Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-10-30
CHURCHES OF NORWAY.
OLD WOODEN ONES STANDING
AFTER SEVEN CENTURIES.

How the Ancient Pines of the Norther,
Lands Are Preserved in Sacred Eaifice.
Hundreds of Years of Age-Descriptions
of Some of the Buildings.
| The "Stavekirker," or ancient wooder
churches of Norway, are in their way al
| most unique among the ecclesiastical build
| ings of Europe. True, they have not the
historical interest which attaches to many
| other buildings, but yet l think they de
I serve more notice than has hitherto beer
| taken of them, both on account of theii
age and the curious and beautiful carving
to be found on them, and also that they
date from period when the men of the
north were still the terror of many Euro
pean coast.
1t is not little remarkable to find at the
present day wooden buildings from five to
seven hundred years old, consisting, in the
main perhaps, of the same timbers as those
| with which they had been originally con-
structed. Here and there, of course, they
have been renewed, but still there is much
| which we may regard as original, to attest
both the skill of the builders and the solid
ity and weather resisting powers of the
pine trees of medieval Norway, which for
so many centuries have withstood the fierce
frosts of an almost arctic winter, as well as
the scorching rays of the summer sun.
The endurance of the structure is due in
no small degree to the peculiar manner in
which the timbers were placed. That
method of building is called in Norway
reisvoerk, word derived from the verb at
reise Ito raise), and a reisvoerk building is
one in which the timbers are raised, or
placed perpendicularly, and not laid hori-
zontally, as in later work. "Stav" is of
course the same as our word staff, or stave,
and the term stavekirk is applied to
churches which are built by this ancient
method of reisvoerk.
THE MATERIAL
The material used in the construction of
these churches is invariably pine. Oak is
only found in the south of Norway, and
the beech in but one place, the famous
bogeskov, or beech wood, at Laurvik. If
one may judge from the massive beams to
be found in many of the stavekirke, the
ancient pine forests of Norway must have
supplied many trees like those tall pines
which Milton tells us were fit
to be the mast
OF some great admiral.
All the parts exposed to the weather
have been coated over and over again with
tar of dark red color, and this, added to
the age of the timber, gives to these
churches a rich, dark brown color which
forms very pleasing contrast indeed to
the white paint which is almost invariably
used to cover the outside, as well as fire.
quently the inside, of the modern Norwe-
gian country church.
The external appearance of most of these
stavekirke is quite unique; it reminds us
of an oriental building; roof rises above
roof like a pagoda, and quaint dragon
heads adorn the gables. These, in many
instances, resemble the prows of the an
Gent Viking ships. like the one found
buried in the earth near the seashore.
SOME OLD EDIFICES.
There are still a good many of them
scattered over Norway. They are not
found in the far north, where stone
churches are more numerous, and many of
them of considerable antiquity, but in the
more central parts they are still to be seen,
though the number is decidedly diminish
ing, but efforts are being made, not with
out success, to preserve those already
standing. The best known, but by no
means the most interesting, of these
churches are those at Hitterdal in the
Telemarken and Borgund in the Lerdal.
To these may now be added the specimens
of this kind of architecture which are pre-
served merely as curiosities, such as the
old church of Col in the Hallingdall, now
erected in the grounds of Oscars hall, a
small royal palace close to Christiania; or
the church to be seen in private gentle
mans grounds at Fantoft, near Bergen.
This latter has had rather curious his
tory. 1t is really the old parish church of
Forum, near Skiolden, at the head of the
Lyster Fjord (the innermost arm of the
great Sogne Fjord); but few years since
the inhabitants resolved to build new
church, and were about to sell this curious
and interesting relic of antiquity for old
timber, when some patriotic antiquarians
of Bergen stepped in, bought the church as
it stood and transported it bodily to Ber-
gen, to the place where it is now to be
seen.
The church at Borgund, though stand
ing in its original position, is still only
curiosity, not being used for divine service,
but being under the care of Norwegian
antiquarian society. The Hitterdal church
is perhaps the largest of the stavekirke,
but it has been almost restored" off the
face of the earth, the interior being quite
modern and but little of the original being
left.
THE CHURCH AT LON.
The more interesting churches of the
stavekirke type are to be found in the less
frequented districts, and are still used for
divine service Of these we may men
ton LON, in tie upper Gudbrandsdalen,
Urnas, on the Lyster Fjord, Eidsborg,
near Dalen, in Telemarken: Roldal, on the
Haukl Field, and few others. In many
ways the most interesting of these are the
first two named. q saying this do not
mean that the others are undressing
there ara many points Of great interest
about them.
LON for a stavekirke is large, though
not SO extensive as Hitterdal. 1t presents
the same curiously raised roofs, and is of
the dark red brown color usually met with
in these churches. 1t consists of nave,
transept and chancel. At the east end is
that curious beehivelike roof, somewhat
the same in shape as the beautiful east end
of Trondhjem cathedral, only, of course,
very different in material and size. The
doors are ornamented with the character
istic carving of interlaced work and drag
Obs heads, which is always to be found in
these stavekirkes.
On entering the church you find it
smaller thar tne exterior would lead one
to suppose, and the flat roof, which was
added to it in the Seventeenth century. and
which covers up the beautiful pine columns
and their carved capitals, makes the church
look still smaller. The interior presents
the appearance which it must have borne
since the early part of the Seventeenth cen
fury The choir and chancel are separated
from the rest of the church by carved
wooden screen of no particular merit. The
roof of the chancel is painted in very gaudy
colors, and has for its subjects the baptism
of our Lord and the four Evangelists. All
around the walls are curious pictures of
the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries,
representing scenes in the life OF the Saw
OF