Sacred wood: A study of the Norwegian stave Churches

The stave churches of Norway are a powerful and glorious testimony to a time marked by the submission of pagan beliefs to the advent of Christianity in Scandinavia. They are the offspring of a marriage between the Romanesque and Gothic architectural influences, which came with the onset of Christianity, and the native woodworking skills, which were ever present in domestic Scandinavian structures. From this coupling, came a place that was truly made for worship. These churches, with their peculiar design, richly carved portals and multiplicity of dragon headed gables perched as guardians over the land, are the paradigm of the rugged and ancestral Norwegian spirit that once flourished.;This paper will address the possible origins of stave church construction, their rudimentary design, the native and foreign influences that added to their unique adornment and the categorization of the three basic types of stave church constructions.