Drontheim (Danish, Throndhjem; locally, Drontjem). I. A province (diocese) of Norway, bordering on Sweden and the North sea; area, 19,550 sq.m.; pop. in 1865, 256,529. It is mountainous, and much of it well wooded. The coasts are indented by numerous bays, the most important of which is the Drontheim fiord, running 60 m. inland in an E. and N. E. direction, but describing with its windings a curve of 90 m.; and the surface is dotted over with lakes. The inhabitants are engaged chiefly in fishing, cattle raising, iron mining, and to some extent in agriculture. Fruit, hops, flax, and hemp are the principal crops; but little grain is raised. II. A town, the capital of the province, and the third of the cities of Norway in importance and population, in lat. 63° 25' N., and Ion. 10° 23' E., on a small gulf near the outlet of the river Nid, by which river and the sea it is almost entirely surrounded, 233 m. N. of Christiania; pop. in 1870, 20,858. The most interesting edifice is the cathedral of St. Olaf, founded in the 11th century; the little of the original building that remains and forms part of the present cathedral is sufficient to show that it was a magnificent Gothic structure. The harbor is not deep, and is frequented only by small vessels.

Its trade consists chiefly in exports of masts, copper and iron, goat skins, and dried and salted fish. It has a public library, a museum, and a society of arts and sciences, founded in 1760. On a rock in the midst of the harbor is the fortress of Munkholm, anciently an abbey, then a state prison, and now the chief fortification of the city on the sea side. On the land side Drontheim is commanded by a succession of picturesque heights. It was founded in 997, and for a long time was the residence of the kings of Norway, who were consecrated and crowned in its cathedral; and the kings of Sweden are still crowned there as kings of Norway. As it was formerly built only of wood, it has been several times almost entirely destroyed by fire.

Cathedral of Drontheim.

Cathedral of Drontheim.