Heimaey Stave Church (''Stafkirkjan'') is a close replica of

Haltdalen stave church Haltdalen Stave Church ( no, Haltdalen stavkyrkje) is a stave church that was originally built in the 1170s in the village of Haltdalen in what is now the municipality of Holtålen in Trøndelag county, Norway. The church is now on display at the ...

situated in the Skansinn area of the harbour of Vestmannaeyjabær on

Heimaey Heimaey (), is an Icelandic island. At , it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast. Heimaey is off the south coast of Iceland. It is the only populated isl ...

Vestmannaeyjar Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyj ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

History

The church was completed on July 30, 2000, and was a gift from Norway to Iceland in connection with the millennial anniversary of the conversion of Iceland to Christianity by

Olav Tryggvason Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 9 September 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken ( Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King of N ...

in the year 1000. Developing from a suggestion by the Icelandic government, the Norwegian state presented Iceland with a replica of the

Haltdalen Stave Church Haltdalen Stave Church ( no, Haltdalen stavkyrkje) is a stave church that was originally built in the 1170s in the village of Haltdalen in what is now the municipality of Holtålen in Trøndelag county, Norway. The church is now on display at the ...

(''Haltdalen stavkirke''), originally from around the 1170s. The first church known on Iceland was a

post church Post church (Norwegian: ''stolpekirke'') is a term for a church building which predates the stave churches and differ in that the corner posts do not reside on a sill but instead have posts dug into the earth. Posts are the vertical, roof-bearin ...

and not a

stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ar ...

. The replica was erected by the harbour of Vestmannaeyjabær in the

, in an area formed by the lava of the 1973 eruption of Eldfell. The replica was undertaken by the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research as a three-year research and reconstruction project from 1998 to 2000 under the leadership of professor Elisabeth Seip, Head of Research at the

Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research ( no, Norsk institutt for kulturminneforskning, NIKU) is a cultural heritage research institute based in Oslo, Norway. Organization The institute has nearly 80 employees and regional offices ...

. The church was constructed at Lom from materials deliberately drawn widely from around Norway, including timber from

Røros Røros ( sma, Plaassja, ) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Røros. Some of the villages in Røros include Brekken, Glåmos, Feragen, Galåa, and Hitterdalen. The min ...

, shingles from

Odalen Odal or Odalen is a valley and traditional district in Innlandet county, Norway. The district encompasses the area around the lake Storsjøen (Odal), Storsjøen in the north and to the areas around the river Glåma in the south. The district is c ...

, tar from

Skjåk Skjåk is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bismo. Most of the municipal residents live in the Billingsdalen a ...

, wrought iron from

Vågå Vågå () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vågåmo. Other village areas in Vågå include Lalm and Besshe ...

, and a doorstep from

Holtålen Holtålen is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is located in the Ålen area of the village of Renbygda. Other villages in the municipality include Hess ...

. A gallery was added around the outside of the building, inspired by other stave churches, to provide the building with extra strength against the stormy weather of the Vestmannaeyjar. The church was built and consecrated in summer 2000, and was completed on 30 July 2000. The project was supported by a Norwegian government grant of 5.5m Norwegian kroner; Icelandic government funding for the redevelopment of the Skansinn area of Vestmannaeyjarbær as a heritage area; and some private sponsorship was also involved, most importantly that the Icelandic company

Eimskip Eimskipafélag Íslands hf. is an international shipping company with 55 offices in 20 countries and four continents; Europe, North America, South America and Asia. Eimskip specializes in worldwide freight forwarding services with focus on frozen ...

shipped the church to Iceland for free. The National Church of Norway also gave an altar piece. It is replica of the St Olav frontal, one of the finest surviving medieval Norwegian works of art, undertaken under the leadership of Terje Nordsted. The original is at Nidaros Cathedral but is said (without any substantial supporting evidence) once to have been situated in the Haltdalen stave church.

References

External links

Heimaey stave church on the Icelandic Church Map

short note with image a
NIKU – The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research

about the delivery of the church, with a link to the speech by

Trond Giske Trond Giske (born 7 November 1966) is a Norwegian former politician who served as deputy leader of the Labour Party from 2015 until his resignation in 2018 as a result of the so-called Giske affair. He announced his permanent withdrawal from po ...

{{Stave churches Churches completed in 2000 Churches in Iceland Replicas of stave churches 20th-century churches Vestmannaeyjar