Qualla: Borgund Stave Church

Borgund Stave Church: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY 2.5. Scratched into the interior wall of a medieval wooden church in a narrow valley in western Norway is a runic inscription left by a man named Thorir. Written "in the evening at St. Olav's Mass," it blames the Norns, the female beings of Norse mythology who controlled personal destiny, for his misfortunes. The inscription dates to the Middle Ages, centuries after Christianity had officially replaced the old religion in Norway, yet here was a churchgoer hedging his theological bets, invoking pagan fate-goddesses inside a Christian sanctuary. Borgund Stave Church, where Thorir carved his complaint, has stood in the Laerdal valley since approximately 1200 AD. Built from vertical pine timbers blackened with protective tar, its tiered rooflines stacked like a dark wooden wedding cake, the church is the best-preserved of Norway's 28 surviving stave churches. It has not held regular services since 1868, when a newer church was built nearby. But it has held the attention of anyone who has stood inside its dim nave, surrounded by eight centuries of woodcraft, and wondered how pagan and Christian traditions could inhabit the same building.

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Image: CC BY 2.5

Borgund Stave Church: A Cube Within a Cube

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. The engineering of Borgund is deceptively sophisticated. Structurally, the building has been described as a cube within a cube, each independent of the other. The inner structure consists of twelve free-standing columns that rise from ground level to support the roof. These colum...

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Image: Public domain

Borgund Stave Church: Guardians on the Gables

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit J. P. Fagerback, BSD. Four dragon heads swoop from the carved ridge crests of Borgund's gables, their open mouths facing outward as if daring something to approach. Art historians note their resemblance to the carved prows of Norse longships, a visual connection between two of the Viking Age's most am...

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Image: J. P. Fagerback | BSD

Borgund Stave Church: The Stripped Interior

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Maarten Heerlien from Voorschoten, The Netherlands, CC BY 2.0. Step inside Borgund and the first thing you notice is how little is there. Most of the furnishings have been removed. A soapstone baptismal font, a medieval stone altar, a 17th-century altarpiece showing the Crucifixion flanked by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, a pulpit fr...

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Image: Maarten Heerlien from Voorschoten, The Netherlands | CC BY 2.0

Borgund Stave Church: A Bell Tower and a Global Legacy

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andreas Pujol, CC BY-SA 4.0. South of the church stands Norway's only surviving free-standing stave-work bell tower, built in the mid-13th century. It covers the remnants of the medieval foundry where the church bell was cast, a foundry pit that was left exposed for decades after an old door was removed and ...

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Image: Andreas Pujol | CC BY-SA 4.0