Omaha daily bee., 1906-06-23

f. Hop Slater and Miss E. Gwynn of
Washington and the Observation-Disclosures
delegation. King Haakon presented Spe
Cial Ambassador Graves and Mrs. Graves
with medals struck in honor of the corona
ton.
At the state dinner at the palace to-
night there were $50 guests including the
visiting princes and pfincesses and menu
bers of the special embassies and legations.
The king and queen and the majority OF
the party dined in a specially constructed
hall in the rear of the palace but the hall
was inadequate for the guests. and all
four rooms on the lower floor of the palace
was utilized. Special Ambassador Charles
II. Graves and wife, Lieutenant Comman-
der ]. H. Gibbons and Mrs. Gibbons and
Major General w. NJ. Gibbons were the
Americans present. Premier Nicholson
toasted King Haakon, who responded and
| toasted Norway.
Old Seat of Kings.
Trondhjem, the ancient capital of the
kings of Norway may be called the cradle
| of the Morse nation. 1t is first mentioned
| in history. before there was a united Nor
way, in connection with Harold the Fair
Haired who conquered all the petty kings
/ of the Morse counties and united them into
a single state under his own crown in
/ the latter part of the ninth century. But
/ II did not attain first Importance in the
kingdom unil Haakon the Good was
| crowned there in 935 amid the joyful ac-
| CARNATIONS of the people, who had sue
cessfuly rebelled against the cruel tyranny
OF Erik Blood-axe and his despotic wife
Queen Gunhild Since then all the kings
of Norway of whatever nationality they
might be have had to travel to this far
,N8 flv.
The King Haakon of today owes his name
to the first good king Of a united and in
dependent Norway and the little crown
prince becomes the hamesake OF his first
legitimate successor the great Olaf Tryg-
/ gvesson who was crowned in 800. Up to
that time Trondhjem was less a national
F., capital than the mere stronghold of an
! important province, but in 996 Olaf
| Tryggvesson laid the foundation of the
/ present city which he then called Nideros.
II is the northern most town of any i'm
portance in Europe being situated In the
same latitude as the south coast of Ice
land. but IT has a strangely temperate
! climate. While Christiana ford and all
the rivers in the southern part of Norway
become solidly frozen during the winter,
the River Mid rarely freezes over and
the beautiful Trondhjem ford never.
/ h1 NAiliAdNt 10 ike lIdl OF InlQQle Germany
in winter and much like that of the coast
of Oregon in summer. Hence the luxuri-
Gus vegetation and the resultant prosperity
Of the people.
An Old Cathedral.
| The cathedral Is the proudest historical
monument in Norway and the finest church
in all Scandinavia. 1t was built by 81.
Olaf whose body lies beneath it. St. Olaf
was killed at the religious battle of
stiklested in 1880 and his son and successor
! Magnus the Good brought his body to
Trondhjem and placed II in a magnificent
! sarcophagus on the high altar of St
| Clements church where II became an OBJ
ject OF devout pilgrimages from, all over
the country Eventually the cathedral and
some fifteen Of twenty other churches
were built upon the strength Of the faith
he had created and even in Protestant
Norway today his name is revered above
all others. In 1851 Trondhjem was erected
Into an -archbishopric and a new impulse
was given TO ecclesiastical building enter
prise. At this time the great Archbishop
EPSTEIN. the third OF Trondhjem, quar-
relied with the king and fed to England
where he remained for three years. He
returned full OF religious zeal and amb;-
tious plans Cor his own national capital and
during the next few years he built the
present transept OF the cathedral. a grace
full central tower, the Chapter House, all
in the style OF the late Romanesque period.
His successor finished the magnificent
choir and the octagonal apss that covered
the relics Of at. Olaf. and from that time
the building grew through all sorts OF
exuberent imasininss which left upon II
traces OF the splendor Of the early Gothic
period mingled with the classical Ro-
mAnesQue in such 4 manner as 70 create .