Urnes stavkyrkje

Shortly after I woke up, a young woman barged into the hostel cabin, asked who I was without introducing herself, asked a few perfunctory questions about where I was going and why, picked up the trash bins by the counter, and left the building. A minute later I realized she was an employee, and definitely a native Norwegian with the trademark “direct” style that could easily be seen as rudeness.

She came back in and asked me to remove the sheets from the bed I’d used. I had already done that, and packed my bags, so I just motioned up the stairs as I left. Apparently I’d done too good of a job by re-folding the blanket because when I came back for the rest of my bags she was at the bottom of the stairs, and asked which bed was mine. I set down my bags, walked back up to the room, and pointed. Finally she went from terse and grumpy-sounding to friendly, and said, “Oh; thank you for folding the blanket. I wish you luck on your ride!”

When the bike was loaded, I pushed it over to the little store that was part of the farm. The woman was behind the desk, and I handed back the English pamphlet I’d used on yesterday’s walking tour, then bought three bottles of juice and a jar of jam. This time she asked questions about my route and actually seemed interested in the answers. Apparently being a customer with money and almost no demands is the key to Norwegian politeness. I’m joking; perhaps.

The day was amazing! Clouds hugged the far side of the fjord. In less than an hour I would take a ferry across.

But first, I had time to buy a few snacks, and say hello again to the official cat mascot near the dock!

The ferry was adorably small. I was the only cyclist, and there were a few people on foot, plus a motorcyclist and a couple of cars.

See you later, Solvorn! I do believe you’re the cutest town in all of Norway.

As the little boat chugged across the fjord I took in some details.

The whole ride took about half an hour and I loved every second of it.

The Ornes dock was even more adorable than the Solvorn one.

The people on foot disembarked along with me, then the motorcycle and cars followed. Once the boat was empty, a crowd of other tourists walked aboard and started milling about. Then about a minute before the boat was due to leave, three more tourists in their mid-60’s came jogging awkwardly down the hill, sweaters flapping, and pressed into the crowd.

The steep land of Ornes was fertile, and covered mostly in well-established fruit trees. I knew the church gave guided tours every hour, and didn’t care which hour I arrived, so I took my time climbing the hill.

The view of the fjord got more and more grand as I ascended.

Along the way I saw some friendly kiosks:

Eventually, after much shoving of the bicycle, I beheld the church. Wow!

Next to it was a small museum and ticket center, and a little cafe.

I grabbed a ticket for a tour. The young lady behind the counter said the next one would start in five minutes, and I was the only person who’d showed up for it, which was quite a contrast to the large group that went through an hour ago. I remembered all those folks rushing to get on the ferry…

After finishing the tour I walked through the museum and got additional info and pictures from there. Then another tour was starting, with a different guide, so I tagged along with that group and got a whole additional pile of info. The following is a combination of both tours, plus what I saw in the museum:

“This church was built in 1130.  The National Trust bought it in 1880, and before that it was a private church for the area.  As of 1979 it’s currently a part of UNESCO. There are very few of these churches left, only 28. We lost many of them because during the 1800’s the population was growing, and stave churches are usually small, so many were demolished to build bigger ones.”

“This is actually the 4th church built on this spot. The first was built around the year 900, even though Norway isn’t considered to be a Christian country until about the year 1000. In 900 this area was more populated because there were many people traveling by water: The fjord was basically the main road.  So, Christianity arrived here relatively early and the first church was built.”

“But there was a problem with the first church: It was constructed with wooden columns that went right into the earth, so the wood would rot very quickly. It wan’t very long before they had to build a second church here, and the second church had the same problem. By the time that one rotted, they improved their technique and laid a foundation of stones, then built the third church on top, which kept the wood dry. That one lasted much longer. All of the wood is pine.”

“The third church was probably a bit smaller than this one, and had a lot of intricate carvings all around it. You could technically call it a temple just as easily as you could call it a church. When they built the fourth church, which is the one in front of you, they re-used some of the wooden walls from the third one. That’s why the tour starts here, on the north side of the church. If you look at these panels closely you’ll see that the two on the right actually form a door between them. See the arch near the top? This doorway was the entrance to the third church. They sealed it off and used the whole section as part of the north wall. The wood is dated to around 1070, just a bit older than the rest of the fourth church. It was common to re-use wood like this at the time.”

“In the carvings here you can see serpents, and this other animal. It’s kind of mysterious, but we think it’s a lion. In the year 1000 the artists had to imagine what a lion looked like, based on descriptions, like from the Bible. It’s described with a long thin tail, a mane, and sharp teeth, and it’s used as a symbol of Jesus, like “The Lion Of Judah”. So, we’re guessing it’s a lion but no one truly knows. Also, at the tails of the serpents we have these flowers, which are lilies symbolizing salvation.”

“The black color of the church — it’s very dramatic isn’t it? It’s actually tar. It’s painted on the church about every five years to preserve the wood. It makes it look like the wood has been burned, but it hasn’t. That’s just the texture of the tar.”

“Also, the roof is newer than the rest of the church. Over the years the roof has usually been wood, but for a while we know that stone tiles were used. The shingles have been replaced over the years. There are some examples of the oldest shingles in the museum.”

“The bell tower was added to the top of the roof in the 1700’s. Before the bell was up there, it was placed on a hill up behind the church.”

“We also added rain gutters to the building, to help with preservation. You’ll notice there is kind of a river of tar in them. That’s accumulated over many years. The tar is constantly washed off by the rain and snow, and in the summer the tar also melts a little on hot days and runs down the outside very slowly.”

“The south side of the church gets more sun so we have to paint that side more often, about once every three years. In recent decades we’ve had to do it more because the climate has been warming.”

“Let’s go around to the front of the church, shall we?”

“See that stone? It’s the oldest tombstone found here. It was dug up from the ground and dated to about 1200.”

“The cemetery is actually still in use. We re-use graves here, which is a common practice. You don’t actually own your spot by the church. You sort of rent it for a while, and then you get moved somewhere else. Then we take the tombstone out. If you don’t take it with you, it’s used for construction. Many of the stones in the rock wall around the church are old tombstones. That’s not unique to this church; it’s done all over Norway. You might see a tombstone in a wall anywhere, many miles away from a church.”