On a recent work trip to Oslo, Norway, I was fortunate to visit the Gol stavkirke (Gol Stave Church) at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History, one of the world’s oldest open air museums.
The Gol Stave Church was originally built in the 1200s in Gol, Norway. When the church was to be replaced in the 1800s, King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway, moved the church to Oslo and reassembled it there; some missing medieval features were added and inspired by the Borgund Stave Church.
While more than 1000 stave churches are believed to have been erected around Norway, there are only 28 remaining. Today, the northernmost stave church, Haltdalen Stave Church, is found in Trondheim, but stave churches were historically found as far north as there were Norwegian settlements. Urnes Stave Church is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The stave churches were erected before Norway was Christianized and include elements of Norse paganism but are still in use and continue to be preserved to this day.
Preservation
The preservation of stave churches is regulated in the Regulation on Financial Support for Stave Churches, Buildings and Facilities from the Middles Ages, Conservation, and Fire Safety (Forskrift om tilskudd til stavkirker, bygg og anlegg fra middelalderen, konservering og brannsikring (FOR-2021-08-13-2510).) It is the Riksantikvaren (Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage) that decides on the financial support for the preservation and conservation of the stave churches. (2 § FOR 2021-08-13-2510.) The Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage also offers a two-week online course in how to preserve stave churches.
Popular culture
If the Gol Stave Church looks familiar to you, it may be because a replica stands at the Scandinavian Heritage Park in Minot, North Dakota and it inspired the stave church at Epcot Disney, found in the movie Frozen. Its sequel, Frozen II, also includes inspiration from, and collaboration with, the Sami people, indigenous to the Sápmi area spanning across present day Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.
Interested to learn more about Norway? You may find the following information useful.
- Glad Syttende Mai! Celebration of the Bicentenary of the Norwegian Constitution
- Researching Norwegian Law Online and in the Library
- Global Legal Monitor: Norway
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