A 12th-c church constructed of wooden staves in Urnes, Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The church, considered to be the finest of its kind, is a world heritage monument.
Urnes stave church (Urnes stavkyrkje) is a stave church at the Ornes farm, near Lustrafjorden in Luster municipality, Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway.
In 1979 the Urnes stave church was listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO, where it joins such other famous locations as the Great Pyramid of Giza and Stonehenge.
History
The church was built around 1130 or shortly thereafter, and still stands in its original location.
The church is believed to be the oldest of its kind.
Archaeological investigations have discovered the remains of one, or possibly two, churches on the site prior to the current building. The excavations uncovered holes in the ground from earth-bound posts which had belonged to an early post church, a type of church with walls supported by short sills inserted between free-standing posts. It is not known if this church had a raised roof above the central space of the nave like the present church. The earliest possible dating of this church is the early 11th century.
The portal and other details of the north wall of the present church, as well as the wall planks of the gables, are decorated in classic Urnes-style.
Iconography
There have been several attempts to interpret the decoration (iconography) of the old portal in the northern wall.
The present building
The church is built with a rectangular nave and a narrower choir. During the 20th century the church underwent a restoration, and the richly decorated wall planks were covered to stop further deterioration. ground beams (grunnstokker), sills (sviller), corner posts (hjørnestolper), wall planks (veggtiler) and aisle wall plates (stavlægjer).
From the previous church on the site remain, in addition to the portal, two wall planks in the northern wall, the corner post of the choir, the western gable of the nave and the eastern gable of the choir.
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