Torpo Stave Church ( no, Torpo 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 ar ...

located in

Torpo Torpo is a small village in Ål municipality, in Viken County, Norway, and can be reached by using highway 7. The name Torpo was adopted July 1, 1935 from the old name Torpe. At this date the train station and local post office started using th ...

, a small village in Ål municipality 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 the ...

. Torpo is located along

Norwegian National Road 7 Norwegian National Road 7 ( no, Riksvei 7, ) is a national road in Norway which runs from the town of Hønefoss in Viken county to the village of Granvin in Vestland county. The route is long and runs east–west through Viken and Vestland c ...

, the

Norwegian national road Norwegian national roads (Norwegian: Riksvei/Riksveg abbr. Rv; literally: road of the rike/realm), are roads thus categorized by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen) which also maintains them. In 2007 there were of this cl ...

which runs between

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

and

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

History

Built in 1192, the Torpo Stave Church is the oldest building within the valley and traditional district of

Hallingdal Hallingdal ( en, Halling Valley) is a valley as well as a traditional district located in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county in Norway. It consists of six municipalities: Flå, Nes, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål and Hol. ...

. The church was dedicated to Saint Margareta. The stave church was purchased by the municipality in 1875. It was initially planned to expand it with an annex to the east, but in 1879 it was decided instead to modernize the interior with new ceiling and gallery. Following protest from the Ancient Monuments Society (

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 ...

), the municipality decided to build a new church (''Torpo Kyrkje'') on the adjacent property. The new church was built north of the old one with the two churches standing side by side.

Runic inscription N 110

The Torpo Stave Church is one of two stave churches that are signed by their craftsmen, the other being the church at Ål. In both churches a

runic inscription A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of E ...

reads: ''Torolf built this church''. The full runic inscription in the Torpo Stave Church, which is listed as N 110 in the Rundata catalog, reads: :§A þorolfr : gærþi : kirku þesa ÷: askrimr ÷ hakon ÷ ælikr ÷ pal ¶ æinriþi ÷ siønti ÷ þorolfr :§B þorer ÷ ræist :§C olafrProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
– Rundata entry for N 110. This translates as "Þórolfr made this church. Ásgrímr, Hákon, Erlingr, Páll, Eindriði, Sjaundi, Þórulfr. Þórir carved. Ólafr."

Gallery

Torpo stavkirke 03040024.jpg, Torpo Stave Church
Main portal JLM4Torpo.jpg, Torpo Stave Church
South portal Torpo03040028.jpg, Torpo Stave Church
Interior Torpo03040031.jpg, Torpo Stave Church
Interior Torpo Stavkyrke, Hallingdal, portaldetalj.jpg, Torpo Stave Church
Interior detail JLM3Torpo.jpg, Torpo Stave Church
Exterior JLM1Torpo.JPG, Torpo Stave Church
Exterior Torpo stavkyrkje.jpeg, Torpo Church and Torpo Stave Church (1880–1890)

References

External links

Torpo Stave Church photo gallery
{{Coord, 60, 39, 51, N, 8, 42, 30, E, region:NO-06_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Ål Buildings and structures completed in 1192 Churches in Viken Runic inscriptions Buildings and structures owned by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments Stave churches in Norway

History

Runic inscription N 110

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links