Trip To Telemark: Friday 7/2/10

We had a leisurly breakfast at the Dalen and then inquired about seeing a Stave Church. We knew we had to catch a bus at 1:30pm, so we had a couple of hours. The hotel called us a taxi and we were headed up the mountain to see a church that was built in the 12th century. (If you have been reading, this was my whole reason for making a trip in the first place. I was super excited to see this historical marvel.)

It was a short ride up to the area called Eidsborg. It was a very windy road, one that if we had traveled on for very long, I would have needed to roll down the window for fresh air so I would not get car sick.

Once we arrived, we realized there their was also an open air log cabin museum next to the Eidsborg Stave Church. It was a 2 for one visit.
If you have never visited Europe, then you have never expereiced their lack of time management and timeliness. The sign said that the area opened at 10:00am, it was currently 10:35am. And it was not open. Finally this guy walks up and opens shop. We buy tickets and I buy a book about all the Stave Churches in Norway, he said the tour will start shortly.

(FYI: originally there were more than 1000 Stave Churched dating back as far as the 900s, but now there are only 28 left in Norway and one in Poland. The one in Poland was orginally in Norway, but was purchased by the Germans during WWII and reassembled in German Territory, but when the boarders were redrawn after the war, the Stave Church was in Poland.)
We congragated around the entrance to the Stave Church, the guide walks up with a key to unlock the door. It was a foot and a half long! So huge, you don't loose that key very easily! We went into the church, do to historical preservation, I was not allowed to take pictures inside. But here is a quick Description. There were 4 walls, 2 little windows on the south wall, and a small alter. There were pews from the reformation era and damaged paintings on the walls. Very sparse. (The windows were on the south wall, because the Nords believed in evil spirits and thought them to come from the North, so if there was a North window, it would let in an evil spirit.)

What I found out to be the most interesting was that there is little to NO information about what the churches looked like before the reformation in the 16th century. Once the Catholic church took over the churches, they removed most Nordic Icons because they were believed to be demonic. They also ornatley painted the walls with stories about Jesus.

These paintings were done by Italians. Now, there was little to nothing done until reacently to preserve the paintings, so most of them are gone. Up at the front of the alter there was a painting of Jesus from the 1800s.

The most significant thing in the church was a wooden crucifix. It is from before the church was built. The wood has been dated to the 900s. It is not a typical Catholic crucifix of a suffereing Jesus, but of a Old Greek Orthodox Jesus, where Jesus is on the cross, but there are no wounds, no blood, He looks peaceful and content. He is also wearing a crown of jewels instead of a crown of thorns.

After we looked at the inside, we toured the "porch." I am sure there is a more official word for the walk way surrounding the outside of the church, but it is not in my vocabulary. It is unusual for a Stave Church to have a "porch" but this one did. During the reformation, women who had recently given birth and unbaptized people were seen as unclean and had to listen to the sermons givin, standing outside on the porch.

Here is a great picture of the porch. You can see the little windows carved just below the roof line. My favorite part is looking at the underside of the roof and seeing the wooden pegs that were used to attach all of the shingles on the outside. (When this church was built, they did not have the tools or the education to make metal nails, so they used wooden ones)
Here is the whole Eidsbord Stave Church with surrounding cemetary. We walked arround the cemetary, there are some graves on old slate that date back to the 1400s.

Here it is again in color! I think it is just beautiful. Now, you maybe asking yourself, what makes this a Stave Church, is it just becasue it is old? Well I have the answer...It is how the church is built. There are 4 large round pillars in the 4 corners of the church, the Norwegian word for these pillars is stav, this is where the Church gets is name. Also they have palisade walls, this means that the wall boards are placed parrallel to the pillars standing up. So all of the boards in the church are vertical to the ground.

Now, you are possible wondering how these churches have survived for so long, well let me tell you. When they cut down the timber, the allowed the tree to dry on the stump before it was felled. (That is how the book said it, it means they let it stand up on the stump to dry out before they pusehed it over and hauled it off.) This allowed for the wood to be cured in a special way! Then they built a slate foundation and balanced the wood on the foundation. There is nothing holding the church onto the fountation. (There have been some that have collapsed and never been rebuilt due to high winds) Becasue the wood does not touch the ground, it does not rot.

Begining in the late 1800's, historical societies began purchasing the Stave Churches and maintaining them and preserving them. (Another thing I am amazed by, is the America did not think to start preserving our history until much later.) There have been several things done to this church to preserve it in its original form. Fifteen years ago, they repalaced all the shingles and sprayed the outside with a chemical that prevents rot, and bugs from eating the wood. They also painted a "glue" over the paintings on the inside to keep what is left of the paintings on the walls. The major threat to these churches is fire. The last church to burn down was in 1992, do to an act of vandelism.

Well, that was your history lesson for the day! And yes, I learned all of this the day I visited the church! If you know me well enough, you know if I learn about something, I seem to regurgetate facts for a few days.

The rest of the day was spent riding a bus, 5 of them to be exact. We had to change busses several times to make it back to where the car was parked in Ulefoss. Tomorrow, I will tell you about staying in Lillie Ulefoss, a posh bed and breakfast!