Stavanger Cathedral
– the City’s Heart

Around 1125, Stavanger Cathedral was begun, and the city grew around it. It is Norway’s
oldest cathedral still in continuous use, built in Anglo-Norman style and dedicated to St.
Svithun, the city’s patron saint.
The cathedral made Stavanger a bishop’s seat and gave the town its early importance.
Through fires, reconstructions, and centuries of change, the cathedral has remained the
spiritual and symbolic center of the city. Today it stands not only as a place of worship, but
as a monument linking medieval Stavanger to the modern city.

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The Saga of the Relic and the Bishop (Historical Saga)

The cathedral's origin is tied to the Kings' Sagas. It involves King Sigurd the Crusader and the first bishop, Reinald of Winchester.

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• Stavanger-Web: The Cathedral Saga This resource details the dramatic story from the sagas: King Sigurd wanted to marry a woman named Cecilia while still married to Queen Malmfrid. The Bishop of Bergen refused, but Bishop Reinald of Stavanger agreed in exchange for funding to build the cathedral.

• Heimskringla: The Death of Bishop Reinald (Norwegian) Snorri Sturluson records the tragic end of this saga: In 1135, Bishop Reinald was hanged by King Harald Gille because he refused to reveal where the former king’s treasures were hidden, choosing to die rather than surrender the church's wealth.