.

Trondheim is located at the mouth of the river Nidelva, due to its excellent harbour and sheltered condition. The river used to be deep enough for most boats in the middle ages. An avalanche of mud and stones made it less navigable and partly ruined the harbour in the mid-17^th century.

The major battle of Kalvskinnet took place here in 1179; king Sverre Sigurdsson and his Birkebeiner warriors were victorious against Erling Skakke (a rival to the throne).

Trondheim was the seat of the (Catholic) Archbishopric from 1152. Due to the introduction of Lutheran Protestantism in1537, the last Archbishop, Olav Engelbrektsson, had to flee from the city.

The city has experienced several major fires. Since it was a city of log buildings, out of wood, most fires caused severe damage. Great fires ravaged the city in 1598, 1651, 1681, 1708, 1717 (two fires that year), 1742, 1788, 1841, and 1842. It must be noted that these werw only the worst cases. The 1651 fire destroyed 90% of all buildings within the city limits. The fire in 1681 (the "Horneman Fire") led to an almost total reconstruction of the city, overseen by General Johan Caspar von Cicignon (originally from Luxembourg). Broad avenues like Munkegaten were made, with no regard for property rights, in order to stop the next fire. This gave the sleepy provincial town of roughly 8000 inhabitants a certain flair.

After the Peace Treaty of Roskilde 26 February 1658, Trondheim (together with the rest of Trøndelag) became Swedish territory for a brief period; the area was reconquered after 10 months; the conflict was finally settled by the Peace Treaty of Copenhagen, 27 May 1660.

During World War II, Trondheim was occupied by German forces from April, 1940 (on the first day of the invasion of Norway, Operation Weserübung) until the war's end in Europe, in May, 1945.

The city's names

Originally given the name Kaupangen ("Marketplace") by Olav Tryggvason, Trondheim was for a long time called Nidaros ("Mouth of the river Nid"), or in the Old Norse spelling Niðaróss. In the late Middle Ages the name was changed to Trondheim (Old Norse spelling Þróndheimr). In the Dano-Norwegian period, during the years as a provincial town in the united kingdoms of Denmark-Norway, the city name was spelled Trondhjem.

In 1930 the name Nidaros was restored in order to reaffirm the city's link with its glorious past. The 1928 referendum on the name of the city gave this result : 17,163 votes in favour of Trondhjem and 1,508 votes in favour of Nidaros. Nevertheless, Nidaros was reintroduced as the official name of the city for a brief period 1 January 1930–6 March 1931. However, public outrage, even taking the form of riots, later in the same year forced the Storting to settle for the compromise Trondheim, a name that sounded slighly less Danish. Trondheimen historically indicates the area around the Trondheimsfjord. The spelling Trondhjem was officially rejected, but many still prefer the now unofficial spelling of the city name; Trondhjem. Today, most inhabitants still refer to their city in their local dialect as Tron’jæm ("æ" is pronounced somewhat like the "a" in "hat").

The traditional German version of the city's name was Drontheim. During the Nazi German occupation, 1940–45, the Germans made it into a major base for submarines and also contemplated a scheme to build a new city of 250,000 inhabitants, Neu-Drontheim, centered 15 km (10 mi) southeast of Trondheim, near the village of Øysand in the outskirts of Melhus municipality. The new city — northern capital of a germanized Scandinavia — was meant to be the future German main naval base of the North Atlantic region, and would be the largest of all German naval bases. For those with a particular interest in the history of the Second World War, a short trip towards Øysand by car will allow a glimpse of the only remains of this grand plan, in the form of a few rusty steel sticks in the sea just by the main road.

City factions

The following list displays city factions and subdistricts (Norw.: bydeler og delområder) with populations as of January 1, 2003. Units shown in italics were separate municipalities until 1964, when they were merged into Trondheim. Hyphenated subdistricts consist of two 'logically/naturally distinct' parts.

Sentrum (31,477)

• Midtbyen (3,107)
• Øya-Singsaker (6,050)
• Rosenborg-Møllenberg (7,172)
• Lademoen (4,236)
• Lade (4,452)
• Strindheim (6,460)

Strinda (29,431)

• Charlottenlund-Jakobsli (7,410)
• Ranheim (6,953)
• Berg-Tyholt (7,484)
• Åsvang-Stokkan (6,574)
• Jonsvatnet (1,010)

Nardo (18,712)

• Nardo (3,775)
• Nidarvoll-Leira (8,054)
• Risvollan-Othilienborg (6,155)
• Bratsberg (728)

Byåsen (32,136)

• Ila-Trolla (5,034)
• Sverresborg (8,634)
• Byåsen (14,471)
• Hallset (3,997)

Saupstad (13,377)

• Flatåsen-Saupstad (13,377)
• Heimdal (27,388)
• Sjetne-Okstad (4,067)
• Tiller/TillerByen (7,674)
• Heimdal (12,219)
• Byneset-Leinstrand (4,007)

Notable sights and buildings

Nidaros Cathedral

Two of Norway's greatest tourist attractions are the Nidaros Cathedral and Archbishop's Palace. They are located side by side, in the middle of historic Trondheim. The large gothic cathedral, built from 1070 on, was Northern Europe's most important Christian pilgrimage site during the middle ages, with pilgrimage routes from Oslo in southern Norway, and from the Jämtland and Värmland regions of neighbouring Sweden.

During the middle ages, and again after independence was restored in 1814, the Nidaros Cathedral has been the coronation church of Norwegian kings. King Haakon VII was the last monarch to be crowned in 1906. Starting with King Olav V in 1957, coronation was replaced by anointing. In 1991, the present King Harald V and Queen Sonja were anointed in the cathedral. On May 24, 2002, their daughter Princess Märtha Louise married writer Ari Behn in the same cathedral.

Other landmarks

• Kristiansten Fortress, built 1681–84; repelled invading Swedes in 1718
• Munkholmen prison island, fort, and monastery
• Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) main building, at Gløshaugen hill
• Stiftsgården, the royal residence in Trondheim
• Sverresborg, King Sverre's medieval castle (now an open-air museum)
• Tyholttårnet TV/radio tower, with a revolving restaurant (1 rev./hr)
• Studentersamfundet i Trondhjem, the Student Union House
• Statue of Olav Trygvason, in the city's central plaza, mounted on top of an obelisk

Major museums

• Sverresborg Trøndelag Folkemuseum – Museum of Cultural History
• Telemuseet – Norwegian Telecom Museum in Trondheim
• Trondhjems Sjøfartsmuseum – The Trondheim Maritime Museum
• Vitenskapsmuseet – Museum of Natural History and Archaeology
• Rustkammeret – The Armoury; adjacent to the Archbishops's Palace
• Ringve Museum – Ringve National Museum (Museum of music and musical instruments), and Ringve botanical garden
• Norsk Rettsmuseum – The national museum of justice, Norway (includes a section about the german occupation 1940-45)
• Sporveismuseet – Trondheim Railway Museum
• Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum – National Museum of Decorative Arts
• Det jødiske museum – The Jewish Museum (including a holocaust section); co-located with the city's synagogue

Education

There are 11 high schools. Trondheim katedralskole ("Trondheim Cathedral School") was founded in 1053 and is the oldest gymnasium-level school of Norway.

A large number of registered students, 29,203 (as of 2003), reside in the city.

Although the official population count, as of 2004, is slightly above 150,000, the large number of resident college and university students, roughly 30,000, makes the actual population more than 180,000 (in Norway, students are typically registered in their home towns/municipalities, and not in their place of study). The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is located here (with a total number of c. 20,000 students).

Trondheim is a centre for maritime, technical and medical technology research.

Transportation

One of the largest airports of the country is Trondheim Airport, Værnes; situated in Stjørdal. The highway E6, passing through Trondheim, is Norway’s most important route to the continent.

Major railway connections are the northbound Nordlandsbanen (to Bodø), the eastbound connection to Sweden, passing Storlien and two southbound connections to Oslo, Rørosbanen (opened 1877) and Dovrebanen (opened 1921). The Coastal Express ships (Hurtigruten) are calling at Trondheim, as does many cruise ships during the summer season.

Trondheim also boasts the northern-most tramway line in the world: the Gråkallbanen, an 8.8 km (5.5 mi) single-track route which runs from the city centre, through the Byåsen district, and up to Lian, in the recreation area Bymarka. Trondheim also boasts the world's only bicycle lift [1]. The bus network is also well developed.

Music

Trondheim has a broad music scene, and is known for its strong communities committed to rock (especially punkrock), jazz and classical music. Rock artists/bands hailing from Trondheim include Motorpsycho, Johndoe, Desperado, RIFU, and the recently dissolved Gåte (the latter successfully mixing rock with Norwegian medieval folk music).

Sports

Trondheim is the home town of football team Rosenborg Ballklubb (colloquially known as RBK), a successful team nationally as well as internationally, playing in the UEFA Champions League for the 10th time in 2005. The team's name, and initially most of its players, came from an east-end borough.

The city is also known for its active winter sports scene, with cross-country skiing and a ski jumping arena in Granåsen, as well as nearby alpine skiing facilities at Vassfjellet. The city hosted the 1997 Nordic skiing World Championships, and held World Cup ski sprint races in the city centre in February 2004.

Trekking and and cross-country skiing are popular among Norwegians. In Trondheim, people often go to the hills surrounding the town (Bymarka in the west and Estenstadmarka in the east) to engage in these activities. Many kilometers of prepared skiing tracks are available during the winter, as are a few establishments serving food and beverages in the middle of the forested skiing areas [2].

Twin cities

Sister cities (twin cities) of Trondheim are:

• Darmstadt (Germany)
• Dunfermline (Scotland)
• Graz (Austria)
• Kopavógur (Iceland)
• Norrköping (Sweden)
• Odense (Denmark)
• Petah Tiqwa (Israel)
• Ramallah (Palestinian territories)
• Split (Croatia)
• Tampere/Tammerfors (Finland)
• Tiraspol (Moldova)
• Vallejo, California (USA)

External links

• Trondheim's Official Website, with City Guide
• Kosmorama - Trondheim International Film Festival
• Satellite picture by Google Maps
• Downtown Trondheim with Nidelva river
• Travel guide to Trondheim from Wikitravel

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