Uvdal Stave Church

In the 1650s, flat ceilings were installed in both the nave and chancel. In 1656, the entire church was decorated for the first time. Renaissance-style arcades were painted along the lower walls, while scrolling foliage adorned the ceiling. In 1684, the chancel was widened to its present dimensions. The painting of the Fall of Adam and Eve in the chancel may date from the same time. During the 1720s and 1730s, the church was remodelled into a cruciform building. The surrounding covered gallery was removed, and a new roof turret and entrance porch were added. The new wall surfaces were decorated by the “Blue Painter.” The pulpit paintings, added in the 1770s, depict the four Evangelists, some with incorrect or misinterpreted symbols. The entrance portal is now sheltered by the porch. Its carvings depict scenes from the Völsunga saga, including Gunnar in the snake pit, playing a harp with his feet while his hands are bound behind his back, trying to lull the snakes to sleep. The porch also houses a portal that originally stood inside the church between the nave and chancel. The first two windows were installed in 1620. Pews for the congregation were not added until 1624. It is unclear when the church acquired its pulpit and altarpiece. The altarpiece, a painting of the Last Supper, was created by a local artist, modelled on the altarpiece in Lyngdal Church. The crucifix on the chancel beam was probably carved by a local craftsman in the fourteenth century. A bronze and enamel crucifix, approximately 30 centimetres tall, was also once kept in the church. It was made in Limoges, France, in the thirteenth century. The hourglass-shaped wooden baptismal font is carved from a single piece of wood. A chandelier of medieval type hangs in the nave. A plank on the left side of the western gallery may be a remnant of a rood loft—a gallery that may once have stood above the original chancel arch.