Yesterday, 21 July, Monday was Wei's first day of school and my first free day to myself. I decided to go to the Nidaros Cathedral. The church looks so majestic and cool on the exterior. Moreover it is a stone's throw away from where I am staying.
I got there at 9.15am. Bought the ticket and hung aound outside till about 9.45am before I went in. I am waiting for the English guided tour which started at 10am.
The moment I entered, I was in awe by the grandeur of the church. The ceiling was at least 3 stories high and it has beautiful high arches. There are 4 main parts in the church - the octagon, the choir, the transept and the nave. There church took several centuries to complete and it went through 5 major fires. The church has a lot of stained glass too. These stained glass is done according to the new and old testaments. They are relatively new (early 1900 to mid 1930s) coz the old ones had been destroyed. The interior is made of soap stone which is grayish in color. But some parts like the pillars have turned black due to human's touch. The oil from our hands get absorbed by the soap stone thereby turning it black.
The octagon is where they believed that St. Olav who was also a king was buried. Near the octagon, there is a fountain which used to flow healing water, but has since dried up. But a lot of people still come here and rubbed the soap stone wall next to well. This part of the wall is quite black.
Since the church took several centuries to construct, its style also varies from baroque to romanesque to gothic due to travels by the archbishop's travels all over europe.
The church has 2 large and 1 small organs. The coolest has to be the Wagner organ made by Joachim Wagner (1690-1749) in 1739 , Germany. This organ maker made only 28 organs in his life and there are only 6 left in the world now, 1 right here in this church. It is also believed that J.S Bach also played the organ made by Joachim Wagner. This organ has 30 registers with 1809 pipes. It is placed at the North Transept. It is also extremely colorful with intricate almost like a toy organ. I had the pleasure of hearing it when I came back for a short concert in the afternoon. It is very magical towards the last part when the organist presses some knobs and the 2 stars on the organ started to spin and they made a twinkling sound that made me feel as if that's the sound stars make when they fall.
The other organ is built by GF Steinmeyer , Bavaria. This organ has 127 registers and 9581 pipes. It was later split into 2 parts. The bigger one is now in the nave, the other in the chior.
The small organ is found in the Chapter House where I attended a service on Sunday.
After the short guided tour, I climbed up to the church tower. There are 172 small, spiral and steep steps. It was so narrow that they only do the ascent every half hour and each time not more than 30 people coz there is no space for one to regret and turn back. When they mean narrow, it is really narrow. If I am one half of what I am now, I probably can't go through! It was a tiring climb up coz there isn't much space....guess that's why they warn people who are claustophobic, unfit and with heart conditions to think twice. But when I reach the top, it was worthed it. The view from up there was great. I could basically see the whole Trondheim. Stayed there for about 10minutes and began my descent.
By the time I was done going through the museum at the Archbishop's Palace which is next to the church, it was almost 2pm. I was very hot and bothered by then. Went back to the hotel, got changed ane went to the shopping mall to do some shopping for cooler clothings. Thank goodness the sale is on and I managed to get some clothes for cheap. So some things are affordable after all.
Went up to Wei's apt. Of course I took a bus coz it was too hot in the afternoon. Saw him and John walking up the hill. And of course I got there earlier. Met the rest of the Singaporeans. When everyone was ready, went to get groceries. We had pasta, smoked salmon and garlic bread for dinner. Cooked at John's apt coz it is cleaner. Then they tried to cinfigure their laptop and I decided to head back to town. Took me 45 mins but I saw salomon jumping up the river. Great way to end a day!!!
Posted by Tien-Ling at July 22, 2003 11:14 AM | TrackBack