Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock)

A flat-topped cliff jutting 604 m above the Lysefjord, one of Norway's most famous hikes.

Standing on the edge and looking down at the deep blue fjord far below is one of the most famous views in Norway, and travel guides have named it among the world's most spectacular viewpoints. More than 300,000 people hike to the top every year, making it one of Norway's most visited natural attractions. The city of Stavanger is only about 25 kilometres away.

How it formed

Preikestolen was shaped about 10,000 years ago, near the end of the last ice age, when the edge of a huge glacier reached the cliff. Meltwater seeped into cracks in the rock and froze. Because water expands when it turns to ice, it pried off big angular blocks of stone, and the moving glacier carried them away. That is why the plateau has such straight edges and sharp corners. A deep crack still runs across the top. Geologists say the rock will fall one day, but their studies show this will not happen any time soon, and the plateau is safe.

Visiting today

There is no road to the top, so you have to walk. The usual trail starts at a car park about 270 metres above sea level and climbs about 3.8 kilometres each way, up ridges and across rocky ground, which takes about four hours there and back. In 2013 a team of Sherpas from Nepal began rebuilding the steepest parts with stone steps. There is no fence at the edge: Norwegian authorities decided railings would spoil the place, and accidents are extremely rare. You can also see the cliff from below on a boat trip along the Lysefjord.

History of the name

Local people once called the rock Hyvlatånnå, meaning "the plane's blade", after the tool carpenters use to shave wood, and sailors on the fjord used it as a landmark. Around 1900 a ship's captain on the Lysefjord pointed up at it and said it looked just like a pulpit. A local tourist group then gave it the name Prekestolen to attract hikers, and the spelling later became Preikestolen to match the local form of Norwegian. In 1949 a trekking association built a cabin near the start of the trail.

On the globe

The model shows the flat-topped cliff jutting out 604 metres above the Lysefjord in Norway. Look for the square, flat top that hikers stand on to look down at the fjord.