Urnes stave church in Norway

Located in Norway , near lustrafjorden , in the luster municipality  in the sogn og fjordane county; the Urnes stave church is a UNESCO world heritage site. the church was listed in 1979. its has been owned by the society for the preservation of Norwegian ancient monuments. the church till today stands at its same originally built location. it was built in the year 1130. the church is one of the oldest of its kind. in act it is supposed to be linking christian architecture with the viking age. the various art works include animal ornamentation.

This is what was called Urnes style of animal art. This building was still built later on,and according to the ruins that were found , the archeological investigations have discovered that there were two churches before the Urnes church. then further excavations were being carried out, holes were uncovered that belonged to posts that belonged to an early post styled church. the design used here was the type with walls that were supported by short sills that are inserted between free standing posts. according to the style the roof should be higher that contemporary nave churches.

The earliest church was said to be from the eleventh century. now during the seventeenth century, the nave of the church  which is otherwise a raised Central room which happens to be surrounded by an aisle from all sides was actually extended southwards. later on additional structures were added to the church like the baptismal font , the wooden canopy , the pulpit and the alter. windows were added to the church in the 18th century along with the altarpiece which shows Christ on the cross with the virgin Mary and john the baptist. The parish later on was dysfunctional after 1881 and further became a part of the parish of solvorn. and after that this structure has never been used in that same fashion again.

The north wall along with the portal, the details and all  are all decorated in a a classic Urnes style . These relics are believed to be from another church , may be even earlier. this portal is believed to be the main portal that faces the west side. over the centuries , there has been great interest taken in the icons and carvings that have been made on the north wall. the carvings depict a snake trying to climb upwards and the lower part of the carving shows a four legged animal biting into the snakes body. amongst the many interpretations , the one; that this is a fight between the forces of good and evil. The animal that is shown  biting the snake seems to looks like a well decorated lion. apparently in christian mythology, the lion is a symbol of Christ.

And the lion biting the snake is common taken for granted as an interpretation that the snake is Satan. Although it can also be said that the decorations are all Nordic. Also many carvings in early churches were very similar to images and icons fro Nordic mythology. under the church, lies a christian burial ground. since the church was made of wood, there are precise methods to find out the exact age of the wood and hence the age of the church as well. during the time that church was built , Urnes used to belong to a famous chief and his family. This chieftain owned many farms like the one that house the church. because of all of these situations, the chieftains were pretty powerful people. and quite rich. the carvings on the church  are quite distinct and regional  that had far away influences. this shows that artists and craftsmen were brought it from far away. When restoration were being done in the early nineteen hundreds, at the time windows were added in. although until that , there were no windows in the church before that.