Urnes stave church

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Urnes stave church

Urnes (2001) Nina-no
General info
Year:	1132 Dendrochronological dating (?)
Changes:	17th century the nave was extended southwards 1665 wooden canopy above the altar 18th century windows added


Architecture
Period:	Romanesque
Architect:	Unknown
Construction:	Stave church
Material:	Wood, timber

Tower:	Above the nave
Portal:	Portal from an older church, referred to as the north portal, built into the northern wall
Quire:	Rectangular, narrower than the nave
Nave:	Raised central room surrounded by an aisle
Interior
Pulpit:	1693-95
Font:	1640
Altar:	Altarpiece from 1699 — Christ on the cross, with Virgin Mary and John the Baptist
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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.

It is owned by Fortidsminneforeningen (Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments). Masses are occasionally held in the church.

1 History
2 Iconography
3 The present building
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Drawing by I. C. Dahl

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. It provides a link between the construction methods of the Viking Age with typical animal-ornamentation, the so called "Urnes-style" of animal-art, and Christian architecture.

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. They are probably relics from one of the earlier churches. It has been speculated that the portal may origianally have been the main portal, facing west.

[edit] Iconography

Urnes stave church

There have been several attempts to interpret the decoration (iconography) of the old portal in the northern wall. The images are generally considered to represent a snake curling upwards. At the lower end there is an animal with four feet biting the snake. A common interpretation of this scene is that it portrays the eternal fight between good and evil. The animal is widely believed to be a stylised lion. In Christian iconography the lion is a symbol of Christ, fighting the evil symbolized by the snake, a common representation of Satan.

[edit] The present building

Pilgrim at a capital on top of a stave

The church is built with a rectangular nave and a narrower choir. The nave and choir both have raised central spaces. The choir was extended to the east in the 17th century, but this addition was later removed. The drawing by I. C. Dahl depicts this, as well as the deteriorated state of the church at that time. During the 20th century the church underwent a restoration, and the richly decorated wall planks were covered to stop further deterioration.

A large number of constructive members remain from the Middle Ages; ground beams (grunnstokker), sills (sviller), corner posts (hjørnestolper), wall planks (veggtiler) and aisle wall plates (stavlægjer). The construction of the raised central area with staves, strings and cross braces, and the roof itself, also date from medieval times.

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.