Nore Stave Church ( no, Nore stavkyrkje) is 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 a ...

located at

Nore The Nore is a long bank of sand and silt running along the south-centre of the final narrowing of the Thames Estuary, England. Its south-west is the very narrow Nore Sand. Just short of the Nore's easternmost point where it fades into the cha ...

Nore og Uvdal Nore og Uvdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Viken (county), Viken Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Numedal. The administrative centre of the municipality is ...

kommune in

Viken county Viken may refer to: *Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region *Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020 *Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden *Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the part of the Göta cana ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Description

Dendrochronological dating of wood samples indicate that Nore stave church was built after 1167. The church was built with galleries, a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

and cross

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

s an architectural style that was unique in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. This style has come to be known as Nummedals-type. Decorations are from different periods. Nore is decorated with tendril and animal carvings. Animal characters featured include dragons and lions. The church has a central mast that was originally the support for a tower, mostly likely containing church bells. The walls and ceiling of the interior are decorated with murals, among them scenes from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

presented as

riddle A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requir ...

s. The church has been remodeled several times, with many original parts preserved. The church was partly rebuilt in the 1600s and 1700s. The chancel was replaced in 1683, and the spokes of the nave in the first half of the 18th century. The church received a new roof in 1730. Comprehensive repair was carried out in 1927. In 1888, art historian, professor of art history, and author

Lorentz Dietrichson Lorentz Henrik Segelcke Dietrichson (1 January 1834 Bergen - 6 March 1917) was a Norwegian poet and historian of art and literature. Biography Lorentz Henrik Segelcke Dietrichson was the son of Fredrik Dietrichson (1800–52) and Marie Heiberg ...

(1834–1917) became the owner of the church. Professor Dietrichson, who played a major role in founding the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments (''

Fortidsminneforeningen Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments ( no, Fortidsminneforeningen) is an organization focused on conservation preservation in Norway. The Society was founded in 1844. The founders were painters, historians, art historians ...

''), donated the property to the society in 1890.

Gallery

File:Nore Stavkirke 03 (15187843698).jpg File:Nore Stavkirke 06 (15187738940).jpg File:Nore Stavkirke 05 (15351418766).jpg File:Nore stavkirke - Fronton.JPG File:Nore stavkirke 04.jpg

References

Other sources

* Leif Anker (2005) ''The Norwegian Stave Churches'' (Oslo: Arfo Forlag)

External links

Nore stave church in Fortidsminneforeningen

Nore stave church, Directorate for Cultural Heritage
(in Norwegian)

(in Norwegian)
Nore stave church in a video about churches in Numedal
{{Coord, 60, 09, 52, N, 9, 00, 37, E, region:NO-06_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title 12th-century churches in Norway Stave churches in Norway Churches in Viken Nore og Uvdal Cruciform churches in Norway Buildings and structures owned by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments Churches completed in 1167