268 Norway and the Norivegians 



the case of the most venerable church in the country, 

 the wooden buildings are replaced by stone ones. The 

 few stone churches in Norway that preserve any traces 

 of Eomanesque or Gothic architecture were most of them 

 founded about the time of King Olaf Kyrri, or very 

 soon after his death — that is to say, during the con- 

 cluding years of the eleventh century. Throndhjem 

 Cathedral stands the first among these, the most interest- 

 ing architectural monument in Norway. It does not 

 appear that in the building, as it now stands, we have 

 any remains of Olaf Kyrri's work. The oldest parts of 

 the present building were probably erected by the cele- 

 brated Archbishop Eystein in the succeeding century : 

 of Eystein we shall have to say a passing word here- 

 after. Next, after Throndhjem Cathedral, comes the 

 cathedral of Stavanger, which was founded during or 

 soon after the reign of Olaf Kyrri by an English bishop, 

 and was dedicated to the English Saint Swithun — a faii 

 set-off against the fact that we had in the twelfth 

 century, and still have in London, a church dedicated 

 to the Norse St. Olaf. In all the countries which once 

 belonged to the Norwegian crown, and were colonised 

 by Norsemen, we shall find but one example of a stone 

 church which may compare to these two — the cathedrals 

 of Throndhjem and Stavanger. This church is the 

 Church of St. Magnus, in the Orkneys. It, too, is a 

 Eomanesque structure, and it bears a close resemblance 

 to the older parts of the buildings at Throndhjem and 

 at Stavanger. Besides being the founder of Throndhjem 

 Cathedral, Olaf Kyrri was a great founder of monasteries. 

 Some of those which Bergen formerly possessed were 

 instituted by him. Olaf Kyrri died in a.d. 1093. 



