Gol Stave Church
Now at Norwegian Museum of Cultural History, Oslo
1212 (811 years ago)
What is a Stave Church?
A very basic description of a stave church is that is a wooden Christian church built in the middle ages (500 - 1500) in Northern Europe.
A stave is a post and these churches were made of posts that held up the building.
It is thought that at one time that there were thousands of Stave churches. They are built of wood and burn easily. There are 31 original Stave churches and 28 of them are in Norway. There are three outside Norway in Poland, Sweden and England.
The one that we saw is the Gol Stave church. It was not in Gol it is now in Oslo. It was moved in 1884 to King Oscar's Open Air Museum in Oslo which is now the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History.
Where is Gol?
Below is a map of the train route we took from Bergen to Oslo. We passed through Gol. The original Gol Stave Church was moved to Oslo in the 1880s and in the 1980s a replica was made in Gol. Very similar to the Norwegian Folk Museum Gol has the replica of the Stave church and other farm buildings in their own open air museum.
Who built Stave Churches?
When the people the people of Northern Europe, particularly Norway, Sweden, Demark, Iceland, Germany and England embraced Christianity they started building these Stave Churches.
Why did people build Stave Churches?
They built churches to worship God.
Below are pictures of the inside with the Christian art and icons.
The Last Supper
Rick Steve's has a very interesting answer to this question.
The end of the Viking age with its pagan Norse gods is marked by the coming of Christianity to Norway in the 12th century. Those medieval Norwegians, now tamed, took their boat-building skills and rather than sleek ships to raid in, they built fine wooden churches to pray in.
He believes that with the coming of Christianity to the Nordic people they started building churches instead of ships, It is really cool to see how these churches resemble Viking ships.
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How were Stave Churches built?
According to Wikepedia,
Logs were split in two halves, set or rammed into the earth (generally called post in ground construction) and given a roof. This proved a simple but very strong form of construction. If set in gravel, the wall could last many decades, even centuries.
You can see in the pictures below the post construction in all the different parts of the church.
The parts of Europe where the Stave Churches were built were in heavily forested area. Wood was a plentiful resources and was used to make these churches. To help with the fires the wood was coated with tar. Remarkably 31 of these churches built in 1100-1200 have survived.
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When were Stave Churches built?
Stave churches were built in the middle ages, 500-1500. The ones that remain were built in 1100-1200. That is incredible! 800-900 years ago!
One of the things I especially liked are the carvings around the church. The light was great so I got a picture of @jarvie next to the carving.
It was really special to see and walk around a church so old and full of history and culture.
Sources:
Stave Church
Gol Stave Church
Norsk Folkemuseum History
Gol, Norway
Rick Steve's- Norway’s Viking History, Stave Churches, and Remote Farmsteads
