St. Clement's Church

St. Clement's Church (Clemenskirken) was one of the medieval Catholic parish churches of Oslo. Its ruins are now exposed as part of Middelalderparken (the Medieval Park) in Gamlebyen, south of the ruins of the royal estate Oslo Kongsgård and St. Hallvard's Cathedral; the church stood between the former Klemetsallmenningen and Østre strede. It was dedicated to St Clement, a 1st-century pope who was martyred by drowning with an anchor tied around his neck and so became a patron saint of seafarers. The church fell out of use after the Reformation and was probably demolished by 1540.

It was a stone church with a tower and one of the very few churches known to have had a double-nave plan, with entrances to the south and west and a row of three pillars down the middle supporting the roof. The ruins were first excavated by the architect Gerhard Fischer in 1921. In 1970–71 the archaeologist Ole Egil Eide found 81 burials older than the stone church beneath it, and concluded that at least two earlier churches, presumably stave churches, stood on the site before the stone church was built around 1100. The oldest graves, dated to about 980–1030, are among the oldest Christian burials found in Norway.