Just a couple of hundred meters from new residential block at Sørenga, at the slopes of Ekeberg hill you can find traces of medieval Oslo (Gamlebyen). In a small park called Middelalderparken lies the ruins of St Mary’s Church. The park was built in 2000 and the small lake surrounding the territory represents the Oslofjord as it was once had been.
St Mary’s Church (Mariakirken) had been built out of stone in couple of stages with final additions made in the 14th century. In the 1300s two large towers to the west were added together with a new and large choir in a shape of a cross.
The church served as a royal chapel and had an important political role which can be seen from the burial site of King Haakon V and his Queen consort Euphemia of Rügen whose remains were discovered in the 60ies.
Near the ruins of Mariakirken lie the ruins of one of the Roman Catholic parish churches in Oslo. Clemenskirken was consecrated to St. Clement who was one of the 1st-century popes. He was martyred by being drowned with an anchor tied around his neck and so became the patron saint of seafarers.
It was a stone church with a tower, and was one of the very few churches with the double-nave floor plan.
The entrances were to the south and west and along the middle axis of the choir there were three pillars which stood in a row along the middle of the church and supported the roof. Just like Mariakirken the church of St. Clement went out of use after the Protestant Reformation and was probably demolished by 1540.
During the archeological excavations seven layers of burials were found under the stone church. Beneath the sand layer around 60 graves was found. Some interpretations say that there have been at least two churches, presumably stave churches, on the spot where the stone church was built around 1100. The oldest of the graves were radiological dated to about 980-1030, and were some of the oldest Christian burials found in Norway.
St. Hallvard’s Church (Hallvardskatedralen) was the earliest cathedral in Oslo. It was built during the early 12th century, and was used as a church until about 1655 when fell into disrepair.
The church was not only the bishop’s seat and religious center of eastern Norway for about 500 years, but also served as the coronation church and royal wedding church. For some time the church was one of Scandinavias most visited places of pilgrimage.
Just like Hallvardskatedralen, The Old Aker Church (Gamle Aker kirke) was also a religious center. Today the church is located just north of city center, but in the Middle Ages this area was outside the town.
Gamle Aker Kirke was built as a three-naved Romanesque style basilica and constructed from limestone. It is believed to have been erected by King Olav Kyrre in 1080 as a church for all of Vingulmark, the historic area surrounding Oslo.
The church has been pillaged and ravaged by fire several times. For examle after a lightning strike and fire during 1703 the tower, church bells and the entire inventory were destroyed. The exterior was than restored by architects Heinrich Ernst Schirmer and Wilhelm von Hanno in 1861 when the church tower was built.
The church was built over the former site of the Akerberg mines (Akersberg gruve), an ancient silver mine which was in use since the early Viking era and naturally the existence of these mines have been the inspiration for a number of local stories about the church having hidden silver treasures and even dungeons with dragons.
STARI GRAD (GAMLEBYEN) Samo nekoliko stotina metara od stambenog bloka Sørenga, na obroncima Ekeberg brda, mogu se pronaći tragovi srednjovjekovnog Osla. Ruševine Crkve sv. Marije (Mariakirken) leže u malom parku pod nazivom Middelalderparken. Park je uređen 2000. godine, a malo jezero predstavlja Oslofjord kakav je nekad bio.
Crkva sv. Marije građena je kamenom u nekoliko stadija, dok su zadnje prepravke napravljene u 14. stoljeću kad su nadograđena dva tornja na sjeveru i veliko kor u obliku križa.
Crkva je služila kao kraljevska kapela, a važna uloga koju je imala vidi se po mjestu ukopa Kralja Haakona V i kraljice Euphemia ood Rügena, čiji su ostaci pronađeni 60ih godina prošlog stoljeća.
U neposrednoj blizini Mariakirken leže ostaci jedne od rimokatoličkih župnih crkava u Oslu. Crkva sv. Klementa bila je posvećena istoimenom svecu koji je u 1. stoljeću obnašao dužnost svetog oca. Umro je mučeničkom smrću tako da su mu zavezali sidro oko vrata, pa je dotični postao zaštitnik moreplovaca.
Crkva je rađena od kamena i bila je jedna od rijetkih dvobrodnih crkava tog vremena. Ulazi su bili na jugu i zapadu dok su se duž glavne osi kora pružala tri stupa koja su podupirala krov. Poput Crkve sv. Marije i ova crkva prestala je s radom nakon protestantske reformacije i pretpostavlja se da je uništena do 1540e.
Za vrijeme arheoloških iskapanja ispod crkve pronađeno je sedam pogrebnih slojeva dok je ispod pješčanog sloja pronađeno oko 60 grobova. Najstariji od grobova datiran je u period između 980-1030 i smatraju se među najstarijim kršćanskim ukopnim mjestima u Norveškoj.
Crkva sv. Hallvarda (Hallvardskatedralen) bila je najranija katedrala u Oslu. Sagrađena je početkom 12. stoljeća i koristila se sve do 1655.
Crkva nije bila samo biskupovo sjedište i vjerski centar istočne Norveške nego je služila i kao krunidbena crkva i crkva za kraljevska vjenčanja. U jednom periodu bila je to meka za brojne hodočasnike iz okolnih krajeva.
Stara Aker crkva bila je također središte vjerskog života srednjeg vijeka, a danas se nalazi u sjevernom dijelu grada, koji je nekad bio van grada. Crkva je bila trobrodna građevina romaničkog stila, građena od vapnenaca, a vjeruje se da ju je dao sagraditi kralj Olav Kyrre 1080. Crkva je, nažalost, stradala u požaru nekoliko puta no konačnu preobrazbu doživjela je sredinom 19. st. kad ju je restaurirao dvojac Schirmer i von Hanno koji su joj dodali toranj. Crkva je sagrađena na mjestu nekadašnjeg rudnika srebra (Akersberg gruve) koji je bio u uporabi od ranog vikinškog doba i naravno da se i danas vjeruje da je u hodnicima ispod temelja crkve sakriveno drago kamenje.
