Church | Cultural Heritage

Haslum Church

The original roman part of the church was built during the 12th century with whitewashed brick and is still in use. The church celebrated its 800th anniversary in 1990.

Address

Gamle Ringeriksvei 86, 1356 Bekkestua

Here, there was an important crossroads in medieval times, with roads leading 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 into a cruciform church in order to increase capacity. In 1300 the church had 12 altars for different saints. Figures from the altars can be found in the University of Oslo's collections in the Historical Museum. One of the bells in Haslum Church dates back to the 12th century.