The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-11-04

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
fly and weather resisting powers of the
pine trees of rnedieval Norway, which for
SO many centuries have withstood the fierce
frosts of an almost arctic winter, as well as
the searching 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, a word derived from the verb at
reise Ito raise), and reisvork building is
one in which the timbers are raised, or
placed perpendicularly, and not laid hori-
zontally, as in later work. STAY" 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
bogeskev, or beech wood, at Laurvik. If
one may Judge from the massive beams to
be found in many of the stavekiTke, 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
CT some great admiral.
Ill 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 cevel the outside, as well as fire.
eHently the inside, of the modern Norwe-
giap country church
The external appearance of most of these
BtavekirKe is quite unique; it reminds us
of an oriental building; roof rises above
roof IKE pagoda, and quaint dragon
heads adorn the gables. These, in many
instances, resemble the prows of the an
cisnt Viking ships, Like the one found
buried in the earth near the seashore.
SOME OLD EDIFICEs.
There are still good many of them
scattered over Norway. They are not
found in the far north, where stone
| sha-ches 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 LBrdal.
To these may now be added the specimens
of this kind of architecture which are pre-
sesVe9 merely as curiosities, such as the
old church of Col in the Hallingdall, now
erected in the grounds Of Oscars hall, a
snail 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 a 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
1t stood and transported it bodily to Ber
gen, to the place where it is now to be
seen.
church at Borgund, though stand
in an its original position, is still only
CT ,sity, not being used for divine service,
b eng under the care of Norwegian
an arian society. The Hitterdal church
is haps the largest of the stavekirke,
| bu has been almost restored" off the
ia the e. rth, the interior being quite
ern and but little of the original being
| left