Haltdalen Stave Church

For the Haltdalen church built in 1881, see Haltdalen Church.
The original at Sverresborg museum

Haltdalen Stave Church (Norwegian: Haltdalen stavkyrkje) is a stave church originally from Haltdalen in the municipality of Holtålen in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is now on display at the Sverresborg museum in Trondheim. The church was probably built in the 1170s.[1]

Original church

The church on display is a rebuilt version of two churches from Ålen and Haltdalen. The western wall and the portal is from the old Ålen church. This is a single-nave stave church of the east Scandinavian-style, and it is the only one that is preserved.

Replica in Iceland

Main article: Heimaey stave church

In commemoration of the thousandth anniversary of the conversion of Iceland to Christianity, developing a suggestion by the Icelandic government, the Norwegian state presented Iceland with a replica of the Haltdalen church, which was erected by the harbour of Vestmannaeyjabær in the Vestmannaeyjar, in an area formed by the lava of the 1973 eruption of Eldfell. The replica was undertaken by the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research as a three-year research and reconstruction project from 1998 to 2000 under the leadership of Elisabeth Seip. The church was constructed at Lom from materials deliberately drawn widely from around Norway, including timber from Røros, shingles from Odalen, tar from Skjåk, wrought iron from Vågå, and a doorstep from Holtålen. A gallery was added around the outside of the building, inspired by other stave churches, to provide the building with extra strength against the stormy weather of the Vestmannaeyjar. The church was built and consecrated in summer 2000. The project was supported by a Norwegian government grant of 5.5m Norwegian kroner; Icelandic government funding for the redevelopment of the Skansinn area of Vestmannaeyjarbær as a heritage area; and some private sponsorship was also involved, most importantly that the Icelandic company Eimskip shipped the church to Iceland for free.[2]

The replica also includes an altar decorated with a replica of the St Olav frontal, one of the finest surviving medieval Norwegian works of art, undertaken under the leadership of Terje Nordsted.[3]

Replica of the Haltdalen Stave Church in the Vestmannaeyjar
Picture of a small wooden church by an inlet of the sea, with mountains in the background.
Replica of Haltdalen Stave Church in situ. 
Nave of a small wooden church, showing Romanesque archway to choir and iron chandelier.
Nave of the church, showing entrance to the choir. 
Roof beams shown from the inside of a small wooden church.
Roof of the nave. 
An altar frontal showing St Olav with axe in the middle and four scenes, each with roughly a quarter of the field, depicting his life and sainthood.
Replica of the St Olav frontal. 
A dark wooden passageway with a stone floor lit only by a small romanesque window.
Outer gallery, not in the original church. 

References

  1. ↑ Jensenius, Jørgen H. "Haltdalen" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2011-02-18.
  2. ↑ Paul Torvik Nilsen, 'Colourful Middle Ages', Tell'us: Science in Norway (December 2001), 6-9.
  3. ↑ Paul Torvik Nilsen, 'Colourful Middle Ages', Tell'us: Science in Norway (December 2001), 8-9.

External links

Coordinates: 63°25′4″N 10°21′18″E / 63.41778°N 10.35500°E / 63.41778; 10.35500

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