Hemse stave church is a rediscovered

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 ...

from

Hemse Hemse is a locality situated on the Swedish island of Gotland with 1,700 inhabitants in 2014. It is the second largest locality (after Visby) on the island. Hemse is the main center of population in the southern part of the island, and it is kno ...

at Gotland. Before the present

Hemse Church Hemse Church ( sv, Hemse kyrka) is a medieval Lutheran church in Hemse on the island of Gotland. Preceded by the most well-preserved early stave church discovered in Sweden, the current church dates mainly from the 13th century. It contains sets o ...

was built there was a stave church from the early Christian period in the beginning of the 11th century. The solid and richly ornamented stave planks of oak was used as a wooden floor in the present church. This stave church, or perhaps

palisade church A palisade church is a church building that is constructed with palisade walls, standing split logs of timber, rammed into the ground, set in gravel or resting on a sill. The palisade walls form an integral part of the load-bearing system. Const ...

with sills (since it is unclear how the corners were constructed), is the only more or less complete church rediscovered from the

Christianization Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...

of Sweden. It is now in storage at Statens historiska museum in Stockholm. The stave church has been replaced by a stone church, which was finished in the 13th century. During a renovation of this church in the late 19th century, parts of the stave church were discovered, because the wood pieces of the stave church had been reused for building the floor of the current church.

References

Gotland Stave churches in Sweden Churches in Gotland County {{Sweden-church-stub