Bergen Cathedral, Bergen

Bergen Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Bjørgvin and the seat of its bishop within the Church of Norway. Originally known as Saint Olaf's Church, it was dedicated to Saint Olaf, Norway's patron saint. The church probably existed by around 1150 and was first mentioned in written sources in 1181.

The church was badly damaged by fires in 1248 and 1270. Following the second fire, King Magnus VI, known as Magnus the Lawmender, helped finance its reconstruction. The resulting Franciscan church was built largely in the Gothic style and was consecrated in 1301. Further fires followed over the centuries.

At the Reformation in 1537, Saint Olaf's Church became Bergen Cathedral. The city's previous cathedral, Christ Church at Bergenhus, had already been demolished as the fortress was expanded. The former Franciscan church was still in poor condition at the time and underwent substantial repairs and extensions afterward.

One of the cathedral's most unusual scars dates from the Battle of Vågen in 1665, fought during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. English warships attacked Dutch merchant vessels sheltering in Bergen harbor, while the defenses at Bergenhus joined the fighting. One stray English cannonball struck the cathedral and remains embedded high in its western wall to this day.

The cathedral underwent a major restoration in the 1880s. Rather than returning the interior to its Rococo appearance, architects Christian Christie and Peter Blix removed much of the Rococo decoration and created the restrained Neo-Gothic interior seen today.