Haslum Church

This place has been an important crossroads since medieval times, with connections to Oslo, Nidaros and Ringerike. Cistercian monks are believed to have used the area as farmland to supply the monastery at Hovedøya, an island in the Oslo fjord. This has led to a theory that the monks built the church at the same time as the Hallvard cathedral was built in medieval Oslo.

The church is believed to have been built in (a long) rectangular form, but it was reconstructed after a hundred years intoa cruciform church in order to increase capacity, a shape in which it still stands today. In 1300 the church had 12 altars for various saints. Figures from those altars can be found in the University of Oslo's collections in the Historical Museum. Among th few medieval artefacts still in the church it should be noted that one of the bells still sounding date back to the 12^th century.

The church was rebuilt again in 1853 along architect P.H. Holtermann’s plans. In 1924, architects Finn Bryn and Johan Ellefsen led an attepmt to return the church to its original form, although little remains of the medieval building.