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on the E. side of the town. Beyond its mouth, to the E., rises
the suhurh of Baklandet (‘hilly land’), with picturesque heights
beyond it, the chief of which is the Blasevoldbakken (p. 221), with
the old fortress of Christiansten, terminating in the promontory of
Hladehammeren. On the S.W. side of the town, to the S. of Ihlen,
rises the Stenbjerg, with numerous villas. All these heights
command picturesque views.
The town is regularly and on the whole handsomely built,
although chiefly of timber. The wideness of the streets (100-120 ft.),
which |generally intersect each other at right angles, is intended
to diminish the danger of fire. Many of the large warehouses
facing the Kjebmands-Gade are supported on piles sunk in the river.
The windows of many of the houses are embellished with a beautiful
show of flowers. In the Kongens-Gade are several tastefully-kept
little gardens, where the Sorbus Scandia frequently recurs.
Down to the middle of the 16th cent, the name of the town was
Tfidaros (‘■month of the river Nid’; Aa, Aar, signifying ‘river, and Os,
‘estuary’} or Kaupanger i Thrdndhjem (’merchants’ town in Throndhjem’),
after which period the present name came into general use. Like Upsala
in Sweden, Throndhjem, which has been called the ‘strength and heart
of the country’, may he regarded as the cradle of the kingdom of Norway,
and it was on Bratøren here that the Norwegian monarchs were
usually elected and crowned. Here, too, was the meeting-place of the famous
Ørething. So early as the year 996 Olaf Tryggvason founded a palace to
the S. of Bratøren and a church which he dedicated to St. Clement.
St. Ola/, who is regarded as the founder of the town (1016), revived the
plans of Olaf Tryggvason, which had fallen into abeyance after his death,
and after the death of ‘the saint’ at the battle of Stiklestad (1030) a new
impulse was given to huilding enterprise, llis remains were brought to
Throndhjem and buried there, hut were soon afterwards transferred to a
reliquary and placed on the high-altar of St. Clement’s Church, where they
attracted hosts of pilgrims, not only from other parts of Norway, but
even from foreign countries. The spot where St. Olaf was originally
buried was by the spring adjoining the S. side of the choir of the present
cathedral, and on that site a magnificent church was subsequently erected.
Though now little more than a fragment, having been repeatedly
destroyed by fire and sadly disfigured by alterations and additions , it is
still the most beautiful and interesting church in the three Scandinavian
kingdoms. The reverence paid to St. Olaf gradually rendered
Throndhjem one of the largest and wealthiest towns in Norway, and gave rise
to the erection of no fewer than fourteen churches and five monasteries.
At a later period terrible havoc was caused by civil wars, pestilence, sieges,
and conflagrations (fifteen in all during the last few centuries); and the
pilgrimages, to which the place owed so much of its prosperity, were at
length put an end to hy the Reformation. The precious reliquary of the
saint was removed by sacrilegious hands from the altar in the octagon of
the choir, while his remains were buried in some unknown spot, and
most of the churches and monasteries were swept away. In 1796 the
population numbered 7500 souls only, in 1815 not above 10,000, and in
1835 about 12,900.
Since the Peace of 1814 Throndhjem has rapidly grown in size
and wealth , and it bids fair to become a city of still greater
importance through the new railway to Östersund and Sundsvall in
Sweden (see p. 222 and K. 50), as its fjord forms the natural
harbour for a great part of the Swedish ‘Norrland’. In anticipation
of a large increase of traffic a new Harbour has been constructed.
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