A greeting from
Knut Snorre Sandnes
Mayor of Verdal municipality
Welcome to Verdal and historic Stiklestad
For almost 71 years, Olav Gullvåg's text and Paul Okkenhaug's music have evoked the events that took place at Stiklestad just over 1000 years ago...
Heidi Anett Øvergård Beistad
Director Museums Arven
Welcome to the Game about Saint Olav
Then it's here again, the most beautiful time of the year: it's Olsok in Stiklestad and ready for the "Game of Saint Olav"! ...
Nina Wester
artistic leader
My task as artistic director is to develop the Play about Saint Olav towards the National Jubilee in 2030...
Historical backdrop
THE VIKING KING
Olav Haraldsson became king of Norway in 1015. His biggest project was the Christianization of the country and the establishment of a kingdom. The concentration of power combined with occasionally brutal progress meant that several nobles allied themselves with the Danish king and drove Olav from the country in 1028. During an attempt to win the kingdom back, Olav was killed in the battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030.
THE SAINT KING
After the battle, according to tradition, Olav's body was moved to Nidaros/Trondheim and buried at Nidelva. After a short time, stories of miracles spread, and it was decided to open the tomb. With the king's consent and the entire people's judgment, Olav was declared a saint by Bishop Grimkjell during a ceremony in August 1031. From then on, we no longer speak of Olav Haraldsson, but of Saint Olav.
NORWAY'S ETERNAL KING AND COAT OF ARMS
During the Middle Ages, Olav the Holy became the foremost symbol of both royal power and the church in Norway. At the end of the 1100th century, the term Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae was established, Norway's eternal king. The martyr's ax with which Olav was killed entered as a motif in the Norwegian national coat of arms in the 1200th century and has been there ever since.
PILGRIMAGE
Eventually, the burial church of the king in Trondheim and probably also Stiklestad, became important pilgrimage destinations. Olaf the Holy was, and is, a saint both in the Papal Church and in the Orthodox Church. Although most of the pilgrims were from Scandinavia, many also came from further afield.
OLAF'S CHURCHES AND OLAF'S ART
We know of more than 300 churches and monasteries in Northern Europe that were dedicated to Olav the Saint in the Middle Ages. The first were erected in England only a few decades after the battle. In the same way, Olav's art in the form of paintings, sculptures and pilgrim marks was spread over large parts of Europe. Perhaps the most exotic example is a painting on a pillar in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, dated to around 1160. Olav's churches and Olav's art do not belong only in the Middle Ages, however - new churches are still being built and new paintings are painted.
Played at Stiklestad Amphitheater
DURATION
about. 2 hours without a break
Performances in 2025:
Friday. 25 July at 19.00
Saturday. 26 July at 19.00
Sunday. 27 July at 19.00
Tuesday. 29 July at 19.00
NB! Dogs are not allowed in the amphitheater during performances.
PRICE LIST
The amphitheater has 4 price categories and has
seats for around 5.000 spectators.
read more about
the family ticket for
2 adults and 2 children here.
OFFER BUY 5 PAY FOR 4
If you buy tickets to 5 different events, you get the cheapest one free. NB! Can only be purchased at reception
This applies to the Olsok program, Viking summer and the Play about Saint Olav.
Groups over 15
Ordered online or
feel free to get in touch
tel. 74 04 42 00 / stiklestad@snk.no
Parts of fields A and B are adapted for wheelchair users.
Contact to order on tel. 74 04 42 00
or e-mail stiklestad@snk.no.
The action in the Game about Saint Olav
On the mountain farm Sul, near Stiklestad, lives a peaceful farming family. They end up at the center of powerful events in a dispute about power over country and kingdom.
The characters in the game
Who was Tormod Kolbrunarskald really? Get a quick introduction to the characters in the Game of Saint Olav. Their names and who they are, were they real or made up?
The history of the game
Who was the author Olav Gullvåg? Or the composer Paul Okkenhaug? And where did the idea for Sheriff Jon Suul come from?
The play about Saint Olav: Storytelling, theatre, tradition and innovation - experience and commitment! Welcome to Stiklestad!
The game develops from year to year and has a magical hold on its audience. To date, over 900 people have seen the performance about Olav Haraldsson's fall at Stiklestad, which is performed at the Nordic region's largest and oldest open-air theatre. There have been games at Stiklestad since 000.
About 700 people are involved in and around the performance. Professional actors are on stage alongside amateurs. The orchestra is also composed of professionals and amateurs. Other actors are choirs, extras and a large volunteer apparatus. "The play about Saint Olav" is performed at the actual battle site, Stiklestad, where Olav Haraldsson fell in 1030. It takes place in an environment and with a setting that only nature, history and skilled actors can create.
Artistic layer
Stage Manager:
Ingrid Fortune
Amateur actors
Helga
Johanna Hermann Selseth
Find Arneson
Tore Haugmark
Thor Foleson
Foreigner Magnus Haga
Bishop Grimkjel
Bård Eriksson
Chief
Robert Hermann
Chief
Lars Daniel Hjelde
Gaucator
Espen Eriksen
Korpabjörn
Fredrik Johansen Haugen
VOLUNTEERS
A large team of approximately 570 volunteers takes care of both the practical tasks and stage performances required to organize the Play of St. Olav and the Olsokdagene in Stiklestad. They organize, among other things, parking, ticket sales, assigning seats in the amphitheater and keeping the stage in order. Volunteers also take care of props, costumes, make-up and parts of the advertising work. It is estimated that the volunteer effort in the Play amounts to almost 11 man-years! The volunteers during the Play of St. Olav won the 2013 Volunteer Award. The Play Committee coordinates and leads the volunteer work related to the preparations and implementation of the play.
AMATEUR ACTORS
Amateur actors, dancers and extras have important roles in the play. It is a great inspiration for amateurs to play alongside professionals, and the combination of amateurs and professionals on the same team creates energy and enthusiasm in both parties. Amateur actors, dancers, farm workers and priests come from Verdal Theatre Group. Soldiers come from the Norwegian Soldiers' Association of July 29, 1995. Riders come from Stall Volhaugen in Verdal.
Horses
Freya
Lukas
Trult
Blanke
Plugs
Lin
The horses are from Stall Volhaugen
THE STIKLETAD PRIZE
Verdal municipality awards the Stiklestad prize every two years.
STATUTES
"The prize is to be awarded to a creative or performing artist, for an artistic effort that has a connection with Stiklestad and/or the ideas and tradition that has a connection with Olsok. The prize can also be awarded to a Norwegian scientist or popular historian for a historical or popular historical work , which has brought to life events in Norwegian history connected to Stiklestad and Olsok."
The Stiklestad Prize 2024 was awarded to TURID HOFSTAD
Read the story here
PREVIOUSLY AWARDED THE STIKLESTAD PRIZE
| 1971 Gisle Straume 1973 Paul Okkenhaug 1975 Trygve Nøvre 1977 Einar Krokstad 1977 Olaug Helberg 1980 Arne Aas 1982 Sidsel Ryen 1984 Øyvind Øyen 1986 Thorbjørn Lindhjem 1988 Otto Homlung 1990 Torbjørn Fossum 1992 Ståle Bjørnhaug 1994 Vera Henriksen |
1996 Arnulf Haga 1998 Nils Ole Oftebro 2000 Erik Hivju 2002 Hildegun Eggen 2004 Ole Kristian Ruud 2006 Eir Inderhaug 2008 Arne Fagerholt 2010 Else Lund and Anne Guri Sende 2012 Lars Roar Langslet 2014 Karsten Alnæs 2016 Håkon Gullvåg 2018 Anne Grosvold 2022 Nils Norman Iversen 2024 Turid Hofstad |
Subject to errors.
Register to Ingvill.norum@museenearven.no