The building dates from the early 1830s, and illustrates how new ideas about prisons had come to Norway. At the end of the 19th century the interior was rebuilt as the country’s first asylum for the insane and dangerous. Today the building is protected and holds the National Museum of Justice.

The slavery by the watch at Skansen in Trondhjem
Johan S. Helberg, former Director at The Norwegian National Museum of Justice

The building dates from the early 1830s, and illustrates how new ideas about prisons had come to Norway. At the end of the 19th century the interior was rebuilt as the country’s first asylum for the insane and dangerous. Today the building is protected and holds the National Museum of Justice.

The city gate once lay where the river Nidelven almost reaches the fjord before meandering back inland, creating the peninsula on which the town center still lies. This was the logical place to build defensive structures, as well as one of the city’s military watches. The other watch lay by the ferry port north of the city center. When the military began overseeing prisons in the 17th century both watches got their own slavery.

The job was given to architect Ole Petter Riis Høegh. It has been pointed out that Høegh did not have a military background, which was unusual for a military facility. One reason for this might be that Trondhjem was a city with long traditions in the care for the weaker groups in society, having a range of institutions devoted to them.

For the last twenty years the slavery had been part of the workhouse. It is reasonable to assume that those responsible for the city’s social institutions were aware of the new ideas about prison conditions, and therefore wanted a slavery that adhered to these principles and not the principles of traditional military architecture. There were close ties to England, which was considered a pioneering country within crime-prevention through the use of prison architecture.

Judas Eyes
The building’s blueprints show a clear influence from the panoptic prison system. In the middle of the building there is an oval room, with two entrances on either end of the oval, both going out through a small hall out the long sides of the building.

Originally, there was one large room in each corner of the building, all four having one corner towards the oval room. These were the slaves living quarters, and they could be observed through the holes, or Judas eyes, through the walls of the oval room. This structure is repeated on the two floors above. The floor in the oval room, at least on the ground floor, was originally raised to make observation easier. At the ends of the building in each of the large rooms was a smaller, outer room that served as a privy for the slaves. The hatches were rediscovered in 2005 when the building was stripped down.

The building is constructed in the empire-style with a half-hipped roof. The facades are symmetrical, with a small yet pronounced square frame around the entrances, reaching up to the bottom of the first floor windows. The roof has red tiles and the building is done in brick with whitewashed plaster. In spite of this the general consensus is that the building is somewhat gloomy. It was completed in 1833, but it was not until 1835 that the first floor was made use of, and then the second floor two years after that.

In 1842 a new criminal law made the workhouse responsible for criminals as well. The Slavery was still open as late as 1879, when the employees were again moved to the workhouse’s buildings. Perhaps the Slavery stayed open so long because it was a prison building after modern principles? Despite being a part of the military facilities at the Skansen watch, the Slavery was incorporated into the workhouse in 1879. The Slavery was then used as ward B, first as part of the women’s prison and then as part of the men’s prison, until 1888.

The Criminal Asylum
For the next few years the building stood empty as reserve-space until 1895 when it was opened as the nation’s first asylum for the dangerous, criminally insane. The year before the Storting had granted funds for the rebuilding of the ground floor. The eastern part was rebuilt to have two parallel corridors down the middle with cells along the outer walls.

Each cell was heated by its own oven, placed inside the cell, but lit through a hatch in the corridor. The whole oven and chimney was covered by a half-cone shaped metal cape, keeping the inmates from hurting themselves, and from getting hold of parts to create weapons with. The metal cape had many small holes in the top part to let out hot air. The system is identical with what is found at Rotvoll insane asylum outside of Trondheim, built in 1872.

After the rebuilding there was room for 16 patients. In 1900 the first floor was rebuilt in the same manner. The building was in use as the country’s criminal asylum until the patients were transferred to Reitgjerdet outside of Trondheim in 1961. With this transfer these types of patients were turned over to the healthcare sector.

The prison sector repurposed the building for short sentences like drunk driving. It was not ideal for this type of incarceration, and it was eventually used for storage. During the 1980s heating and maintenance ceased completely, despite having been a protected building for some time. Interested parties in Trondheim wanted this to change, and in 1990-92 a considerable amount was arranged and the building leased to Trondheim Police. They used it as office space, and from 1997 also as their police museum.

In 2003 the building was taken over by The National Museum of Justice. It now serves as the museum’s office and exhibition space, as well as being a jewel in the museum’s collection.

First published in the magazine Fortidsvern.