Church

The Medieval Park / Maria church

Remains of the Medieval Oslo and beautiful park area

Address

Middelalderparken, Gamle Oslo, 0150 Oslo

Online

http://www.middelalder.no

Address

Middelalderparken, Gamle Oslo, 0150 Oslo

Charge

Free

Open

Year around

Distance

Starting point of the Gudbrandsdalen path

The Medieval Park is located in the borough of Old Oslo. The park was built in 2000 in Sørenga, south of Bispegata and east of Sørenggata. The park is situated within the so-called Medieval Park area which also include Minneparken and Ladegården on the north side of Bispegata. In the park you'll find the ruins of Clemens church, Maria church and the King's estate. Due to those, and othe ruins, development in the area is not allowed. In the park's westside lies a water table called Tenerife among the locals. Towards the water table is half of Oslo's shoreline reconstructed in the way it appeared during medieval times. In total the park streches through an area of 70 acres.

Oslo Medieval Festival and the Øya music festival are annual events that take place in the park.

The Maria Church (in Norse medieval sources often written Mariu kirkiu, Marie kirke and Marikirke) was a church in medieval Norway. It was the royal chapel and had an important function in the kingdom, as the dean of the churc from 1314 also was chancellor of the kingdom and kept the national seal. The church was probably built first as a small wooden church around the year 1000, before a single-nave church with choir and apse was built around 1100. A major modification in the 13th century gave the church a new Gothic choir, before the church was rebuilt with brick in the 14th century. The ship was now extended westwards and given two large towers to the west and a new and large cruciform choir.

The church was set ablaze by the Swedes in connection with the attack in 1523. After the Reformation it was so dilapidated that it could not be repaired and was therefore demolished in 1542. Later, when the city was moved after the fire in 1624, the area was covered and used as farmland. Excavations have been going on for three periods, in 1867 conducted by Nicolay Nicolaysen, in 1935 under the leadership of Gerhard Fischer and in 1961-1963 under the leadership of Håkon Christie.