The Historic Market Town: Kaupanger Stave Church
No trip to the Sognefjord is complete without a visit to Kaupanger Stave Church. It’s a tall church standing proudly alongside the fjord; in fact, it’s the largest church in Vestland county. While Kaupanger may seem like a sleepy village today, during the Viking Age it was one of the busiest settlements in Norway. Also, as the name suggests, it was an important trading place.
Kaupanger is on the way to the Laerdal ferry from Sogndal, so be sure to take the quick detour and visit this church! That’s exactly what I did back in September 2020. Here’s my guide to what you can see at Kaupanger Stave Church.
In this article...
The market village Kaupanger
Kaupanger has been a settlement since at least the Viking Age, though likely before as well. Kaupang is an old Norse word for trading or marketplace, and you’ll see the name throughout Norway. The latter half of the name angr means ‘fjord’ or ‘harbour’. So, the name means ‘buy harbour’. It’s like the literal translation of Copenhagen.
Kaupanger likely was one of the starting points for the Viking expeditions. Additionally, it was a tingstad, meaning meeting place and administrative centre. Kaupanger is mentioned in old documents as one of the 16 densely populated centres in Norway.
The importance of Kaupanger declined after the Black Death (Plague) in 1349. At some point, the market moved across the fjord to Laerdal. It is not known when Laerdal took over, but it is first mentioned in 1656 and by that point, it had been operating for a while.
A church is established in Kaupanger
A church in Kaupanger was first mentioned in 1308, but the church is much older than that. The present church stands on the ruins of two previous churches. These churches had load-bearing pillars placed directly into the ground. This causes the logs to rot much quicker and is probably why they replaced the churches.
An old burial ground existed in the area before they built a church. The oldest tombs are from the second half of the 10th century, and the graves are according to Christian customs.
So, Kaupanger Stave Church is from around the time Christianity was sweeping across Norway. Dendrochronology has revealed that the timber used for building the church is from 1137. Kaupanger is mentioned in Sverre’s Saga in 1184 when King Sverre burned the village down as punishment for the villagers disobeying him. The stave church likely survived this attack.
Even though, as we’ll read, the church has undergone a huge restoration, it is one of the stave churches that is the best taken care of.
The stave church with the most staves
The nave of Kaupanger stave church has 22 staves, making this the church with the largest number of staves in any one stave church. There are eight on each of the longest sides and then three on the shorter sides.
The staves are unlike the other staves found in this fjord region. They don’t have crosses or beams linking them together, as seen in Borgund and Urnes Stave Churches. Additionally, the portals are not equipped with dragon ornaments or other rich decorations. These types of decorations are in most stave churches. It is unknown why this church is different in that regard.
Like every stave church, this one has changed over the years. Before I get into the restoration work, I’ll tell you about some of the early changes to the church. In the Middle Ages, extensions of the ship out west meant more space inside. This expansion likely took place before the Black Death. Additionally, there used to be a hallway around the church. It is where (it’s thought) the Vikings left their shields before going inside. They removed the hallway in the 17th century. It’s possible that the roofing and annex were added to the church shortly after the Reformation.
The ‘Brutal Modernisation’ of Kaupanger Stave Church
In 1862, Kaupanger Stave Church underwent a huge renovation. Today, historians refer to it as a ‘brutal modernisation’ – my new favourite term. Basically, what they did was cut windows into the sides of the church, placed white exterior panelling around the exterior, and added dark roof tiles to the roof. The idea was to make it look like the 19th-century churches going up all over the country in a Classicist style. The Kaupanger Manor, which stands nearby, had a similar renovation.
The new style of the church didn’t last too long. In 1959-1960, work was carried out to un-renovate the church and take it back to its 17th-century look. Despite the heavy changes it underwent, most of the medieval structure is preserved. Phew.
What's Inside
The interior is from after the Reformation in the 16th century when Norway changed from being Catholic to Lutheran. The pulpit, altarpiece and font are all from the 17th century. They are donations from the major landowner and owner of Kaupanger Manor, Gjøde Pederssøn. A memorial plaque over the choir is believed to be for him and his family. An earlier altarpiece, believed to be from 1609, is now in Jostedal Church.
Meanwhile, at the Bergen Museum
When the ‘brutal modernisation’ was underway, some items from the church went to the Historic Museum in Bergen. The most known piece is an antemensale, or altar table front. It’s made of oak and depicts scenes from the lives of saints including St. Olav, St. Andreas, and St. Nicholas. It is from the second half of the 12th century. Two pillars with decorations, two dragons’ heads, and an animal head were also moved to the museum in 1862.
Around the Area
The stave church and Kaupanger Manor are closely related, and the property stands next to the church. Today, you’ll see the long red barn. The main manor house, a white timber structure, is down by the fjord and difficult to see from the road. Archaeological excavations show that the farm goes back to 1800BC. What the farm originally looked like is unknown. However, it has always been one of the major farms in the area. The property came under the ownership of the Knagenhjelm Family, a Danish and Norwegian noble family. They bought the property sometime in the 1600s, and the direct descendants still own the property today.
Close by is the Heiberg Collection: one of the oldest museums in the country. It is from 1909 and consists of a collection of local buildings to show how people have lived and worked here from the Middle Ages until the present day. You can view their website here: http://dhs.museum.no/en
The church today
Today Kaupanger Stave Church is a Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site. The Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments owns the property.
The church is open in the summer months and operates as a museum. Guided tours are available and highly recommended.
Up-to-date visitor information can be found here:
https://www.stavechurch.com/kaupanger-stavkirke/
Otherwise, the church is still the parish church and is used for service.
Kaupanger Stave Church is located just off the main road from Sogndal down to the ferry pier that goes over to Laerdal.