Old Aker Church

Oslo · Norway · Church

Beneath Oslo's oldest building, a fire-breathing dragon broods over a silver hoard — the mine openings are still called the Dragon Holes.

Twelfth-century Old Aker Church is Oslo's oldest standing building, raised on a pagan burial ground atop Akersberget — site of what may be Norway's oldest mine. A Latin text from 1170 describes rich silver deposits near Oslo, and those shafts bred the legend: the church is said to rest on four pillars of solid gold, while deep below a sulphur-breathing dragon guards an immense treasure beside an underground pool where gilded ducks swim. The mine openings in the rock are still called "Dragehullene" — the Dragon Holes. The legend holds a grain of truth: sulphurous fumes rising from the forgotten medieval shafts became, over time, the dragon's breath. Around the church lies one of the city's oldest churchyards, resting on graves older still.

FAQ

Where is Old Aker Church located?

Old Aker Church is in Oslo, Norway.

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• Mangelsgården – Prinds Christian Augusts Minde Oslo · Historic building
• St. Margaret's Church Ruins, Maridalen Oslo · Ruin
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• Odderøya – the Quarantine Station and Cholera Cemetery Agder · Cemetery
• The Evil One in Bukken Who Feared the Cross (Kinsarvik) Hordaland · Site of legend

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Mahlum / Public domain — Wikimedia Commons