Stave churches / stavkirkene
Stave churches were made with a lot of similarities
to the Viking tradition in both construction and decoration.
We could say they are a legacy of the Vikings in Norway.
Stave churches were once common in northern Europe, and in Norway alone,
between 1000 and 2000 were built.
It is unknown how many stave churches were constructed in Iceland and in other countries in Europe as a total. A more probable number for Norway alone is 1200.
In Norway, stave churches were not replaced as quickly as in other countries, and
many survived until the 19th century, when most of them were destroyed.
Today, 28 historical stave churches remain standing in Norway.
The typical Norwegian stave church was built in the years between 1150 and 1350. Thereafter the Black death killed about half the population in Norway, making the churches suffer in many ways.
A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building. The name derives
from the buildings’ structure of post and lintel construction. This is a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts are called ”stafr” in Old Norse
(”stav” in modern Norwegian).
Stavkirkene er omtrent 1000 år gamle og ble bygget ved hjelp av konstruksjons-teknikker utviklet av vikingene før kristen tid i Norge.
Bruken av utskåret tre sammen med en kompleks byggestil gjør disse bygningene arkitektonisk unike. En av stavkirkene er på unesco sin verdensarvliste. Kirkene ble bygget i middelalderen hvor verktøy var begrensende for uttrykk og teknikk. Dette gjør de spesielle og verd å besøke.
