In Norwegian history, the Middle Ages have traditionally been regarded as a golden age, playing somewhat the same role in Norwegians' self-consciousness as classical Antiquity did for the humanists of the Italian Renaissance. The idea of the heroic medieval kingdom of Norway with its overseas colonies was an important piece of mythology in Norwegian nation-building from the beginning of the nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth century. The patriotic content of this mythology made medievalism a productive current in Norwegian culture of that period, literarily, artistically and architecturally. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, medievalism still has a role to play in contemporary Norwegian culture, but its focus has changed. The Middle Ages seem no longer to be a pretext for politics or a means for nation-building. By examining the reception of two very different medievalist works, both central to Norwegian culture, the author aims to describe this shift of focus in Norwegian medievalism. The Gothic cathedral of Trondheim, once an important archdiocese and the shrine of St. Olaf, is a strong national symbol in Norway. It was restored and partly rebuilt in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The post-medieval architecture of this church and its use for the consecration of Norwegian kings can be regarded as nationalistic interpretations of medieval culture. Similar ideas of national pride, conservative values and traditionalism underlay the decision to award the Norwegian author Sigrid Undset the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929. In her historical novels, belonging to the literary canon of Norway, all aspects of human life are set in a medieval scene. Undset's "reconstruction" of medieval Norway has proved to be powerful and convincing. Contemporary reception of her much-read novels and also modern use of Trondheim cathedral have, however, lost their patriotic overtones. Norwegian medievalism today is focused on personal experience of hyperrealistic "medieval" adventures rather than the collective values of the nation. This tendency can be observed in the tourist attraction Jorundgard in Gudbrandsdalen, a totally ahistorical "medieval" manor, erected as the home of Undset's fictional character Kristin Lavransdatter. Its scope is to give the visitor an authentic experience of life in the Middle Ages. The increasing Lutheran pilgrimage to Nidaros is another medievalist practice with a similar but problematic claim to authenticity, as the goal of medieval pilgrimage to Nidaros, the saint's shrine, is no longer there. Medievalism has changed its content from national values to subjective experience. It seems that this change makes the cultural elite reject medievalism, leaving it to popular culture, to the realm of kitsch and entertainment.
