In looking over the posts I’ve written on my Norway trip, I suddenly realized that I totally (but not deliberately!) left out any mention of our visit to Hopperstad Stave Church, which dates from 1130 AD.

First of all, what is a Stave church? It refers to Norway’s unique architectural style of wooden churches, based upon the “Stave,” which is a long wooden pole. The architecture reflects its Viking origin and is considered a bridge to Christianity.

Here’s what I found on one website: Stave churches are considered to be among the most important examples of wooden Medieval architecture in Europe. In the Middle Ages, there were probably more than 1,000 stave churches in Norway. Today, only 28 remain, including Urnes stave church, which is included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

A stave church is made of wood, and the construction is made out of poles (“staver” in Norwegian), hence the name. Most of the remaining stave churches in Norway were built between 1150 and 1350. 

You can clearly see the staves here:

My eyes were immediately drawn to the altar canopy.

The underside of the altar canopy was highly decorated as shown here.

The church had separate entrance doors for priests, men and women. This was the door for the women (you can see our bus in the distance.)

The black color on the exterior is due to the tar that was used to cover the wood.

Imagine, this church is almost a thousand years old!