The Bengali Church Dedicated to the Viking King

St Olav's Church was built between 1755-1804, based on St Martins-in-the-Fields Church in London's Trafalgar Square

Its a gorgeous neoclassical structure, but what interests me most is it's patron saint.

Olav II Harraldsson was one of the last Viking Kings, responsible for converting much of the population to Christianity

He was born in Ringerike, Norway, and participated in the Viking raids on England, possibly destroying London Bridge

But his true calling was uniting Norway into one kingdom. To do so, he did what power-hungry kings often did. He used religion

Olav used the increasingly popular faith of Christianity to gain more power for the monarchy and centralise control in Norway. Later generations would see him as one of the driving forces behind Norway's conversion to Christianity.

In fact, Christianity seems to have been quite well established even before his reign, but the myths surrounding Olav Harraldsson would make him one of the most popular saints in Scandinavia

Thus, when the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway built a church for their new colony in Bengal, they chose to dedicate it to the great Viking king from centuries earlier

As far as I know, it's the only church in India dedicated to a Viking