Drive it Yourself: The Numedal Valley
The Numedal Valley is perhaps one of the best-kept secrets in Norway. Located between Kongsberg and Geilo, the valley contains the largest number of medieval wooden buildings in Norway; an impressive 40 ancient farm buildings and 4 stave churches. On this drive, we’ll see a lot of it!
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Online Guide
- Information about points of interest
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- Historic photos
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- Images of each point of interest
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- Directions between points
- Historic photos
- Facilities including supermarkets, toilets, petrol, hotels, cafes, restaurants with addresses.
- Interactive Google Map for easier navigation
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The drive: Numedal Valley
Kongsberg
Kongsberg is a fascinating town to explore, and if you have a full day I recommend making the most of everything on offer.
Historically, Kongsberg is an important place. It was founded by the Danish/Norwegian King Christian IV as a mining community in 1624 after the discovery of silver. One year later, the Kongsberg Silver Mines were established.
With the rise of silver mining, Kongsberg became the largest industrial centre in Norway until the 19th century. The silver mining contributed to 10% of Denmark-Norway’s GDP, which was mostly spent on Denmark’s endless wars with Sweden.
Christian IV hired Germans from silver mines in Germany to help with the establishment and education of silver mining in Norway. Most of the workers throughout the mines history were Germany, though Norwegians gradually took over.
The mines also contained high-purity gold and a large amount of copper, cobalt, lead-zinc and flourite.
The Kongsberg Mines were energy intensive and difficult to work in. Eventually gunpowder was used in the mines. This also helped establish Kongsberg’s defence industry. Today, Kongsberg is known as the home of Norway’s major defence contractor, Kongsberg Gruppen. Two of its well-known products are Kongsberg Cold and the Krag-Jørgensen rifle.
Kongsberg is also the site of the Royal Norwegian Mint, which mints Norwegian coins and produces circulating and collectors’ coins for other countries.
In Kongsberg you’ll find many museums. You can also visit the Kongsberg Mines, where some buildings are still standing. The mountain has many hiking trails for all levels, and many choose to hike to Kronene i Håvet, a collection of royal monograms in the side of the mountain (click here for info).
Due to the huge Danish and German influence, the architecture in Kongsberg is unique compared to other pats of the country. It has also largely escaped fired.
Flesberg Municipality
Flesberg Stave Church
Stave Church
The Flesberg Stave Church is the first of the four churches we’ll see today. It is first mentioned in history in 1359, but is probably from the latter half of the 1100s or the first half of the 1200s.
It doesn’t look like much of a stave church, doesn’t it? It’s changed a lot over the years. The first-ever painting of a stave church is of Flesberg stave church, and it’s from 1701. We can see just how much it’s changed.
In the 1730s, the church underwent its first restoration. It was expanded and some of the old parts were removed; as you can see, the new parts weren’t in a stave style. In 1792, the church got a new roof and the stave church choir was torn down.
Today, the only original part of the stave church is on the western side, where you can see stave decorations around the portal. There are so few parts of the old church left.
Rollag Municipality
Rollag Open Air Museum
Museum
The Rollag farmstead is now an open-air museum. The farm consists of fourteen buildings around a courtyard. The museum shows what farms looked like in this valley, and the architecture is authentic. The buildings come from other farms in Rollag. There are over 1,000 objects that show everyday life in the village.
You’ll see signs to the museum about 30 seconds before reaching Rollag Stave Church.
The museum is open in the summer months.
Rollag Stave Church
Stave Church
The Rollag Stave Church was built in the 12th century as a single nave church, the simplest type of stave church. In the 17th century, it was rebuilt as a cruciform church.
While there isn’t much of the original church left, Rollag Stave Church is still regarded as one of the most beautiful rural churches in Norway.
Around the church you’ll find ancient stone walls. Some have rings for horses. In the cemetery is an ancient stone cross. It’s believed this site was an ancient gathering place for Christians before they got a church.
Gamle Mogen Landhandel
Vintage Shop
This is an old country store turned museum. It was established in 1840 when a man from Telemark got a permit to sell liquor and make a store here. Inside you’ll find a good representation of an old country supermarket and general store. It’s not marked on Google Maps, so keep an eye out! There’s also a place called “Gamle Logen” in Oslo that Google Maps thinks you are talking about.
Veggli
Town
The next town we pass through is called Veggli.
The population here is 348 people. Veggli Church is located here. The church is from 1859 and is a typical rural church from this period.
In Veggli you can drive a trolley on the disused Numedalsbanen. The trip starts in Veggli and ends at Rødberg. The trolley was used to inspect the railway line and was an important means of transportation for operators on the line.
Behind the church in Veggli is an old cemetery. This is where a stave church used to be located. When the population grew substantially in the 17th century, the town needed a new church. At first, they rebuilt Veggli Stave Church just like they did with Rollag. However, when the new church was built in 1859, they demolished the old church. Only the apse wall survives, and it’s at the historical museum in Oslo. Some of the doors and details of the stave church were sold to farmers, who still have them on their properties.
Mellom Kravik
Historic Building
This is considered to be one of the oldest private residences in Norway. The rooms on the ground floor are supply rooms, while the first floor has bedrooms. The loft has two rooms and each room has an entrance from the outside. It was likely constructed in the 14th century.
The building is on a private residence and opens for the annual Medieval Week festival in the Numedal Valley.
Next to it is an even older loft called Søre Kravik. Its architecture is descended from the Viking’s royal halls. This building is from the year 1300. The building functioned as a feast hall; the guests would sleep on the second floor and the main festivities took place on the first floor.
Nore og Uvdal Municipality
Nore Stave Church
Stave Church
The Nore Stave Church is the third church we pass. Its age is unknown, but judging the wood the church may be from 1167. The portal is the same as the one at Flesberg, which is from 1163-1189.
The floor-plan of this church is unique; no other church has this in Norway. Maybe other stave churches had this floor plan; there used to be 1,000 and now there’s only 28. There is also a central mast in the middle of the church, another unique element.
The inside of the church is absolutely beautiful and comes from all time periods, though most of it is from 1650-1750.
The church is open during the summer months.
Sevle Loft & Sevletunet
Historic Buildings
This is the newest of the lofts in Numedal. It’s from 1632 but the shape is typical medieval. What makes this one interesting is that it’s a bnb! The owners of the bnb are descendants of the original owners. One of the buildings is the old post office and the interior contains some original pieces. You can also stay in an old barn!
Rødberg
Town
Rødberg is the largest town in Numedal with a population of 498. There are two powerplants here that utilise the waterflow from the dam (to the right). Rødberg was the terminal station of the Numedal railway line.
Uvdal Stave Church
Stave Church
Compared to the other churches, Uvdal is located high on the hill-side and is surrounded by old farm buildings. The church was in use until the 19th century, when a new church was built further down the valley. The new church looks just like a stave church.
It’s believed Uvdal stave church is from 1169. It has a central mast like Nore, used to hold up the bell. When excavations were done here, 200 coins were found from the 13th century and earlier.
Like the other churches on our drive, Uvdal has been extensively restored over the years. The inner core is the original stave church.
Uvdal Open-Air Museum
Museum
The museum is a historic farmstead located in the former village. You can see the vicarage storehouses, school house, and farm buildings. The open-air museum is open in the summer months, when they have local artisans with stalls.
Uvdal Church
Church
This is not a stave church! Uvdal Church was built in 1893 to replace the Uvdal Stave Church as the main church. It’s built in the dragestil style, which takes inspiration from medieval and stave architecture in Noway. This church seats 350 people. You’ll notice this church has huge glass windows; that’s completely unseen in stave churches.
Hole Municipality
Dagali
Village
Dagali is a small mountain village close to Geilo. It is one of the highest settlements with permanent agricultural operations.
Dagali has an airport that is today only used for recreation. There’s also the Dagali Opplevelser, which offers outdoor activities like wafter rafting and snowmobiling. In Dagali you’ll find an open-air museum with farm buildings from around the area.
The climate here is subarctic, meaning there are very cold and very snowy winters and somewhat cool summers. Dagali airport has some of the coldest temperatures in southern Norway.
Geilo
We’ve made it to Geilo! With a population of 2,400, Geilo is primarily a ski resort town and one of the most famous ski areas in Scandinavia. It’s a great but expensive place to spend some time; after all, Geilo is known for having some of the most luxurious and expensive holiday cabins in Norway.
The town is located roughly halfway between Bergen and Oslo on the national road 7 (E7), making it very accessible. Additionally, there’s the Bergensbanen, or the railway line linking Bergen and Oslo. Geilo was developed only when the railway was constructed, and it quickly gained a good reputation for winter sports.
Geilo is the first skiing resort in the country and is still one of the largest.
The ski season lasts from late October to late April. There are 39 slopes covering 33km. There’s also an extensive cross country system in Geilo with 220km of tracks.In summer, there are plenty of sports activities.
In the summer months, many Norwegians come here to go hiking or mountain biking. The Rallarvegen route from Finse to Flåm is extremely popular. That road is an old construction road that was used when the railway line was being constructed.
The town centre has a number of shops, including many outdoor and sports shops. There are two small shopping malls with free parking, and inside you’ll find supermarkets, cafes, bakeries, electronic stores and clothing stores.
There are understandably many hotels in Geilo, and some of them are quite expensive. Some of them reflect the cabin lifestyle so may be basic, while others are more luxurious. They will have higher prices during the Norwegian summer holidays (late June to late August) and over the winter season. If you can, I recommend renting a cabin on AirBnB. When the owner isn’t using it they sometimes put it up for rent. It gives you a great opportunity to see what Norwegian cabins are like, and you really don’t need to stay in Geilo centre.
Continue the drive
Valdresflye Tourist Road
Cross the mountains on one of Norway’s most scenic tourist roads.
Previous Drive
This drive is part of the multi-day series “Ultimate Norway”. You can read about the whole drive below.
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