In the early 12th-century, Norse settlers of Greenland established the first bishop seat on the island in the southern village of Garðar. There, a cathedral dedicated to Saint Nicholas, patron saint of sailors, was founded by Greenland’s first bishop Arnaldur in 1126. The church was composed of red sandstone and is the only known cruciform religious building in Greenland. The original structure was expanded in the following decades to include a bell tower and two chapels. During the 13th and 14th-centuries, the town of Garðar was a thriving farming village thanks to…
