Norway’s Medieval Wooden Churches Look Plucked From a Fairy Tale
November 18, 2017 4:39 AM   Subscribe

The Smithsonian has a scrolling gallery of Norwegian "stave" churches, named after the "stavers", the load bearing pillars that keep them from collapsing. Wooden medieval architecture taken to fascinating, beautiful extremes.
posted by hippybear (22 comments total) 30 users marked this as a favorite
 
These are incredible. It never occurred to me that wood construction could last 1000 years. I jsut assumed that everything still around from that time was made of stone.
posted by 256 at 5:28 AM on November 18, 2017 [2 favorites]


Am I right in thinking there are no metal nails used at all in the construction?
Norway is a beautiful country.
posted by 92_elements at 5:44 AM on November 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


Those black ones have me excited.
posted by Annika Cicada at 5:47 AM on November 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


Visit Norway has a nice page about stavkirker as well: Norway's remaining stave churches. Highly recommend the Norsk Folkemuseum in Oslo – it has a gorgeous stave church and several historical buildings from Viking to modern times.

Wood buildings last a long time when taken care of.
posted by fraula at 5:54 AM on November 18, 2017 [3 favorites]


I found this article about Norwegian stave churches in Wisconsin: Stave Church at Little Norway a Little Closer to Heading Back to Norwegian Homeland
posted by jonp72 at 6:39 AM on November 18, 2017


Wood buildings last a long time when taken care of.

The main pagoda of Houryuuji in Nara dates to the early 7th C AD, and parts of the nearby Gangyouji might be late 6th C, so, yeah, wooden structures can last a very long time if they are kept up, avoid fires, and stay out of the way of Black Metal bands.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:44 AM on November 18, 2017 [8 favorites]


List of Norwegian church burnings during the early years of the black metal scene. One of which was the Fantoft stave church.
posted by NoMich at 6:57 AM on November 18, 2017 [5 favorites]


MetaFilter is also constructed using no metal nails. It might also last 1000 years.
posted by hippybear at 7:42 AM on November 18, 2017 [7 favorites]


(cortex just read that comment and realized he still has 990 years to go at his job and he wept.)
posted by hippybear at 7:43 AM on November 18, 2017 [6 favorites]


I visited a stave church in Norway that was really beautiful. And sort of humble, at least the one I visited was quite small. Just sort of sitting there in a field. Preserved of course, but not a big deal. I recall there were a few standing stones nearby too, but I can't figure out which church it was now.

Maybe this is a non-sequitur but I've seen a couple of photos / drawings of Slavic temples that have a similar sort of soaring ornate wooden architecture. Example pictures here and here. Is there any connection between Scandanavian architecture and Slavic architecture from this era, or is it is just parallel development?
posted by Nelson at 7:45 AM on November 18, 2017


MetaFilter is also constructed using no metal nails. It might also last 1000 years.

Yes, but it could still be destroyed by Norwegian black metal.
posted by jonp72 at 7:54 AM on November 18, 2017 [14 favorites]




The Vikings had wide-ranging connections, which definitely included the Slavs.
posted by ckape at 11:34 AM on November 18, 2017


At the Scandinavian Heritage Park in Minot ND there is a beautiful stave church. The interior is quite lovely.

On a trip to the Black Hills of SD when I was young my Scandinavian Lutheran parents took us to the Chapel in the Hills, which is an exact replica of the Borgund stave church in Norway. Even as a jaded kid I was impressed.
posted by Ber at 12:02 PM on November 18, 2017 [2 favorites]


Norway’s Medieval Wooden Churches Look Plucked From a Fairy Tale

So much so that the stave church in the Norway pavilion at EPCOT's World Showcase is now home to a Frozen display.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:43 PM on November 18, 2017 [2 favorites]


Disney: Cultural Appropriation In Action Since 1937.
posted by hippybear at 4:46 PM on November 18, 2017 [3 favorites]


Apparently Norway has too many tourists right now and they blame it on Frozen.
posted by madcaptenor at 5:02 PM on November 18, 2017 [2 favorites]


These are really amazing. (And the interiors!) Thank you.
posted by cellar door at 5:53 AM on November 19, 2017 [1 favorite]


Maybe this is a non-sequitur but I've seen a couple of photos / drawings of Slavic temples that have a similar sort of soaring ornate wooden architecture. Example pictures here and here. Is there any connection between Scandanavian architecture and Slavic architecture from this era, or is it is just parallel development?

The Rus were originally Scandinavian.
posted by dilettante at 9:29 AM on November 19, 2017 [1 favorite]


Those are very beautiful and I had no idea they existed. Thanks for sharing.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:33 PM on November 19, 2017


In early spring I attended a baptism in the Flesberg Stave Church, located about 20 minutes drive from home. Which means I'm living in a fairy tale, then? Cool!

I'm also not very far from the Heddal one, passing it by at least a couple of times a year.
posted by Harald74 at 1:40 AM on November 20, 2017


I had no idea such places existed. My heart jumps at the black churches. I hope I can see them in person some day. Thank you for sharing, hippybear.
posted by MrBobinski at 5:56 PM on November 25, 2017


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