Stiftsgården Courtyard, Trondheim, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

Stiftsgården is the royal residence in Trondheim, Norway, at Munkegata 23, and its courtyard is the way into one of the city's grandest buildings. Built in the 1770s, the wooden mansion is often described as the largest timber building in Northern Europe. It stands on Munkegata, the main street that links the city's old centre with Nidaros Cathedral.

The story behind it

Stiftsgården was built between 1774 and 1778 for Cecilie Christine Schøller, a wealthy widow, and it was meant to be one of the finest private houses in the country. Its late Baroque and Rococo style, with symmetrical wings, tall windows and a grand main block, shows how much merchant families in Trondheim could spend in the eighteenth century.

The state later took over the house and used it as an official residence for regional authorities. In the early twentieth century it became a royal residence, and it still serves that role when the Norwegian royal family visits Trondheim. Today the house is both a working royal property and a museum of decorative arts and period interiors.

What to look for

• The long, symmetrical wooden facade is painted in a pale colour, and it is worth noticing how much it looks like stone masonry although it is all timber.
• The layout of the main building and its wings around the courtyard shows how a grand eighteenth-century town house was designed for entertaining.
• The tall, regular windows and the decorative detail around the entrance show the Rococo taste of the period.
• Munkegata itself runs straight past the front door, and from here you can see how the street was laid out as a formal axis through the city.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 15 to 20 minutes if you only want to see the building from outside and take photos, and longer if you join a guided tour inside.
• The interiors are usually visited on guided tours at certain times of year, so check current opening hours and tour availability before you plan around it.
• The courtyard and grounds may be closed when the royal family is in residence or during events, so treat access as something to check on the day.
• Nidaros Cathedral and the main square are an easy walk along Munkegata, so the house pairs well with a longer stroll through the centre.

See it on a quest

You can see Stiftsgården as one stop on Trondheim: Escape the Shadow Realm, a self-guided walk through the city centre played on your phone. You reach the courtyard on foot as part of a longer route, the app tells you about the place when you arrive, and you solve a puzzle based on what is in front of you. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group, so you can start whenever suits you without a guide or a fixed departure time.