Norway-msg

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Norway-msg - 9/4/01

Medieval points of interest in Norway.

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Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2001 12:41:11 -0000

From: "Elonwen ferch Dafydd" <elonwen at hotmail.com>

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ku.edu

Subject: Norway

I just visited Norway and saw a great deal of places of interest. Maybe these places are of some interest to you, too.

First of all the stave churches (stavkyrkje). I don't know how much you know about Norway, but I haven't seen anywhere else so many medieval wooden buildings so well preserved. 29 stave churches have survived the years, most of them seem to have been built in the 12th or 13th centuries. The high number of the medieval churches can partly be explained by Norway having been spared from the worst wars because of its location (Finland was always walked over and the first thing they tended to rob and burn was the churches. That's what you got, being stuck between the first Catholic and then Lutheran Sweden and Orthodox Russia) and partly by the Norwegians taking good care of the wood. They used pine, which contains oleoresin, which is said to preserve timber. They also used tar on the outside of the walls. These are really worth seeing. It's easy to see quite a few in just one day, because as yoou drive the road just south of Jotunheim (we drove from Sweden to Sognefjord and Nordfjord by the Atlantic Sea in the very west of Norway), you can't miss them, since there is a sign for one in just about every third village you drive through.

To see what they look like:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/christele.colombin/page5.htmlhttp://www.thu.no/stavlomen.htm (Not as well preserved as the others)

http://home.no.net/grueng/bilder/kyrkjer_attr/hopperstad_kyrkje.htm

Runestones are also about, unfortunately I managed to spot only one, in Vang. It was two-meter high and had beautiful carvings and a story about the ancient gods. Unfortunately it wasn't translated, not even to modern Norwegian (I mean, I can deal with Norwegian, enough to get the idea, but the medieval one and in runes - no way).And of course the numerous museums are worth visiting.

Unfortunately they are quite expensive, so if you want to visit many museums, you'll have to have a decent budget.

Elonwen