The bishop’s palace complex – Trap The Faroe Islands

© Styrelsen for Dataforsyning og Infrastruktur

In addition to the churches, the bishop’s palace complex was the most central building in Kirkjubøur in the Middle Ages. Part of the complex is now used as a museum of cultural history. ÓLAVUR FREDERIKSEN, 2008

Faroese-Danish-Norwegian archaeological excavations in the years 1953‑55 have helped provide an overview of the building history and layout of the bishop’s palace complex.

The foundations under the current buildings are thick masonry basement walls, which are remains of the medieval bishop’s palace. The palace has been an 2,500 m² closed structure, which mainly consisted of two parallel wings located on either side of a 16 m wide stone-lined or paved courtyard. The east wing has probably formed a two-storey bishop’s residence built of stone. During the Middle Ages, this was rearranged in connection with the construction of the new cathedral. The rooms in the basement were oriented towards the courtyard. In the Middle Ages, the basement walls probably already supported a 45 m long and 7 m wide timber upper floor, which also included outbuildings. The courtyard was enclosed by stone walls to the south. At a later stage, a wing was added to the south in extension of the west wing down the west side of the cemetery.

Kirkjubøur’s old white-painted parish church from the Middle Ages is protected from the sea by walls. Above the parish church is the old King’s yeoman’s farm, which was built on the old episcopal residence. The ruins of the Magnus Cathedral can be seen on the far right. ÓLAVUR FREDERIKSEN, 2019

Like other church property, the buildings of the bishop’s palace, were taken over by the crown in connection with the Reformation and have since been a royal copyhold farm. Unlike other buildings in the Faroe Islands, the buildings are not stave structures, but dovetail log structures. The oldest part of the structure dates back to before 1350.

Further reading