Margrete Syrstad Andås

About

Research interests:
Style and connoisseruship, Romanesque and Gothic
Stave churches
Viking age art, The Urnes syle
Sacred space and religious symbolism
Liturgical and secular processional practices and the use of space
Liturgical ritual in medieval Scandinavia
Legal ritual in medieval scandinavia
Iconography
Iconology
Notions of purity/impurity in medieval legal and theological texts and in religious practices

Latest projects:

Early Gothic architecture In recent years I have worked with wooden buildings; with building types and their decorations across Northern Europe in the 11th C. This has been published in the form of two longer essays in Urnes and its Global Romanesque Connections (ed. Kirk Ambrosen, Margrete Syrstad Andås, and Griffin Murray, Brepols, 2021). At the moment I am working on an article together with Marianne Hem Eriksson on "Depositional Events", i.e. objects that are deliberately, often ritually, buried, which is one of many articles dealing with the excavations in Kramabugata in Trondheim in 2016. The book will be published by Brepols in 2024 I am also working on an article about the portal from Rødven stave church, which I believe reflects (a now since long gone) Anglo-Saxon woodcarving tradistion in the 11th century.

My latest article dealing specifically with stave churches is published in Margrethe Stang and Laura Tillery, The Medieval Scandinavian Art Reader (Scandinavian Unversity Press, 2022).
I also work with stone churches from the Middle Ages, with Romanesque and Gothic sculpture and architecture, and with liturgical use and liturgical fittings. My latest essay on such a topic is on the chancel screen pulpit of Kinn Church, Kinn Kirke (ed. Morten Stige, 2023). In the spring of 2024, I am writing a book about Trondheim Cathedral, and teach this, in the course KUH3208/2208.
My latest more extensive study of rituals was about women's Churching, which is a ritual that was practiced in Norway, and most other places in Europe, for a thousand years. Here I show how through rituals (Assman) one creates a pseudo- genealogy, and attaches oneself, and the women in one's family, to Mary as mother. In the construction of this genealogy, the church portal plays a central role, where a society's collective memories are constructed and crystallized. The text has been published as part of a larger research project that shed light on Jerusalem's role in Scandinavia throughout a millennium ("Entering the Temple of Jerusalem: Candlemas and Churching in the Lives of the Women of the North. A Study of Textual and Visual Sources" Ch 17., in Kristin B Aavitsland, Tracing the Jerusalem Code, De Gruyter, 2021).
My most extensive study of medieval rituals was published under the title "Art and Rital in the Liminal Zone," in Trondheim Cathedral and its Architectural and Ritual Constrcutions (ed. Margrete Syrstad Andås, Nils Holger Petersen, Andreas Haug and Øystein Ekroll, Brepols 2007). This examines liturgical rituals with statios in the lillimal zone of churches and cathedrals as liminal rituals, applying Victor Turner and van Gennep's theories on liminality. What becomes clear is that the rituals which are commemeorative, such as Candlemas, use the portal as setting to re-enact and commemorate, whil the ritual which coencerns the slavation of the sould, like bapsitm and penance, need the portal to constrcut ritual meaning, and in these cases, the opposition between the sacred inside and the polluted outside is communicated as real.
An essay on the legal and liturgical use of church portals in the Nidaros doiceses is published under thte titel "Making it known to Man: Church Portlan in the Liturgical adn Legal Practices of the North," publisged in Mittelalterliche Portale als Orte der Transformation (BMBF) (Bamberg, 2018).

Biography: Ph.D. from the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence for the Study of the Cultural Heritage of Medieval Ritual, University of Copenhagen, spring 2013; BA and M.Phil. from the University of Oslo 200. Lecturer in Art History and Church History at NTNU, the University of Oslo, and the University of Copenhagen 2002-2013. Fellowships and Grants: Authors´ grant from NFFO 2012-2013; Research fellow, the Strathmartine Research Centre, St. Andrews, fall 2006; NORFA Research fellow, Center for Medieval Studies, UiO, Spring 2005; Fulbright Research fellow, Divinity School, Yale University, 2001-2002.

On-going book projects (for summaries, se above):

Images of Entry. Cases from the North.

Nidarosdomen. Historier bak historien.

Latest talks and conference papers:

«En riktig gammel kirke: Barteløver, kuleøyne og gotiske kapiteler» Margrethe Syrstad Andås, NTNU og Kjartan Hauglid, UiO, Jubileet Sakshaug kirke 835 år. Sakshaug, Trøndelag 27-29.09.2019.

"Objects from Nidaros. Looking at Medieval Art from the Trøndelag Region from the 1198 Mære Beam Head to the Hov Crucifix." Royal Saints Kings and Peoples. St. Olaf in Context. The 2nd Nexus Nidaros Conference. Trondheim 29.11.2018

""Re-reading the 1070 Urnes Portal: Who is the King of Glory?" The Urnes Project, Urnes 22-25.9.2018.

"Public Penance and Physical Spaces as Hotspots for the Definition of the Self", workshop at NIKU, NFR project "The Creative Self. The Construction of the Self in Social Spaces," Oslo 20-22.06.2018

"Religiøst liv og kirkelandskap i Nidaros før 1200," NIDARK paper, NTNU University Museum, Trondheim May 29, 2018.

"Making it Known to Man: Church Portals in the Liturgical and Legal Pratices of the North," Mittlealterliche Portale als Orte der Transformation (BMBF), University of Bamberg, Bamberg, January 2018.

"Religious Time needs Religious Place," Challenging 997. Church, Town, Saint. St Clement's Church and the Development of Trondheim 900-1150, NTNU, Trondheim, December, 2019.

"Processions in the Medieval Townscape: The Laypeople as Ritual Agents and Audience." Scecond Fiddels in Medieval Ritual. NTNU, Trondheim, November 2017.

"Screens and Galleries in Norway 1130-1275," IV. Forum Kunst des Mittelalters, Berlin und Brandenburg, September 2017.

"Middelalderens kirkebygg. Aktuelle forskningstema," Middelalderkirkene. En flik av verden i det norske landskapet, Riksantikvaren, Fagernes, September 2017.

"Revisiting Stve Church Portal Iconography: The Case of Nesland III," The Completion of the Stave Church Programme - what have we learnt?, Riksantikvaren, Oslo 14.-15. juni 2016.

”Prophetic Materiality; Rauðúlfs þáttr and metals as religious-political symbols,” Matter and Materiality, Conference University of Oslo, December 2015

"Fra vugge til grav. Kirkerommet i middelaldermenneskets liv," Stiklestadseminaret, November 2015

”Prosesjoner i byrommet. Et foredrag om det rituelle livet i middelalderens Nidaros og om gangr som uttrykksform,”Fortidsminneforeningens foredragsserie, April 2015

“Synd og fortapelse i kunst fra middelalderens Trøndelag,” Kunnskapsbyen Trondheim, February 2015

“Dåpen og Kunsten,” NDR og Norsk Pilegreimssenters konferanse om Dåpen, November 2014

”Marias minner, mors minner, mine miner. Halbwachs, Nora og Kvinners kirkegang,”

IKM seminaret, June 2014

Latest seminar organized;

“Stavkirkene og forskingen,” funded by Riksantikvaredn, NTNU and Folkemuseet på Sverresborg, September 13-14, 2014.

Monographs:

Imagery and Ritual in the Liminal Zone. A Study of Texts and Architectural Sculpture from the Nidaros Province c. 1100-1300, Doctoral dissertation. Det teologiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet, Copenhagen 2012.

Editions:

Urnes and its Global Romnesque Connections. Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages, eds. Kirk Ambrose, Margrete Syrstad Andås, and Griffin Murrray (Brepols, Turnhout, 2021).

Architectural and Ritual Constructions. The Medieval Cathedral of Trondheim in a European Context. Ritus et Artes, Vol. 3 (Turnhout, Brepols 2007), eds.: Margrete Syrstad Andås, Øystein Ekroll, Andreas Haug and Nils Holger Petersen.

Articles:

“Introduction,” in Urnes and its Global Romnesque Connections. Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages, eds. Kirk Ambrose, Margrete Syrstad Andås, and Griffin Murrray (Brepols, Turnhout, 2021), 10–21.

“Who is the King of Glory? The Religious and Political Context of the Urnes Portal and West Gable,” in Urnes and its Global Romnesque Connections. Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages, eds. Kirk Ambrose, Margrete Syrstad Andås, and Griffin Murrray (Brepols, Turnhout, 2021), 304–331.

“The Decoration of Buildings in the North in the Late Viking Age: A Tale of Bilingualism, Code-Switching, and Diversity?” inUrnes and its Global Romnesque Connections. Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages, eds. Kirk Ambrose, Margrete Syrstad Andås, and Griffin Murrray (Brepols, Turnhout, 2021), 196–228.

“Appendix: Alphabetical List of Fragments form Eleventh Century Decorated Buildings in the North,” in Urnes and its Global Connections. Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages, eds. Kirk Ambrose, Margrete Syrstad Andås, and Griffin Murrray (Brepols, Turnhout, 2021), 229–273.

“The last of the beasts,” in Fabulous animals: - from the iron age to the vikings, ed. ngunn Marit Røstad, Hanne Lovise Aannestad, Katherine Elliott, Anja Mansrud, (Oslo, 2020), 65–72.

“Det siste dyret” in Fabelaktige dyr: Fra jernalder og vikingetid, ed. Ingunn Marit Røstad, Hanne Lovise Aannestad, Katherine Elliott, Anja Mansrud, (Oslo, 2020), 65–72.

”Entering the Temple of Jerusalem. Candlemas and churching in the Lives of the Women of the North. A Study of Textual and Visual Sources.” In Tracing the Jerusalem Code, Vol. I, ed. K. B. Aavitsland (De Gruyter, 2021), 340–374.

“Portals in the liturgical and legal use of the North” In Mittelalterliche Portale als Orte der Transformation, ed. S. Breitling, S. Albrecht, K. Schröck (Bamberg, 2018), 170–177.

”Fra vugge til grav. Kirkebygget i middelaldermenneskets liv.” In Værnes kirke, ed. Morten Stige og Kjell Erik Petterson, forthcoming 2016.

”Prosesjoner i byrommet i middelalderens Norge.” In (GEN)KLANGE, Essays om kunst og kristendom tilegnet Nils Holger Petersen på 70-årsdagen. Publikationer fra Det Teologiske Fakultet 62, Kristoffer Garne and Lars Nørregaard (Eds.)((København: Københavns Universitet 2016), 47-55. http://static-curis.ku.dk/portal/files/160889909/Genklange_Festskrift_til_Nils_Holger_Petersen_e_bog.pdf

“Hinn helgi æysteinn erkibiskup: Presteskapets egen helgen?” In Kristin Bjørlykke, Øystein Ekroll, Birgitta Syrstad Gran og Marianne Hermann (eds.): Eystein Erlendsson – Erkebiskop, politiker og kirkebygger (Trondheim, Nidaros domkirkes restaureringsarbeiders forlag 2012), 149-167.

“Relikviekapell og kongelig mausoleum?”, in Kristin Bjørlykke, Øystein Ekroll and Birgitta Syrstad Gran (eds.): Nidarosdomen – ny forskning på gammel kirke (Trondheim, Nidaros domkirkes restaureringsarbeiders forlag 2010), 296-318.

"The Octagon Doorway: A Question of Purity and Danger?" In Kristin Bliksrud Aavitsland and Margrethe Stang (Eds.): Ornament and Order. Essays on Viking and Northern Medieval Art for Signe Horn Fuglesang (Trondheim, Tapir 2008), 97-134.

“Introductory Note to Christopher Hohler’s “The Palm Sunday Procession and the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral”, in Margrete Syrstad Andås, Øystein Ekroll, Andreas Haug and Nils Holger Petersen (Eds.): Architectural and Ritual Constructions. The Medieval Cathedral of Trondheim in a European Context. Ritus et Artes, Vol. 3 (Turnhout, Brepols 2007), 279-284.

“Art and Ritual in the Liminal Zone”, in Margrete Syrstad Andås, Øystein Ekroll, Andreas Haug and Nils Holger Petersen (Eds.): Architectural and Ritual Constructions. The Medieval Cathedral of Trondheim in a European Context. Ritus et Artes, Vol. 3 (Turnhout, Brepols 2007), 47-126.

”Spor etter religiøs praksis på Tingvoll på 1200-tallet: Om innvielseskors, altre, portaler og alt detaljer kan fortelle ”, in Terje Spurkland og Morten Stige (Eds.): Tingvoll kyrkje. Gåta Gunnar gjorde, (Trondheim, Tapir 2006), 159-176.

“Hvor marginal er marginen. Om blottere i sentrum og konger i periferien”, in Kersti Markus (Ed.): Bilder i Marginen. Nordiska studier i medeltidens konst, (Tallin, Argo 2006), 139-158.

“A Royal Chapel for a Royal Relic?”, Senter for Middelalderstudiers Skrifter, (Trondheim, Tapir 2004), 173-19.

”Merker i stein: Om bygghytten ved Domkirken på erkebiskop Øysteins tid”, Trondhjemske samlinger (Trondheim 2003), 25-41.

”Smekre vannlilejkapiteler og rike chevroner: Spor av Yorkbygghyttens folk i Trondheims- og Bergensområdet 1160-80”, Årbok for Foreningen til norske fortidsminnesmerkers bevaring 2001, (Oslo, 2002), 75-89.

M.Phil. dissertation:

Skrudhuset ved Nidarosdomen. Form og funksjon. University of Oslo 2000, Vol. I-II, Unpublished M. Phil. Dissertation, Vol I: 1-200, Vol II, bilder: 1-50.

Research

The Otherness of the North: Building and Designing in Wood Across a Millennium.

This research group includes art historians and archaeologists, with specialty in early urban archaeology, medieval art and architecture, and conservation studies. The core project group includes scholars from NTNU, NIKU and the University of Gothenburg. The main area of interest is the development of wooden architecture, with the stave churches and profane building types in wood as our point of departure. Archeology and written accounts illustrate that wooden buildings dominated Europe until the turn of the fist millennium, when stone became the preferred budling material of both sacred and secular powers. The remaining 28 stave churches reflect a great variety of types and visual forms of expression. Though archeology and close examination of the used and reused materials in standing wooden churches, an understanding of the lost wooden architecture of Europe may be gained. The methodological development of dendrochronology has provided the project with a large set of data. A similar focus on methodology in art history, more attentive to the visual languages particular to the north. These were not merely based on a pars pro toto iconography, but also on a more complex metaphorical visual language, is at the core of the groups research interests.

“Histories behind History. Essays on Trondheim Cathedral”

This book project explores ritual and artistic perspectives on the medieval cathedral of Trondheim, primarily discussing themes concerning the period 1100–1350. The book consists of ten stand-alone essays in Norwegian, presenting new research for a wider audience. These include an essay on the Easter liturgy as it is expressed in the Ordo Nidrosiense (the ordinal of the province from around 1200), the west façade as the main scene of this drama, and its processional use of the medieval town. Another essay brings Ash Wednesday and the Episcopal cathedral’s place in the use of public penance into focus. Several essays are dedicated to the sculptures of Trondheim Cathedral, as, surprisingly enough, both their dates and the multivalent meanings the various motifs may have held are hereto little explored themes. The rich and well-preserved Romanesque corbel tables of the transept feature a wide range of fantastic motifs, whereas the corbel table of the Octagon (c. 1200–1220, the structure surrounding the high altar and the shrine of St Olaf) shows faces of exceptional artistic quality, displaying attention and emotion, seeking to connect with each other and the viewer. A fire in 1328 brought about a restoration of the Octagon, probably completed by the time the Black Death reached Trondheim in 1349, and the hybrid embracing creatures adorning the capitals echo the fantastic creatures of the manuscript margins. Another essay explores the symbolism of the Octagon, and its possible appearance in sources such as Raud’s thattr. The book project is financed by NFFO (The Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Association). The course KUH3208/KUH2208 taught in the spring term of 2024, follows the work with this publication

Earlier project

The Urnes Project

In 2018, a group of art historians and archaeologists from Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, the United States and Norway held a workshop at the UNESCO site Urnes Stave Church, in Sogn on the west coast of Norway. The project was financed by UNESCO, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the National Trust of Norway, which is the owner of the site, and the Norwegian Directorate of Cultural Heritage. In recent years, dendrochronology has provided Scandinavia with a wide set of data. As it stands today, Urnes is amongst the oldest of the 28 preserved stave churches, dating from c. 1131–32, but with the reuse of lavishly decorated late-Viking Age wood from an older church, dated to c.1070. Urnes has a raised central section, and the cushion capitals of the interior columns are adorned with a rich stock of motifs of fantastic and acrobatic beasts, animals, and human figures, well known from the pan-Romanesque vocabulary. The project’s aim was threefold. Primarily, the project aimed to shed light upon the history of the monument itself and its place within the global Romanesque era, but it also strove to shed light upon the little-known history of decorated wooden buildings toward the end of the Viking age. Finally, by bringing together scholars from a variety of fields and universities, it was the project’s ambition to bring wooden churches, which before the arrival of the Romanesque were the dominant form of building across northern Europe, into the international scholarly debate. The results were published as an anthology in Brepol’s series Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages in 2021, under the title “Urnes Stave Church and its Global Romanesque Connections.” The publication has later received positive reviews in renowned journals such as The Journal of the British Archaeological Association and the Collegium Medievale.

Publications

The Medieval Cathedral of Trondheim. Architectural and Ritual Constructions in their European Context

This anthology explores the texts from the Ordo Nidrosiense and the Manuale Norwegicum, the role rituals and their imaginative content played at Trondheim, and how the liturgy played an active part in the construction cult and cathedral.

Urnes and its Global Romanesque Connections.

Urnes church has work from the 1070s and the 1130s. This anthology explores the Urnes style, the last of the Viking-Age style groups, and the Romanesque cushion capitals featuring fantastic beasts, mythical creatures, lions, and hunters.

The portal from Rødven: Norway's oldest church portal?

By the Romsdalsfjord stands Rødven stave church, whose building history is obscure. Linn Borgen (The National Trust of Norway) has brought together a group of scholars to write a monograph on the biulding (2025). Rødven has a richly decorated portal, where shivering achatus adorns the capitals and wraps the remains of a presumably horseshoe-shaped arch in leave. The arch rests on twisted stems, like columns. The portal is unlike anything else preserved from medieval Norway, nor does it mimic elements of stone architecture. If we look to England, however, we find images in manuscripts showing similar foliage with strongly marked and stylized petioles, leaves wrapping arches, and twisted columns. The floral leaves and framework in Robert of Jumiège's missal and The Grimbald Gospels are related to the carvings of Rødven. These are books believed to have been produced in Canterbury or Winchester in the early 11th century. Since there are no portals preserved from early wooden churches on the Continent, or from Anglo-Saxon sites, it is difficult to find three-dimensional comparative material. However, a bishop's staff carved from walrus tusk found in Alcester (now in the British Museum) shows similar foliage, and demonstrates that there was indeed a tradition corresponding to what we see in the manuscripts also in bone, and if we look at Norway, - apparentlyalso in wood. Based on style, Rødven’s portal seems to date from 1000-1050. If that is correct, it is older than any other architecture preserved in Scandinavia. This is theoretically possible, as there are postholes under several other stave churches, which shows that the first generations of stave churches were often demolished and rebuilt, and that portals and materials were reused. We cannot know whether that is the case for Rødven, but the possibility should be kept open.

The New History of Oslo

After extensive excavations in Oslo in connection with the Follo railway project, a new anthology on medieval Oslo incorporating new finds and aspects, edited by NIKU (Egil Lindhart Bauer), Fabrica (Morten Stige) and The University of Oslo (Stefka Georgieva Eriksen), will be published by Cappelen Damm in 2024. Together with Kristin Bliksrud Aavitsland (Norwegian School of Thology, Religion and Society, The Norwegian Institute in Rome, University of Oslo), I discuss the concept of urban religiosity in relation to the Norwegian medieval city. We examine the development from the earliest church landscape in Viken in the 11th century, centered around the king’s palace and St Clement’s church, and up to the end of the Middle Ages, when a number of monasteries, including the mendicant orders, together with the cathedral, the parish churches, and not least the guilds, regulated the cycle of the year and shaped people's perceptions of life and death. Religious life in a city was characterized by numerous powerful actors with a strong visual and auditory presence. Through archaeological sites, objects, testaments and liturgical texts, we seeks to shed light upon this development.

https://www.niku.no/en/prosjekter/follobaneprosjektet/

https://www.niku.no/prosjekter/oslos-historie-skrives-pa-nytt/

Recently published:

Kinn's Chancel Screen

The largest treasure in the Romanesque stone church of Kinn, dramatically located on the coat of Norway, is the medieval chancel screen separating the nave from the chancel. The in Kinn chancel screen can on stylistic grounds be dated to c. 1250–70, which is in a Erupean perspective exceptionally early for such a piece of liturgical furnishing. It has in earlier literature been associate with Matthew of Paris, who visited Norway in 1248, but based on style, it is more a case of general similarities, rather than a possible attribution. The screen is finely carved in pine, and it was originally painted in bright colors, with rich geometrical patterns and fleur-de-lisadorning the robes and thrones of the figures. Christ enthroned sits above the chancel arch in a mandorla. He is surrounded by the four living beings.These are flanked by the twelve apostles enthroned, holding books or scrolls.

In earlier literature, the screen is often described as a lectorium, a pulpitum, indicating that this was a place where sermons were red and psalms sung during Mass. Based on what has been preserved in Kinn, it would appear that what we have is not a pulpitum in the strictest sense, but rather the remains of a chancel screen with a rood loft. Behind the screen are Romanesque alter niches in the east of the nave, and the effect of the screen in front, would be that of two chapel-like spaces flanking the chancel arch. Above the relief of Christ in the mandorla, there are holes for candles. The crucifix that must originally have been located on the east wall of the nave, above the mandorla, is now lost, but it seems that in Kinn, access to the crucifix and rituals linked to this have were important. The crucifix played a central role in the liturgy. The cross's votive mass was celebrated on Fridays, and special days in the litrugical calendar were dedicated to the veneration of the cross (3 May, 14 September). Liturgical material preserved from medieval Norwegian also include the ritual referred to as The Adoratio Crucis (worship of the cross), where the crucifix, or an altar cross, in connection with the Easter liturgy was ritually buried, like Christ himself. This ritual seems to have been practiced in Norway until the 15th century. During the Middle Ages it was also common to cover the crucifix with a cloth during Lent. Thus, access to the crucifix has been important for the religious dramaturgy, and lighting candles in front of the crucifix has obviously been part religious life in Kinn. Similar practices are known from elsewhere. In England, it seems that it may have been common to light candles and lamps in front of the crucifix, and the rood beam is sometimes referred to as a "candle beam", which strictly speaking, would also be an appropriate description of the arrangement we find in Kinn.

The study also presents a survey of early pulpits in Norway, as there is a clear tradition dating back to the early-to-mid 12thC (possibly with older roots). These were elaborate arrangement, some had alters flanking the chancel arch, and second set of altars on the platform above. These early versions are known to us today only through the remains of staircases in the thickness of the chancel wall, sills on the cancel walls, or repositories, and imprint of baldachins, but the wooden arrangements themselves are gone. Also from some of the stave churches, we have the remains of pulpits. The Kinn chancel screen however appears to be of a different type, there is no evidence for an elaborate liturgy on a broad platform, rather, what we have is a screen with altar spaces behind it, and a candle beam above, facilitating the veneration of the Crucifix.

2023

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2023) Lektoriet.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2023) Ch. 15. Scandinavian stave church sculpture. Scandinavian Academic Press
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Eivindsen, Tove; Christophersen, Axel; Brattli, Terje; Grav, Ellen J. ; Hansen, Frid Kvalpskarmo; Paasche, Knut. (2023) Revisjon av utstillingen "Kirken under gaten", tidligere "Klemenskirken". Utstillingsrevisjon
Museum exhibition

2021

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2021) “Who is this King of Glory?”: The Religious and Political Context of the Urnes Portal and West Gable". Brepols
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2021) Appendix: Alphabetical List of Fragments from Eleventh-Century Decorated Buildings in the North. Brepols
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad; Murray, Griffin; Amrbose, Kirk. (2021) Introduction, in "Urnes Stave Church and its Global Romanesque Connections" . Brepols Brepols
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad; Murray, Griffin; Ambrose, Kirk. (2021) Urnes Stave Church and its Global Romanesque Connections. Brepols Brepols
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2021) The Decoration of Buildings in the North in the Late Viking Age: A Tale of Bilingualism, Code-Switching, and Diversity?. Brepols
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

2019

Haugan, Idun; Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2019) "Urnes," i Aftenposten Historie nr. 6 (2 144 -147). Aftenposten Historie
Interview Journal

2018

Jondell, Erik; Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2018) Klemeskirkeutstillingen. Klemenskirkeutdtillingen
Museum exhibition

2016

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2016) Kirkebygget i middelaldermenneskets liv.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Prusac Lindhagen, Marina; Stige, Morten; Aavitsland, Kristin Bliksrud; Kollandsrud, Kaja; Andås, Margrete Syrstad; Bandlien, Bjørn. (2016) Nasjonalgalleriets gjenfødsel. Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.)
Feature article
Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2016) Prosesjoner i byrommet i høymiddelalderens Norge.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Prusac Lindhagen, Marina; Stige, Morten; Aavitsland, Kristin Bliksrud; Kollandsrud, Kaja; Andås, Margrete Syrstad; Bandlien, Bjørn. (2016) Hjem til Nasjonalgalleriet. Morgenbladet
Feature article

Journal publications

Haugan, Idun; Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2019) "Urnes," i Aftenposten Historie nr. 6 (2 144 -147). Aftenposten Historie
Interview Journal
Prusac Lindhagen, Marina; Stige, Morten; Aavitsland, Kristin Bliksrud; Kollandsrud, Kaja; Andås, Margrete Syrstad; Bandlien, Bjørn. (2016) Nasjonalgalleriets gjenfødsel. Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.)
Feature article
Prusac Lindhagen, Marina; Stige, Morten; Aavitsland, Kristin Bliksrud; Kollandsrud, Kaja; Andås, Margrete Syrstad; Bandlien, Bjørn. (2016) Hjem til Nasjonalgalleriet. Morgenbladet
Feature article

Books

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad; Murray, Griffin; Amrbose, Kirk. (2021) Introduction, in "Urnes Stave Church and its Global Romanesque Connections" . Brepols Brepols
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad; Murray, Griffin; Ambrose, Kirk. (2021) Urnes Stave Church and its Global Romanesque Connections. Brepols Brepols
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings

Part of book/report

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2023) Lektoriet.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2023) Ch. 15. Scandinavian stave church sculpture. Scandinavian Academic Press
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2021) “Who is this King of Glory?”: The Religious and Political Context of the Urnes Portal and West Gable". Brepols
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2021) Appendix: Alphabetical List of Fragments from Eleventh-Century Decorated Buildings in the North. Brepols
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2021) The Decoration of Buildings in the North in the Late Viking Age: A Tale of Bilingualism, Code-Switching, and Diversity?. Brepols
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2016) Kirkebygget i middelaldermenneskets liv.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2016) Prosesjoner i byrommet i høymiddelalderens Norge.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

UTSTILLING

Eivindsen, Tove; Christophersen, Axel; Brattli, Terje; Grav, Ellen J. ; Hansen, Frid Kvalpskarmo; Paasche, Knut. (2023) Revisjon av utstillingen "Kirken under gaten", tidligere "Klemenskirken". Utstillingsrevisjon
Museum exhibition
Jondell, Erik; Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2018) Klemeskirkeutstillingen. Klemenskirkeutdtillingen
Museum exhibition

Teaching

Courses

In the spring of 2024, I will teach KUH3208/2208. This year’s course title is:

NIDAROS CATHEDRAL IN THE MIDDLE AGES:

The course addresses the topic of the cathedral in the Middle Ages and its regional and local significance. This is a research-based course, which runs parallel to my book project on Trondheim Cathedral. The course will mostly take place off campus in the Cathedral and the Cathedral lapidarum, and students will be introduced to a wide range of topics.

Among other things, we will look at:

· How architectural sculpture developed in the period 1100–1500; how biblical themes went hand in hand with grotesque and humorous motifs, and what these motifs might have meant to people at the time.

· How the church building bear traces of various liturgical and ritual practices. There will be a particular focus on the Easter liturgy, and on how it appears to have influenced the west façade, but also on more peculiar architectural solutions possibly depending on ritual pratices.

· How notions of penance and judgment were so fundamental to medieval life that they shaped not only people's everyday life, but also the cathedral's architecture and sculpture. This is reflected both in the expulsion cycle of the southern chancel porch and in the imagery of the Octagon.

· How the cult of St Olaf developed from the 11th C. until the Reformation. It may seem that it is particularly in the late 12^th– and early 13th C. that Trondheim becomes Olaf's city. In this process of cultic development, the Octagon and the Cathedral plaied a very central role.

· How the study of style and other formal aspects provide us with dates and an understanding of the building process, and how the same elements reflect cultural connections to other regions. It is particularly the relationship with England between 1150 and 1260 that is in focus, but we will also take a closer look at the impulses that around 1260 come from Paris.

· How we distinguish work from the Middle Ages from later restorations and repairs. In this part of the course we will look at how you can recognize different types of stones from different quarries, and distinguish different types of medieval masonry, and medieval from later restorations.

Compulsory activity: oral presentation.

The various themes listed above (and others) correspond to different sections of the syllabus. 
In addition there will be texts on comparative material. 
Each student chooses themes from the syllabus that he is responsible for familiarizing himself with. 
When on site, those who have chosen "today's topic" will be expected to engage in discussion, since discussion is vital to reserch.
Research is aslo about checking whther theories are viable. Some things needs trying out; measure, check and think again.

Outreach

«Ear and Despair»: Visualizing the Sound of Damnation in Medieval Architectural Sculpture»

International Medieval Conference in Leeds 2023. I middelalderens kunst finnes en rekke bilder hvor beist og slanger gnager på menneskers ørere, og billedliggjøring hvordan hørselssansen kan lede sjelen til fortapelse.

2024

Academic lecture

Njåstad, Magne; Opsahl, Erik; Sunde, Jørn Øyrehagen; Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2024) Magnus Lagbøtes landslov i nytt lys. Det Kongelig Norske Videnskabers Selskab Akademimøte , Trondheim 2024-10-28 - 2024-10-28

2023

Lecture

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2023) "Kveilende ormer og en istykkerslått døpefont: Om historiebruk før historieskrivningens tid". NTNU HYFER , Trondheim 2023-09-22 - 2023-09-25
Lecture

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2023) Urnes and its global romanesque connections: Noen perspektiver for fremtidig arbeid med stavkirkene. Riksantikvaren seminar , Riksantikvaren, Oslo 2023-09-03 - 2023-09-03
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2023) «Ear and Despair»: Visualizing the Sound of Damnation in Medieval Architectural Sculpture». ISM ISM International MEdieval Conference in Leeds , Leeds 2023-07-03 - 2023-07-07

2022

Documentary

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2022) "Klemenskirken: En øvelse i å vite, tolke og anta." Adresseavisen. 03.07.2022 https://www.midtnorskdebatt.no/meninger/i/OrMA7A/klemenskirken-en-oevelse-i-aa-vite-tolke-og-anta. Adresseavisen Adresseavisen [Newspaper] 2022-07-03
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2022) Klemenskirken. En øvelse i å vite, tolke og å anta. Norsk Arkeologisk Forbund Norsk Arkeologimøte , Trondheim 2022-11-03 - 2022-11-04
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2022) Portalers symbolikk og bruk. Nidaros domkirkes restaureringsarbeider Konferanse om kirkedører i Erkebispegården , Trondheim 2022-11-10 - 2022-11-12
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2022) «Inngangen til det hellige rommet: Hvordan Urnesportalen kan forstås i et rituelt perspektiv» . Fortidsminneforeningen Seminar , Oslo 2022-06-13 - 2022-06-13
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2022) Dekor av kirkebygg og visuelle språk i nordområdene i sen vikingtid. . Fortidsminneforeningen konferanse , Oslo 2022-11-17 - 2022-11-17
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2022) "The otherness of the North. Woodcarving through the long 12th Century." contribution at ERC workshop at Nationalmuseet as part of the project "Stone Mirrors.". Nationalmuseet i København work , København 2022-10-27 - 2022-10-28
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2022) The religious elites of Nidaros 1150–1250. Materiality and Ritual Constructions. Biörn Tjellen, Mitt universitet seminar , Trondheim 2022-12-09 - 2022-12-10

2021

Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad. (2021) Urnes and its Global Romanesque Connections: Introduksjon til ny forskning på Urnes. Fortidsminneforeningen Fortidsminneforeningens fagdag , Oslo 2021-08-26 - 2021-08-26

2020

Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2020) The Urnes Project. IHN, NTNU Nexus Nidaros, NTNU , Vitenskapsakademiet, Trondheim 2020-01-10 - 2020-01-10

2019

Interview

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2019) Er utsmykningene på Urnes stavkirke egentlig hedensk? https://forskning.no/kunsthistorie-ntnu-partner/er-utsmykningene-pa-urnes-stavkirke-egentlig-hedenske/1313378. forskning.no forskning.no [Internet] 2019-03-21
Interview

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2019) "Hva betyr dyrene i stavkirkeornamentikken?" https://gemini.no/2019/03/hva-betyr-dyrene-i-stavkirkeornamentikken/. Gemini.no Gemini.no [Business/trade/industry journal] 2019-03-18
Interview

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2019) "Slakter forslag til nye spir i Notre-Dame: Passer bedre i Disneyland. https://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/i/wPxrWM/Slakter-forslag-til-nye-spir-i-Notre-Dame--Passer-bedre-i-Disneyland. aftenposten.no aftenposten.no [Newspaper] 2019-05-13
Interview

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2019) https://geminiresearchnews.com/2019/04/what-do-the-animals-in-stave-church-ornamentation-signify/. https://geminiresearchnews.com https://geminiresearchnews.com [Internet] 2019-04-19
Popular scientific lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2019) Skaun kirke: Antemensalet fra Skaun og kirkebygget i middelalderen. Foredrag Skaun historielag 9.mai 2019. Skaun Historielag Fagkveld Skaun historielag , Skaun 2019-05-09 - 2019-05-09
Lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2019) Skriveworkshop, Nye Oslo bys historie (etter Follobaneprosjektet): "Religiøst liv i middelalderens Oslo.". NIKU Bokprosjektet "Nye Oslo bys historie i middelalderen" , NIKU, Oslo 2019-11-04 - 2019-11-05
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad; Hagulid, Kjartan Magnus Prøven. (2019) «En riktig gammel kirke: Barteløver, kuleøyne og gotiske kapiteler» . Fortidsminneforeningen Sakshaug kirke 835 år , Sakshaug, Inderøy 2019-09-27 - 2019-09-28
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Helen Syrstad; Hauglid, Kjartan. (2019) En riktig gammel kirke: Barteløver, kuleøyne og gotiske kapiteler. Om sakshaug kirkes datering. Fortidsminneforeningen seminar , Sakshaug 2019-09-28 - 2019-09-28

2018

Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2018) Kirkelandskap og religiøst liv i Trondheim før 1200. NIDARK-foredrag. NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet. NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet NIDARK-foredrag , Trondheim 2018-05-30 - 2018-05-30
Lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2018) Kunst og arkitektur fra middelalderens Trondheim. IKM, NTNU "Bilder i Norden." Nordisk ikonografisk symposium. , Trondheim og Stiklestad 2018-08-30 - 2018-09-02
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2018) "Objects from Nidaros. Looking at Medieval Art from the Trøndelag Region from the 1198 Mære Beam Head to the Hov Crucifix.". IHS, NTNU Royal Saints Kings and Peoples. St. Olaf in Context. The 2nd Nexus Nidaros Conference , Trondheim 2018-11-29 - 2018-11-30
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2018) "Re-reading the 1070 Urnes Portal: Who is the King of Glory?". Margrete Syrstad Andås NTNU, UNESCO, Riksantikvaren The Urnes Project , Urnes Stavkirke 2018-09-24 - 2018-09-24
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2018) Making it known to man. Portals in the Liturgical and Lega Uses of the North. Universität Bamberg und Bundesministerium für Bildung und Fo Mittelalterliche Portale als Orte der Transformation , Bamberg 2018-01-11 - 2018-01-14
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2018) Religiøst liv og kirkelandskap i Nidaros før 1200. NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet NIDARK foredrag , Suhmhuset, Trondheim 2018-05-30 - 2018-05-30
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2018) Public penance and physical spaces as hotspots for the definition of the self. NIKU NFR The Construction of the Self in Social Spaces , Oslo 2018-06-20 - 2018-06-22

2017

Programme participation

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2017) "Portaler på liv og død" i NRK P2 "MUSEUM". NRK P2 NRK P2 [Radio] 2017-02-25
Interview

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2017) Kirker og klosters bruk i norsk middelalder. MUSEUM NRK P2 MUSEUM NRK P2 [Radio] 2017-04-01
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2017) Portalers bruk og symbolikk i sekulær og monastsik kontekst. Akasia arkitekter Seminar om restaurering av steinportaler , Stavanger domkirke og Utstein kloster 2017-02-14 - 2017-02-15
Programme participation

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2017) "Hellig Kring. Del II". P2 MUSEUM P2 MUSEUM [Radio] 2017-12-31
Programme participation

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2017) "Hellig Krig. Del I" NRK P2 Museum. NRK P2 NRK P2 [Radio] 2017-12-24
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2017) Religious Time needs Religious Place. NTNU, Nexus Nidaros Challenging 997. Church, Town, Saint. St Clement's Church and the Development of Trondheim 900-1150 , Trondheim 2017-11-30 - 2017-12-01
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2017) Processions in the Medieval Townscape: The Laypeople as Ritual Agents and Audience. NFR, NTNU Scecond Fiddels in Medieval Ritual , Trondheim 2017-11-22 - 2017-11-24
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2017) Making it Known to Man: Church Portals in the Liturgical and Legal Pratices of the North. University of Bamberg, Bamberg Mittlealterliche Portale als Orte der Transformation (BMBF), , January 2018 , Bamberg 2017-01-11 - 2017-01-15
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2017) Screens and Galleries in Norway 1130-1275. Humboldt Universität und Freie Universität Berlin IV. Forum Kunst des Mittelalters , Berlin und Brandenburg 2017-09-20 - 2017-09-24
Academic lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2017) Middelalderens kirkebygg. Aktuelle forskningstema. Riksantikvaren Middelalderkirkene. En flik av verden i det norske landskapet , Fagernes 2017-09-07 - 2017-09-08

2016

Lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2016) Revisiting stave church portal iconography - The case of Nesland III. Riksantikvaren TheCompletionof the StaveChurchProgramme– What havewe learnt? , Oslo 2016-06-14 - 2016-06-15
Programme participation

NRK, tv; Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2016) ANNO. [TV] 2016-08-28
Lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2016) Kongeinngangen: Hva vet vi nå?. Nidaros domkirkes restaureringsarbeider seminar , Trondheim 2016-12-15 - 2016-12-15

2015

Interview

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2015) "Skjønnhet verden rundt" https://www.klikk.no/kvinneguiden/mote/fotografen-har-tatt-bilder-av-kvinner-verden-rundt-2601757. klikk.no klikk.no [Internet] 2015-03-01
Lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2015) “Prophetic materiality: Rauðúlfs þáttr and metals as religious-political symbols”. UiO Matter and Materiality , Oslo 2015-12-03 - 2015-12-05
Popular scientific lecture

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2015) Fra vugge til grav. Kirkerommet i middelaldermenneskets liv. Stiklestad nasjonale kultursenter Stiklestadseminaret 2015 , Stiklestad 2015-11-15 - 2015-11-16
Interview

Andås, Margrete Syrstad. (2015) Fotografen har tatt bilder av kvinner verden rundt. http://www.klikk.no/kvinneguiden/mote/article1518780.ece http://www.klikk.no/kvinneguiden/mote/article1518780.ece [Internet] 2015-03-24

Språkvelger

Margrete Syrstad Andås