Hedalen Stave Church
Photo: Arne Perlestensbakken
Hedalen Stave Church dates back to approximately 1150-1200. Today the church is shaped as a cross, but since the Middle Ages a serious amount of this is expansion. It is in fact only the left arm of the cross that is original. The chancel was demolished in 1699. The high-spirited rooftop dates back to 1740, and in 1902 the chancel was extended and the roof was covered in slate. The church has an astonishing medieval gate with beautiful details such as animal heads and small dragons.
The church room is modestly furnished with open church benches from around 1900 and walls without any paint. The church has an abundance of church art from the Middle Ages. The altar-piece consists of a medieval crucifix attached to a sanctuary. In 1766, the rose-painter Hovel Gaarder re-painted the crucifix and gave the cabinet flowers in Baroque style. Originally it was the Madonna Sculpture on the north side of the corridor that had its place in this cabinet. On the south wall there is a church model that originally crowned the sanctuary.
On a shelf in the chancel stands a relic of the mid-1200s. It has the shape of a church and is made of gilded copper cans attached to wooden slabs, and with imagery sculptured on all sides. The font is made of soapstone with carved wooden lid from the Middle Ages. In the choir there are also remains of a crucifix and a osculatorium (Pax plate) from the 13th century. In the church there are also a number of paintings from the 1600s and 1700s. It is also preserved a bearskin from the 13th century framed in the church.
Opening Hours 2024
1st of July – 11th of August
The church is open from 11:00 to 17:00 every monday, thursday, friday, saturday and sunday of the term.
Prices
Adults: NOK. 100,-
Children: NOK. 50,-
Families: (2 Adults 2 Children): NOK. 250,-
Groups: (10 or more) (price pr.pers): NOK. 75,-
Contact
Church guardian
41674669
post.sor-aurdal@kirken.no
Church servant
97749013
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Haltdalen Stave Church
Photo: Håvard Christiansen, Riksantikvaren
Haltdalen Stave Church is a small, single nave church. It has a narrow, rectangular nave and a narrower rectangular choir. This church is the only historical stave church remain standing in Trøndelag county. Today the church can be visited at Sverresborg Trøndelag folk museum in Trondheim.
The bearing structure consists of four heavy sill beams at the bottom and four at the top interconnected to corner posts (stavene in Norwegian). The bottom sills have a trapezoidal cross-section, while the top sills are rectangular. The walls between the corner posts and the top and bottom sill beams are filled in with vertical wall planks. Every part is interlocked into position by other pieces creating a very rigid construction.
Both nave and choir have sharp gabled roofs. Inside, the roof construction is visible, showing the quadrant brackets. Previously the church had outer ambulatories around all the external walls. Various traces in the external corner posts show evidence of this construction. The nave used to have two portals, one to the west and one to the south. The choir used to have a portal to the south.
Dendrochronology of the existing growth rings in some parts of the church show that the trees were cut between 1163 and 1170. However, since a full sample to the edge of the tree is not preserved, a more precise dating of the church cannot be determined.
Within the building there are several, original symbols carved into the walls of the church, consisting of an equilateral cross inside a circle. Probably there were 12 of these consecration crosses placed inside the church. Not all of these symbols are preserved. In 1604 the interior walls were painted with arabesques and an inscription. The inscription in the choir has previously been interpreted as: “… of the VI capitel Lucæ and about King Herod, by which he let b(ehad Jo)hannes baptista for his daughter’s dance in st. Matthew XIIII Capitel Anno 1604-on …”.
Haltdalen Stave Church has been disassembled, assembled, altered, repaired and relocated several times. Historical records describe the disassembly and relocation of the church in 1704. While being rebuild again the church was enlarged and a new and bigger nave was added. Hence the former nave became choir and the choir became sacristy. In 1883, the church was disassembled again and relocated to Trondheim. Since the western wall didn’t survive the previous extension, building parts and the portal from the demolished, old Ålen stave church were used.
In 1937, the stave church once again was disassembled and now relocated to Sverresborg Trøndelag folk museum. After the outbreak of World War II in 1940, the stave church was taken down in order to protect and keep it safely stored away.
In 1949, the church was assembled for the last time at the location where it is still standing today. In 2015, Haltdalen Stave Church was restored by the National Directorate of Cultural Heritage’s as a part of the stave church programme.
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Grip Stave Church
Photo: Per Arvid Åsen
In the middle of this island on the northwest coast of Norway, protected by houses and on the island’s highest point, you will find this little red stave church, standing as it has stood since approximately year 1300. It has ever since been a meeting point in both happy times and in sad times.
The altarpiece was donated by the princess Elisabeth of the Netherlands in gratitude for her rescue at sea by Norwegian sailors during a violent storm in 1515. The wall paintings date back to approximately 1620.
Kontakt
Churchwarden
71 57 51 90
kirkevergen@kristiansund.kirken.no
Gripruta.no
+47 92 60 80 45
otonder@online.no
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Gol Stave Church
Photo: Dagfinn Rasmussen
The Stave Church from Gol is one of the main attractions at Norwegian Museum of Cultural History (Norsk Folkemuseum) in Oslo.
The old church in Gol, from approximately 1200, was due for replacement by a new church around 1880. The Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments (Fortidsminneforeningen) bought the church and presented it to King Oscar II. The King paid for its re-erection at Bygdøy in 1884. In line with the general enthusiasm for the Middle Ages, the stave church from Gol was restored to its supposed original look from the 1200s. The inspiration for the missing medieval building parts was drawn from Borgund Stave Church.
The lofty west and south portals are richly carved with entwined dragon and plant motifs. The west portal is original, while the south portal is a copy from 1884. In the dim light filtering in through the peepholes far above in the sidewalls carved heads can be glimpsed uppermost on the staves.
In the Catholic times, the church was most likely decorated with colorful painted saints. There are numerous runic inscriptions and carvings dated to the early Middle Ages in the church. Most of the carvings are in the chancel and show animal figures, humans and geometric symbols. The runes on one of the staves in the nave can be read as “Kiss me, because I am struggle”, and may refer to a saint’s figure once hung on the stave.
After the Reformation in 1537, fixtures from the Catholic period were gradually removed and replaced. The galleries and pulpits usually found in post-Reformation church interiors were added to the church interior, but was not included in the rebuilding.
A few examples of Lutheran church art, namely the wall paintings in the chancel and apse from 1652, have been preserved. The paintings were originally financed by the members of the congregation whose names are written on the wall of the chancel.
Opening Hours
Norsk Folkemuseum
22 12 37 00
post@norskfolkemuseum.no
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Garmo Stave Church
Photo: Dagfinn Rasmussen
Garmo Stave Church is at the top of the hill near the entrance to the open air museum. It is the most striking building at the museum with its pointed tower with dragon heads on the ridges of the roof gazing out to the horizon.
The church was built early in the 1200s, but has been extended several times, most recently in 1730. This is when it was given the current characteristic cross shape. The church stood originally at Garmo in Lom. It was pulled down in 1880, but the materials were kept and the church was reconstructed at Maihaugen in 1921.
It is placed here as the parish church of the village, and shows what a church looked like in Gudbrandsdalen in the 1700s. It carries history from the middle ages up to the present day. The altarpiece and the pulpit are parts of the church’s fittings that carry a message to the congregation through their motifs and symbols.
This is where the children of the village were baptised and the font still stands in the chancel of the church today. On an August day in 1859, Nobel prize winner Knut Hamsun was christened there. The church was at the centre of festivities such as christenings and weddings, and this is where Christian life was maintained from one generation to the next by the church services.
The church was also the gathering place for the village, the only one before the arrival of shops and assembly rooms. This is where agreements were made, the meeting place of the young, and perhaps the fire of love was lit here.
The church is in use for services during the summer months and on a Saturday you might find a newly married couple here.
During the summer season you can meet the church guide, who can give you the history of the church.
Visit Maihaugen Friluftsmuseum for updated information about opening hours, prices and contact information.
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Flesberg Stave Church
Photo: Dagfinn Rasmussen
Flesberg Stave Church is dating back to approximately 1150-1200.
This church is famous for interior decorations. Church services are still held in the church in summer, and is also used as a concert venue.
Opening hours
Contact local church office.
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Contact info
solveig.endebberg@flesberg.kommune.no
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Eidsborg Stave Church
Photo: Harald Naper
This small stave church is located close to West Telemark Museum, location Eidsborg.
Take a guided journey through 800 years of history… Hear about the Stave Church and the changes in beliefs and conventions over this period.
Learn about the legend of the Holy St. Nicholas. The church was dedicated to St.Nicolaus (locally called Nikuls), and a statue of this saint was very central in a local culture that remained well into the 1700s.
The Eidsborg Stave Church is believed to be built between 1250 and 1270 and is one of the best preserved examples of 28 protected stave churches in Norway this is quite a contrast to the Middle Ages when there were more than 1000 stave churches in the country. This unique building form is seen as Norway’s contribution to world architecture.
The church was restored in 2005-2008 and is still in use. The stave church is of a kind that has the exterior covered entirely with chipping. There are many interesting details to this church, such as runes, carvings, and interior décor from the 1600s and a bell tower from 1727. In the summer months (June, July, August) there are guided tours to the church several times every day.
Out of season the museum can organize guided tours by pre-booking.
Opening hours
Vest-Telemark museum has tours at 11, 13 and 15 in the period 15.6 – 15.8 (with the reservation of ecclesiastical actions in
the church).
Contact info
Vest-Telemark Museum
35069090
booking@vtm.no
Kyrkjekontoret i Tokke
35075230
kyrkjekontoret@tokke.kommune.no
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Borgund Stave Church
Photo: Li og Li foto, Håkon Li
Built around 1180 and dedicated to the Apostle Andrew. The church is exceptionally well preserved and is the most distinctive stave church in Norway. Some of its finest features are the lavishly carved portals and the crosses and carvings of dragon’s heads on the roofs.
The entrance to the stave church is at the Visitor’s Centre opposite the stave church. In our Visitor Centre we offer an exhibition on the history of stave churches in Norway, a restaurant and souvenir shop.
The area surrounding Borgund Stave Church is rich in historic cultural heritage. Vindhellavegen, part of the Kings Road across Filefjell, is situated right by the church and offers beautiful walking possibilities. This renovated, historic path was awarded “Norway’s most beautiful road“ by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration in 2014. The Kings Road across Filefjell was one of the winners of the Europa Nostra Cultural Heritage Award in 2017. Borgund Stave Church is certified Environmental Lighthouse since 2010.
Borgund Stave Church was purchased in 1877 by the National Trust of Norway (Fortidsminneforeningen) thereby saving it from demolition.
Opening hours 2025
Daily: 9:30 AM – 17:00 PM
12th October 10:00-14:00
Closed on May 17th and 30th September
*Last group guiding at 16:45.
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