Trondheim

Olav Tryggvason founded a trading place at the mouth of the Nidelva in 997, called Kaupangen and soon Nidaros, "the mouth of the Nid". It served as the royal seat and Norway's capital until 1217, and kings were hailed at the Øreting assembly by the river. When Olav Haraldsson fell at Stiklestad in 1030 he was buried here and declared a saint a year later, and the cathedral raised over his grave from 1070 made the town northern Europe's leading pilgrimage site. From 1152 it was the seat of an archbishop, until the Reformation of 1537 sent the last archbishop into exile.

Fires repeatedly destroyed the wooden town; in 1651 nine-tenths of its buildings burned. After the fire of 1681 General Johan Caspar von Cicignon rebuilt it on a new plan of broad avenues such as Munkegata, cut through regardless of property rights, and Kristiansten Fortress was built on the hill to the east. Trondheim was briefly Swedish after 1658, and in 1718 the fortress repelled a Swedish invasion.

German forces occupied the city on 9 April 1940. The occupiers imposed martial law in October 1942, built the U-boat bunker Dora I, and contemplated a scheme for a new city of 300,000 people nearby. The name itself was fought over: when the city was renamed Nidaros in 1930 there were riots, and in 1931 it became Trondheim, the medieval spelling. Mergers in 1964 and with Klæbu in 2020 created today's large municipality.

St Olav still sets the rhythm of the year. Pilgrims arrive on foot along St Olav's Way, whose main route runs about 640 kilometres from Oslo, and the cathedral awards certificates to those who complete it. Around Olsok, the anniversary of the king's death on 29 July, the St Olav Festival, held since 1962, fills the city with masses, concerts and medieval plays. The cathedral was the coronation church of Norway's kings; Haakon VII was the last monarch crowned there, in 1906, and later kings have been consecrated there instead.

This is also a student city. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology dominates, and every other year students stage UKA, Norway's largest cultural festival, run by around 2,000 volunteers. Music is a source of pride: the city has strong rock, jazz and classical scenes, from the Trondheim Soloists and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra to the bands celebrated at Rockheim, the national museum of popular music. Trøndelag Teater, built in 1816, is the oldest theatre still in use in Scandinavia, and Adresseavisen, founded in 1767, is Norway's oldest newspaper still published.

Rosenborg, Norway's most successful football club, with 26 league titles, plays at Lerkendal, and Granåsen hosted the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1997 and 2025. Trondheim and Trøndelag are also regarded as the home of basse, a game played with a ball of tightly bound rubber bands.

Trondheim Municipality had 218,460 people on 1 January 2026, the third-largest in Norway, and the city forms the country's fourth-largest urban area. It is the seat of the county mayor of Trøndelag, though the county administration is in Steinkjer.

Knowledge is the main industry. Alongside the university are the research organisation SINTEF, with about 1,300 staff in the city, St. Olav's University Hospital, the Geological Survey of Norway at Lade and one of the two headquarters of the national broadcaster NRK, at Tyholt. Students give the city a young population, busy weeknights in term time and a culture of pre-parties at home before going out, because bar prices are so high.

The seasons shape daily life strongly. Around midsummer there are white nights with only civil twilight, while at midwinter the days are very short. People ski in Bymarka in winter and spend summer on the fjord and the islands. Wildlife lives close by: otters and beavers live in the Nidelva and Bymarka, and moose sometimes wander into town. Proposed bridges across the fjord to replace the car ferry have been debated for years without being built.

The classic dishes of Trøndelag are hearty. Sodd is a soup of cooked mutton and meatballs of lamb or beef in a clear, fragrant broth; properly served, the potatoes and carrots are boiled separately and added at the table, where everyone serves themselves. Karsk, the region's own drink, mixes coffee with moonshine and sometimes a spoonful of sugar.

The lowland east and south of the Trondheimsfjord is one of Norway's best agricultural areas. In recent years Trondheim has become one of Norway's food cities: Fagn, focusing on produce from Trøndelag, and Credo have both held Michelin stars. At Ravnkloa, on the waterfront, fish has been traded for centuries, and a fish hall still sells fish and shellfish.

Everyday eating out happens in the cafés of Bakklandet, known for their coffee, and in the restaurants and bars of Solsiden, as well as in the cafés and inexpensive places that serve the city's students. Nidar, one of Norway's largest sweet makers, founded in 1912, has its factory in Trondheim, with an outlet shop.