An excerpt with from the book "Norway"
Photos by Robert & Loren Paulson
Text by Sidney & Lois Rand
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Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, dating from the fourteenth century, is the largest church building in Scandinavia. Seven kings and three queens have been crowned here, the last being King Haakon VII who became king in 1905. A decision of Parliament altered the tradition, so when Olav V succeeded his father in 1957, he was not crowned, but was blessed in a religious ceremony. | |
The Inland
Skirting the Trondheim Fjord as one returns to the southern third of Norway, a more agricultural atmosphere pervades. Fields near Trondheim lie across mildly undulating terrain and look luxuriously spacious compared with farm plots elsewhere.
Trondheim is the northern gateway to the largest inland section of the country, and area of mountains, viddas, and rolling agricultural land. Although so much of Norway is near the sea, half of its area is more than one thousand feet above sea level, and one-fourth is more than two thousand feet in elevation. The proximity of the sea and the fact that at this latitude the timberline is approximately three thousand feet make even a seemingly modest mountain elevation truly impressive.
The mountain ranges run generally from north to south, with the highest of them toward the west. Great, rolling plateaus are broken by thrusting peaks and long, deep valleys. Dovrefjell, the mountain area just south of Trondheim, is a non-glacial formation, which is one of the country’s driest areas. Snøhetta, its highest peak at seventy-two hundred feet, keeps its majestic watch over the main north-south highway, which bisects a wind-swept, barren plateau.
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