Wooden churches

Our expert Norway

Wooden churches

A church made of Norwegian wood In Norway, a number of churches made with this historical wood have survived the passage of time. Alamer / age fotostock;

Norway is the only remaining country in Northern Europe to have stave churches still intact. They were built in the Middle Ages with posts driven into the ground, then into string-pieces supporting the framework: their name comes from this vertical building technique ? ?stafr' in Old Norse meaning load-bearing posts. The planks of wood are cut perpendicular to the fibres of the wood. There are about thirty of them left in the country. The largest one is in Heddal. Urnes's, the oldest and most isolated, presents sumptuous interior decoration; it is actually on the list of Unesco World Heritage Sites.