On the UNESCO World Heritage List: Urnes Stave Church
No trip to Norway is complete without a visit to one of the 28 stave churches. Of the 28, only one of them is UNESCO World Heritage-listed: Urnes Stave Church. Nestled on the Lustrafjord, a branch of the Sognefjord, this gorgeous old church is Norway’s oldest and one of the most important. Today the church is a museum with regular guided tours.
I visited Urnes Stave Church back in September 2020 and got to go inside with a guided tour. I did some research on the church beforehand, and there is a lot of information online. I’ve done my best to tell a condensed story of Urnes Stave Church. This way, you will know why the church is so special before you go. I have relied on a lot of articles written by experts, and I’ll link to all those at the bottom. I’ve also done my best to cover the practical bits so your visit can go well. Still, get a guide! They are experts on the subject and included in the admission fee.
Here’s my overview of Urnes Stave Church.
In this article...
The many churches at Urnes
Urnes Stave Church is not the first one to sit on the site: in fact, it is probably the fourth church on the site. The current church is from sometime around the late 12th century and is still on the same site.
Summary of all the churches
- Church One: Built around the time Norway was Christianised (1030-ish). It was a ‘palisade style’ church, where the structural posts placed into the ground. It had the same orientation as the current church but was smaller.
- Church Two: Built in the second half of the 11th century. It had posts dug into the ground, which rot. It was torn down in the mid-12th century.
- Church Three: Based on the second church, but also different. It incorporated the raised central nave and had 16 staves. The design was an inspiration for later stave churches. This church was a mix between the architecture and art from the Viking Age and architecture found in Christian churches around Europe. This church had the exterior wooden carvings – the “Urnes style” carvings around its main portal.
The current church
Urnes Stave Church likely came at the end of the 12th century. On the largest portal, it says “St. Nicholaus Church”, referring to who they dedicated the church to. Above the runes is a cross, likely from the consecration of the church.
Why was it built here?
The location is remote, and the church sits high up on a hill. Why was a church built here, and how has it been able to survive for so long?
Well, as was common for stave churches, Urnes Stave Church was a private farm church. The wealthiest landowners would build themselves a church to prove how wealthy they were. That’s why there were over 1,000 stave churches in Norway at its peak. In the early years of Christianity, it was a cult for the wealthy. Stave churches showed off how important, wealthy, and smart these landowners were.
Church-building took place on the initiative of kinds and nobles on their farms. The church was a royal and aristocratic project until the 12th century. The church’s position in Norway started to become more powerful. Norway introduced a parish church system, which still exists today.
This change came from the Civil War. The important men of Western Norway were introduced to Christian culture from overseas. They knew the church was going to become a powerful part of society. These chieftains saw a strengthened church organisation as a spiritual good and measure to make Norwegian society more in step with its foreign neighbours.
The strategic location of the church on a promontory on the Lustrafjord signalled both power and prosperity. Large and very visible burial mounds bear witness to the fact that people have lived here for over 4,000 years. The fjord was the main thoroughfare for people who lived here. Kaupanger and Skjolden were two important harbours. The fjord was also the main passageway to Norway’s biggest city in the Middle Ages: Bergen.
Original owners of the church
Gaut and his family
Historians have researched who owned the church. One theory is that it was a man called Gaut of Ornesi. He is mentioned in Sverre’s Sagas. It was likely his father who built the church.
The Civil War and change in church structure happened while Gaut was raising his sons at the Ornes Farm. Gaut was a man of high status, likely a warrior with loyalty to the church and king. Gaut and his family explains why the church had a rich 12th-century inventory.
His sons, Jon and Munun, were masters of a warship under King Magnus Erlingsson’s fleet. Jon died in battle and his son, Arnbjørn, took over the farm. Arnbjørn was only four at the time, so he went to be raised by Nikolas Arnesson, who became the Bishop of Oslo in 1190. Through Nikolas, Arnbjørn grew up under Christianity and ended up working for the King. He didn’t spend much time at Ornes throughout his life but probably gave the church nice items.
Later Owners
Who took over the church after Arnbjørn? It’s believed that the estate had already left the family when he died. A couple of generations later, around 1300, Norway’s richest and most powerful man, Baron Bjarne Erlingsson, owned the church. He was a royal advisor and lived in Bergen. In the mid-15th century, a famous nobleman who lived in Eastern Norway owned the church. It’s clear Ornes wasn’t a place to live. Maybe it was just too isolated?
Danish-Norwegian noble families inherited the property throughout the centuries. No changes were made to the interior until the 17th century. There is hardly an object from the time the church left Gaut’s family until the 17th century, well after the Reformation.
Urnes Stave Church has likely survived because the location is so remote. Additionally, there were no owners on the property to fiddle with the church or dream up renovation ideas. Also, Gaut’s estate comprised of the whole hamlet, so there was never a huge congregation to attend the church and create a need for expansion.
Architecture
Urnes Stave Church is a basilica-style church. The main inspiration came from European Christian churches, which are also built in the same plan. The cylindrical columns and semi-circular arches came from Romanesque stone architecture.
The current church has pieces from older churches. The oldest log in the church began to grow in 765. There are two beams in the church that are from 946. Parts of the church, including the north wall and the Urnes carvings, come from an earlier church and date to 1069.
The church has seen very few extensions, which is unique if you’ve read my articles on the other stave churches. The nave was extended southwards in the 17th century. There were other additions to the church, but they were removed later.
The interior of the church was very dark with no windows. Light came through a small opening by the roof. The Lutheran Reformation in 1537 brought about changes. There needed to be good lighting so the congregation could read their hymns and join in singing. The windows are from the 18th century.
Interior Decoration
Romanesque Columns
The interior of the church is very richly decorated. The wooden columns (staves) inside have unique capitals with carvings of humans, animals, mythical creatures and vegetal motifs. Some of these carvings are very abstract, while others interlace the designs of Viking tradition. One of the capitals, the centaur, is now the logo for the Preservation Society.
The capitals take inspiration from Romanesque stone architecture, for example in Canterbury Cathedral: https://web.archive.org/web/20070316220305/http://kunsthistorie.com/galleri/index.php?album=England%2FCantebury&page=2&sortby=name&order=asc
These capitals are well preserved considering how old they are. They are unique to Urnes Stave Church. Many attempts have been made to interpret them, but the most conclusive understanding of them is that they were inspired by international culture.
Church Inventory
The church pews, pulpit and altar are from after the Reformation. During Gaut’s time, there were benches along the wall for the elderly. A bench is still preserved on the north side of the west wall. Gaut probably had a seat, too. Right in the middle of the church – just to remind everyone how powerful he was! No trace of the chair is in the middle of the church, but the reserved chair in the choir may have been his chair. It was maybe moved to the choir after the Reformation for the priest to sit. This chair is of very high craftsmanship and is one of the original furnishings from the 12th century.
Most of the sculptures from the church are now in the University of Bergen Museum. Those that remain are from the 12th century. There is one of Jesus on the cross. Jesus’ loincloth is painted with the expensive blue colour, which may have found its way to Urnes along the Silk Road. The figures have been in the church since the 12th century, making them some of the oldest and best-preserved Norwegian medieval artefacts.
The interior walls have many runic inscriptions on them. The guide will highlight them to you, as well as explain what they say. They need a torch to highlight them!
Exterior Decoration
The exterior decorations are evidence of how the Viking’s culture transformed and adopted Christianity. Strap-work panels were taken from one of the earlier churches and incorporated into the new structure, keeping elements of Viking tradition alive. This is most evident in the North Portal.
The Famous North Portal in Urnes Style
The north portal is from the third church to stand on the site. It may have been the original main portal on the western side. In mythology and religion, the portal is meant to let other people enter God’s house. The portals are the symbolic embodiment that represents the chaos and struggle with evil. Here, the portal depicts a struggle between a serpent and a beast. It’s believed to represent the onset of Ragnarok, a Viking belief. The earlier church likely had scenes from Norse Mythology. This is a likely reason for its premature reconstruction in the 12th century. The animals may be Níðhöggr eating the roots of Yggdrasil. Intertwined snakes and dragons represent the end of the world according to the Norse legend of Ragnarok.
The carvings are known as Urnes Style. This style of carving is not unique to Urnes. It is found all over Scandinavia and especially in Sweden. The style is mostly found on runestones. It is characterised by slim and stylised animals interwoven in tight patterns. The animal heads are always in profile and they have slender eyes. The earliest Urnes style is from 1050. The “Mid-Urnes” style is found on coins issued by Harald Hardrada (1047-1066) and Olav Kyrre (1080-1090), while the “Late Urnes” style is what we see on the stave church. The Urnes style morphed into the Urnes-Romanesque form, not found on runestones but buildings. Torpo Stave Church has elements of Urnes style.
What remains of the original stave church?
Unlike the other stave churches, there is still a good part of this church remaining. The ground beams, sills, corner posts, wall planks and aisle wall plates are from the medieval church. The raised central roof is also original.
In addition to the Urnes-style portal, there are also two original wall planks in the northern wall, the corner post of the choir, the western gable of the nave, and the eastern gable of the choir.
Restoration & preservation
The Fortidsminneforeningen (Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments) bought the church at the end of the 19th century. The church was showing signs of its age and required preservation. When they took over, there was a different opinion of stave churches. They were unsure if they should try to restore it to its original condition or keep it the same as when they took over the church.
In 1902, the church was carefully renovated by famous Bergen architect Jens Zetlitz Monrad Kielland. New ideas for preserving buildings had emerged, and they preserved churches as they were. That’s why the church has bits from all periods of its life.
Today, only repairs and conservative interventions are done to prevent decay. From 2008 to 2010 they replaced the floor and foundations after the church began to sink on the north side.
Excavations under the floor
During restoration work in the 20th and 21st centuries, they discovered many coins. The floor needed a lot of replacement, and during this process, they found lots of items. In total, there were over 200 Norwegian and foreign coins. The Norwegian coins are from the Middle Ages, while most of the foreign coins are from after the plague in 1349. This indicates that there was less local currency in circulation after the plague and that trade with other countries had grown considerably.
UNESCO World Heritage List
In 1979 the Urnes Stave Church was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. It is one of the first two heritage sites in Norway, together with Bryggen.
UNESCO points out that the church is a unique example of traditional Scandinavian wooden architecture. It represents the timber building tradition that spread throughout Western Europe during the Middle Ages. Also, it contains recycled decorative parts and building elements from another stave church built 100 years earlier.
Their page for the church is here: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/58
The church today
Urnes Stave Church has not been in regular use since 1881. This is when the parish of Urnes was abolished. The church is only used for special occasions such as baptisms and weddings.
The church is a museum and one of the most popular tourist sites in Norway.
Visitor Information
Opening hours & prices
Find up-to-date visitor information at stavechurch.com (click here).
The church is open from the beginning of June until the end of September. Tickets cost 100 NOK pp but come with an included guided tour.
You can view the interior of the church with a 3D model! Click here: https://mpembed.com/show/?m=LW3ZtZoKJQc&mpu=287&mpv=1
Facilities
There is a large carpark down by the indoor museum. This is also where the counter is for tickets and tours. You’ll find souvenirs and restrooms here: there isn’t a cafe.
It’s a short walk (no stairs) up the hill to get to the church.
Getting Here
If doing the Sognefjellet Tourist Road, or just in the area, you can drive to Urnes from Skjolden. The road is very narrow so be careful.
Otherwise, the most popular way to get there is to take the ferry from Solvorn. The ferry runs infrequently in the off-season and somewhat frequently during summer. It’s worth noting that the ferry has limited capacity for vehicles. You can take it without a car, but the church is a bit of a trek up the hill.
What is in the area?
In Solvorn you’ll find the Walaker Hotel, the oldest in Norway (website here). From Solvorn you are a short drive away from Sogndal and Kaupanger (home to a stave church). Take the ferry across the Sognefjord and you’ll be on the E16 between Bergen and Oslo in Laerdal. Laerdal is midway between Flåm and Borgund Stave Church. Laerdal is about a 3 hour drive from Bergen.
From Skjolden, you can do the Sognefjellet Tourist Road up to Lom, and from Lom you are a short drive from Geiranger or Valdresflye.
There’s heaps to do just around Sogndal and the Sognefjord – I’ll get around to writing it all down soon.
1 Comment on On the UNESCO World Heritage List: Urnes Stave Church