Torvet (Town Square), Trondheim

Olaf Tryggvason, son of Tryggvi Olafsson, and great grandson of Harald Fairhair, will always be remembered as Olaf I. He is known to have had four wives who brought him good luck. He settled in Ireland but he was lured to Norway to battle Jarl Haakon. He defeated Haakon in the year 996 and became king.

But in 1000 AD Olaf, in turn, was defeated at sea by the Danes, Swedes and Wends. In the battle he was thrown into the sea and was never seen again. His reign by the River Nid in Trondheim was short but busy. He founded Trondheim and its Town Square (Torvet).

Town Square was set up as a place for commerce and events. The city was near destroyed by fire in 1681. Johan Caspar de Cicignon, a renowned general and military engineer, drew up a new layout for the city. The boundaries of the Town Square were set and have remained so to this day. Johan favored the Baroque in anything he built or rebuilt.

In 1921 Wilhelm Rasmussen, a well known sculptor of Norway, unveiled his monument to King Olaf I. The monument is a 58 foot column in the center of the square. King Olaf stands on a pedestal at the top. The statue doubles as a sundial as drawn on the cobblestones below.

Town Square at one time was bound on three sides by elite mansions of the wealthy. Now Olaf presides over a shopping center and tourists taking their ease.