Altar of "Viking" King Who Christianized Norway Discovered

Archaeologists in Trondheim, Norway have unearthed the church where Viking King Olaf Haraldsson was first enshrined as a saint.

Experts uncovered the stone foundations of a wooden stave church where Haraldsson was likely enshrined after he was declared a saint in the 11th century.

Olaf Haraldsson, or Olaf II of Norway, is the country’s patron saint. The king’s sainthood played a key role in the introduction of christianity to Norway at the end of the Viking age.

“The recent unearthing of the foundations of a church in the centre of Trondheim by archaeologists working for the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) is one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in Norway in recent times,” NIKU Excavation Director Anna Petersen told FoxNews.com, via email.

Haraldsson died fighting rival nobles in the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 and his body was buried in Trondheim, or Nidaros as it was then known. Local people soon reported tales of miracles attributed to the dead king, according to NIKU, and in 1031 his coffin was dug up and opened in in the presence of a bishop, revealing his well-preserved body.

The dead king was declared a saint and his remains were enshrined above the high altar of St. Clement’s Church, which became his first mausoleum. Olaf’s coffin rested in the church for a number of years before it was moved to a larger church. The remains were eventually enshrined in Trondheim’s Nidaros Cathedral.

St. Clement’s Church…

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