Granavollen has been a gathering place for as long as anyone can remember. Burial mounds, rune stones and written sources all point to this hilltop as a centre of religious and political power, from pre-Christian times right through the Middle Ages. It is one of the most historically layered sites in inland Norway.
The centrepiece is the Søsterkirkene, the Sister Churches: two 12th-century stone churches standing side by side. The larger Nikolaikirken (St. Nicholas Church) is a basilica with solid Romanesque columns, built between 1150 and 1200, probably serving as the main church for the wider Hadeland district. The smaller Mariakirken (St. Mary Church) is a single-nave church built before 1150, possibly a monastic church or the local parish church for Gran.
Local legend says the churches were built by two sisters who had quarrelled so bitterly that they refused to worship under the same roof. The story is folklore, but it has stuck. The two church towers appear on Gran municipality's coat of arms. Granavollen is also a stop on the medieval pilgrimage route from Oslo to Nidaros (Trondheim), and the historic Granavolden Gjæstgiveri inn has been welcoming travellers here since the 1700s.
In January 2019, Granavollen made national headlines again when Prime Minister Erna Solberg chose the inn as the venue for signing the Granavolden-plattformen, the coalition agreement that united four parties: Høyre, Fremskrittspartiet, Venstre and Kristelig Folkeparti. It was the first four-party majority coalition on the centre-right since the 1960s. The choice of this historic site was deliberate: a place where people have gathered to settle differences for over a thousand years.
The centrepiece is the Søsterkirkene, the Sister Churches: two 12th-century stone churches standing side by side. The larger Nikolaikirken (St. Nicholas Church) is a basilica with solid Romanesque columns, built between 1150 and 1200, probably serving as the main church for the wider Hadeland district. The smaller Mariakirken (St. Mary Church) is a single-nave church built before 1150, possibly a monastic church or the local parish church for Gran.
Local legend says the churches were built by two sisters who had quarrelled so bitterly that they refused to worship under the same roof. The story is folklore, but it has stuck. The two church towers appear on Gran municipality's coat of arms. Granavollen is also a stop on the medieval pilgrimage route from Oslo to Nidaros (Trondheim), and the historic Granavolden Gjæstgiveri inn has been welcoming travellers here since the 1700s.
In January 2019, Granavollen made national headlines again when Prime Minister Erna Solberg chose the inn as the venue for signing the Granavolden-plattformen, the coalition agreement that united four parties: Høyre, Fremskrittspartiet, Venstre and Kristelig Folkeparti. It was the first four-party majority coalition on the centre-right since the 1960s. The choice of this historic site was deliberate: a place where people have gathered to settle differences for over a thousand years.