Visit the Urnes Stave Church

Built around 1130, Urnes is the oldest stave church still standing in Norway.

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Urnes Stave Church

Urnes Stave Church (Norwegian: Urnes stavkyrkje) is a 12th-century stave church at Ornes, along the Lustrafjorden, in Luster Municipality in Vestland county, Norway.
The church sits on the eastern side of the fjord, directly across the fjord from the village of Solvorn and about five kilometres (3 mi) east of the village of Hafslo. It is among the oldest stave churches in Norway, with parts of the lumber construction dating from the latter half of the 11th century. The church was built in a long church basilica plan inspired by medieval Christian churches, with cylindrical columns and semi-circular arches inside. The decoration on capitals of the columns and outside of the church embodies the visual evidence of the Viking culture’s transformation, assimilation, and adoption of Christianity. The north portal of the church is defined as the Urnes style, which contains decorations derived from Norwegian mythology dating back to the 12th century.
It has been owned by Fortidsminneforeningen (Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments) since 1881. In 1979, the Urnes Stave Church was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

This description uses material from the Wikipedia article on Urnes Stave Church and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (view authors).