Norwegian Church

The Norwegian Church Arts Centre stands beside Cardiff Bay, its white walls and iron roof recalling the days when Scandinavian sailors called this place home. Built in 1868 for the Norwegian Seamen’s Mission, it served crews from the world’s third-largest merchant fleet. The building was clad in iron so it could be moved if docks changed, yet it stayed and grew with reading rooms, a gallery and a bell-tower. The church’s walls remember over 73,000 visits a year before the First World War and the wartime shelter it gave Norwegian sailors when Norway was occupied. Roald Dahl was baptised here and later campaigned to save the building, becoming the first president of the preservation trust. Inside, the Dahl Gallery holds the silver bowl used for his christening and maritime gifts including an anchor and oars shaped like a cross. Today the church is an arts centre with a café and gallery, its Grieg Room filled with local exhibitions. Princess Märtha Louise of Norway reopened it in 1992 after it was rebuilt a short distance from its original dockside site. Outside, the terrace looks across the water where the East and West Docks once buzzed with Norwegian ships.