Uvdal Stave Church

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Uvdal Stave Church
Stavkirka v Uvdale, 2019.jpg
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Uvdal Stave Church
Location of the church
60°15′54″N8°50′05″E / 60.26500°N 8.83472°E / 60.26500; 8.83472 Coordinates: 60°15′54″N8°50′05″E / 60.26500°N 8.83472°E / 60.26500; 8.83472
LocationBuskerud, Nore og Uvdal
Country Norway
Denomination Church of Norway
Architecture
Architectural type Stave church
Completed1168
Specifications
Materials Wood
TypeChurch
StatusAutomatically listed
ID 85738

Uvdal Stave Church (Uvdal stavkirke) is situated at Uvdal in the valley Numedal in Nore og Uvdal in Buskerud, Norway. The stave church was originally constructed just after the year 1168, [1] which is known through dendrochronological dating of the ore-pine used in the construction. The logs were not completely dry when the construction took place.

Contents

Construction history

An archeological excavation that took place during 1978 [2] showed that the church was built on the remains of a previous church. It is thought to have been made with the use of embedded corner column technology at the beginning of the 11th century. [3]

Churches made during the 12th century were usually very small, often no more than 40 square meters, and were therefore often expanded, even during the Middle Ages and certainly just before and after the Reformation, which took place during 1537 in Norway.

The nave of the church was first expanded to the west during the Middle Ages, when the original apse of the chancel was also removed and the chancel itself elongated. Again, during that period, an extra center column was added. The chancel was torn down again in 1684, when a new and wider chancel was made, with the same width as the nave. Then, during the period 1721–1723, the church was made into a cruciform. A new ridge turret had to be made, to fit the new shape. Later, in 1819, a new vestry was added to the north wall of the chancel. [4]

Exterior

The exterior walls were paneled in 1760.

Interior

Benches with ornately decorated sidewalls were added to the nave in 1624. The oldest part of the interior was probably richly ornately decorated by painting during 1656, the expansions during 1684 and 1723. Two scary halfmasks are quite visible on the poles of the chancel, and according to myth they were able to capture demons.

Miscellaneous

The church survives today as museum piece, owned by Fortidsminneforeningen, which also happens to own several other stave churches that survive. The church was taken out of use in 1893, but services still take place during the summer season. As of June 2016, photographing of the highly decorated interior (even with flash) was allowed. In the late nineties the local internet site Numedalsnett was allowed to shoot a short interior video with minimum equipment and lightning. The video clip is available on YouTube.

Related Research Articles

Nore og Uvdal Municipality in Viken, Norway

Nore og Uvdal is a municipality in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Numedal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Rødberg.

Rollag Municipality in Viken, Norway

Rollag is a municipality in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Numedal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Rollag, although the most populated area in the municipality is Veggli. Rollag is bordered in the north by Nore og Uvdal, in the east by Sigdal, in the south by Flesberg, and in the west by Tinn in Telemark.

Stave church

A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts are called stafr in Old Norse. Two related church building types also named for their structural elements, the post church and palisade church, are often called 'stave churches'.

Numedal District in Viken, Norway

Numedal is a valley and a traditional district in Eastern Norway located within the county of Buskerud. It traditionally includes the municipalities Flesberg, Nore og Uvdal and Rollag. Administratively, it now also includes Kongsberg.

Borgund Stave Church Church in Vestland, Norway

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Lom Stave Church

Lom Stave Church is a stave church located in Lom municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Lom is situated in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal.

Flesberg Stave Church

Flesberg Stave Church is a stave church located at Flesberg in Viken county, Norway.

Urnes Stave Church

Urnes Stave Church is a 12th-century stave church at Ornes, along the Lustrafjorden in the municipality of Luster in Vestland county, Norway.

Hopperstad Stave Church Church in Vestland, Norway

Hopperstad Stave Church is a historic parish church of the Church of Norway in Vik Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Vikøyri. It was once the church for the Hopperstad parish in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The church is currently owned by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments. The brown, wooden stave church was built during the 12th century. The church seats about 30 people.

Kaupanger Stave Church Church in Vestland, Norway

Kaupanger Stave Church is the largest stave church in Vestland county, Norway. It is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sogndal Municipality and it is located in the village of Kaupanger, on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden. It is the church for the Kaupanger parish which is part of the Sogn prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The brown, wooden church was built in the mid-12th century and it has been in use ever since that time. The church seats about 125 people.

Eidsborg Stave Church Church in Vestfold og Telemark, Norway

Eidsborg Stave Church is a stave church in Tokke, Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway.

Nore Stave Church

Nore Stave Church is a stave church located at Nore in Nore og Uvdal kommune in Viken county, Norway.

Røldal Stave Church Church in Vestland, Norway

Røldal Stave Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Røldal. It is the church for the Røldal parish which is part of the Hardanger og Voss prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The brown, wooden stave church was built in around the year 1250 using designs by an unknown architect. The church seats about 130 people and is built in a long church style. The church is a preserved historic museum, but it is still a regularly-used parish church that holds regularly scheduled worship services twice a month.

Rollag Stave Church

Rollag Stave Church is a stave church in the municipality of Rollag in Viken county, Norway. The church is located a few kilometres north of the centre of the village of Rollag.

Gol Stave Church Church in Oslo, Norway

Gol Stave Church is a stave church originally from Gol in the traditional region of Hallingdal in Buskerud county, Norway. The reconstructed church is now a museum and is now located in the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History at Bygdøy in Oslo, Norway.

Kvernes Stave Church Church in Møre og Romsdal, Norway

Kvernes Stave Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Averøy Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The old church sits along the Kvernesfjorden in the village of Kvernes, just to the north of the Kvernes Church, the present church for the parish. The white, wooden church was built in a rectangular stave church style sometime during the first half of the 14th century.

Ringebu Stave Church

Ringebu Stave Church is a stave church located at the village of Ringebu in Ringebu municipality in Innlandet, Norway. It is situated in the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal.

Hedal Stave Church

Hedalen Stave Church is a stave church located at the settlement of Hedalen in the municipality of Sør-Aurdal in Innlandet, Norway.

Nore, Norway

Nore is a village in the municipality of Nore og Uvdal in the county of Buskerud, Norway. It is located in the traditional region of Numedal.

Churches in Norway

Church building in Norway began when Christianity was established there around the year 1000. The first buildings may have been post churches erected in the 10th or 11th century, but the evidence is inconclusive. For instance under Urnes Stave Church and Lom Stave Church there are traces of older post churches. Post churches were later replaced by the more durable stave churches. About 1,300 churches were built during the 12th and 13th centuries in what was Norway's first building boom. A total of about 3,000 churches have been built in Norway, although nearly half of them have perished. From 1620 systematic records and accounts were kept although sources prior to 1620 are fragmented. Evidence about early and medieval churches is partly archaeological. The "long church" is the most common type of church in Norway. There are about 1620 buildings recognized as churches affiliated with the Church of Norway. In addition, there are a number of gospel halls belonging to the lay movement affiliated with the Church of Norway as well as churches belonging to other Christian bodies. Until the 20th century, most churches were built from wood. 220 buildings are protected by law, and an additional 765 are listed as valuable cultural heritage.

References

  1. ↑ Official dating by Riksantikvaren Archived 2005-04-28 at the Wayback Machine Directorate of Cultural Heritage in Norway
  2. ↑ Uvdal stavkirke Riksantikvaren under the guidance of H. Christie and J. H. Jensenius
  3. ↑ "Uvdal stavkirke". Den norske kirke. Retrieved September 15, 2016.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  4. ↑ "Uvdal stavkirke". Fortidsminneforeningen. Retrieved September 15, 2016.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

Further reading

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