It's remarkable for someone whose respiratory system is acclimated to thin Rocky Mountain air. I was amused to see puffs of chilly droplets from his breath at 1:40, while he's dressed for spring.
I studied stave churches and their architecture as a part of my art degree here in Norway 5 years ago, and even back then, I was certain that the kind of craftsmenship we see with those churces definitely originated from techniques used in both ship building and a variety of larger buildings. What's also special is that there's a huge carving placed on the north wall of the Urnes church, (seen it myself), which is believed to have been made for another structure and moved onto the church when it was built. And the theme and style definitely resemble something a lot more Norse mythology than Christian. So it might have been something made for a temple or other important building a long time before the church was built
Seems like Norway had quite a bit of migration from Ireland (celts) from the Iron Age onward so it is natural to question whether or not the people that brought the style came from Ireland and settled in Norway before the Viking age.
@@drgreengood Yes, there are big similarities between the animal ornaments on the Urnes portal and several Irish-Celtic ornaments like e.g. some from the Book of Kells. However you should not forget about that the huge majority of the ornamental style (later named Urnes style, the youngest of the Viking Age animal ornamental styles) can be be found on runestones in Sweden (which was much less affected by Irish migrations). I don't know how much research that has been done concerning the connection between the Norse and Irish art styles, but some influence between them seems plausible. Be we should not forget though that animal ornamental styles had existed (in various different styles) within Scandinavian art for several centuries by the time the Urnes portal was made. So even if Irish art might have influenced the later Viking Age animal ornamental art styles, it should in that case probably be seen as something that blended together with an already existing animal art rather than the Irish being the only source.
@@alaruno8325 if the celts migrated from the region known as Austria today and ultimately settled in Scotland, and if it's true that we are told the Scott's and Irish shared language and culture would it not make sense where some of the similarities came from? The Goths where a Germanic people, is it not also true they built many of the Cathedrals of Europe? The evidence linking the techniques of reinforcing in ship building being mirrored in Nordic and other European sacred buildings speaks volumes! This is exciting but not really surprising. It just hasn't been discussed or cared about in a long long time.
@@honoriswithin The spreading of Celtic culture across Europe has been debated quite much. So even if many scholars connect the "Celtic homeland" to Austria and the so called Hallstatt culture, the spread from there has been debated. The huge DNA divergence among various "Celtic peoples" indicate that it could have been a cultural spread rather than migrations of peoples. Never the less the prime time of the Celts were during the 3th century BCE while the Gothic migrations happened during the 4th and 5th centuries CE. So we shouldn't connect these two too much. By the time the Germanic tribes expanded across Europe the majority of the continental Celtic peoples were very Romanised since centuries back. So I doubt that the Germanic tribes were too much influenced by them if we speak about animal ornamental art. But the insular Celts (of Britain and Ireland) for sure are of interest here since they kept their distinct Celtic culture much longer. It's a very interesting topic for sure and I would like to find out if someone did some research among the connection between Celtic and Germanic art. However the so called Gothic cathedrals we can totally exclude from all of this. The ancient Goths had nothing to do with the Gothic architectural style which began being popular during the end of the 12 century CE. So hundreds of years after the Gothic migrations! The style was given the name "Gothic" during the 16th century as a prejorative term since some thought it looked "barbarous" (and therefore compared to the Goths).
My mother works in one of these churches. I celebrated christmas eve there a couple of years ago. Stepping into the church was truly magical. Like being transported back in time, or suddenly feeling an intense connection with a forgotten part of myself.
For those in the US, Door County Wisconsin is home to 2 Stave churches. One is in Baileys Harbor, and the other is on Washington island. The one on Washington island does require a ferry ride to get to, but it is really beautiful!
This is the kind of breaking news I live for! Thank you, Dr. Crawford. I attended a wedding in South Dakota that was at the Chapel in the Hills. A beautiful reproduction of the Borgund Stavkirke. I'd love to see the original someday
@@thelwulfeoforlic6482 If you look at Matt's comment it says (edited). This probably means that it said something other than Dr. earlier, but he changed it after the honourable Mr. BlowsGoats pointed it out.
I’ve been lucky enough to visit the gol stave church myself and the level of detail and craftsmanship is quite remarkable. I feel it does indeed resemble the kinds of detail that predate christian influence. Thanks for bringing us so many consistently interesting and informative videos Dr. Crawford!
When I looked out of my childhood bedroom window I could see a ruined Anglo Saxon church with a 'new' Norman church beside it. A road called Barrowfield lane with the said field and a possible Roman road going off into the distance.
Don't live there anymore, but my UK town had a Norman parish church, too. Sadly, the church there now isn't original - most of it got demolished and rebuilt during the reign of King George II, with further "additions" courtesy of the Victorians and Nzi bombing - but the stone foundations are still OG. A couple towns over, they've got some crumby old ruins of a 12th century priory that managed to get a Grade I listing. If some wankbag 18th centuriers hadn't Cancelled the Norman church, we'd have the oldest building in the area by a solid century, and we'd have the only building over 500 years old that's still in use - but, sadly, almost everything in our town got ripped up and "modernized" in the 1700s.
We have 3 or so stave churches in America too. I live in Moorhead Minnesota and we have a replica of the Hopperstad church. North Dakota also has a stave church in Minot. they are both very beautiful. I take walks to through "Viking Ship Park" and visit the church often I hope to get married there one day.
Thanks for the update. There is a short MOOC course on Stave churches on the Future Learn platform written by NTNU which covers their history and preservation. Well worth doing
I just watched a 15 minute video by North History about these stave churches & the attempts to preserve them & maintain them. It's a lot of time & work since they had to figure out the original tools & methods of replicating the old craftsmanship to make repairs/replacements. The churches are just amazingly beautiful & I hope they can be preserved for future generations & future study.
If you live in the upper Midwest, there are some Scandinavian American Stave Churches. I’ve been to one on Washington Island on the peninsula in Wisconsin. I’d highly recommend a visit, it’s very beautiful.
Of course there is no why to prove it, but it makes a certain amount of sense that when you build something you would (even unknowingly) draw on your on cultural styles and your own memory. Ask someone to draw a dragon and they will most likely draw a creature that resembles the version of that mycological creature that is most common in his or her culture. If you have only know pagan temples and are asked to build a place of worship you’ll draw on what you know. Even if the commissioner gives some specific instructions on how the building should look like, the craftsmen will still have to draw on their understanding of how a thing is build. Given that the builders had not seen other churches, it seems logical to me that they added more for the pagan temple to the church than they or the commissioner were realizing themselves.
Wow! Planning to travel around Scandinavia In August and September this year so these are on my list of places to visit. Even more exciting to hear this news to confirm they are older. Beautiful buildings 😍
Dr. Crawford please look into the art on the walls of Aghadoe Heights Hotel foyer just outside Killarney. A phone call might suffice. They are very proud to talk about their 5 star hotel. (It is 5 stars BTW.)
They remind me of Speyer Cathedral. I can see the Romanesque influence blending with the ancient Scandinavian architecture, like a new crown on an old king's head.
this is so interesting, i love old buildings! don't have any 11th century churches near me unfortunately, but where i live has a castle from 1090 and another from the 1190s, i think they're fascinating! they're probably not that old but england loves destroying history so it's lucky they're still standing really. but the fact that those churches are made of wood and have survived for so long??? incredible
i think they clearly have very church features, they basically are basilica style, they have a nave with arches, a row of windows above that, and an apse to the east end. So even if they reflect pre Christian art style, the builders had to be familiar with, or maybe instructed by missionaries to imitate, a Christian basilica
Spot on. The few archeological examples for 'temple' structures like Uppåkra or Tissø are more cella like and most likely held the statues of the gods. Communal celebrations and worship were in all likelyhood held in the greast halls of the days like those of Borg, Gamla Uppsala, Hóf etc.
@@Halli50 my reason for not thinking that is that these layout features are derived from pre Christian stuff, but not norse architecture, roman architecture, the floor plan is that of a basilica. so unless the Norse also developed the basilica independently and also used it for worship, its likely they got it from the Christians
11th Century? Fascinating! As is the hypothesis that the designs are based on those they were familiar with, ie, the Temples of their ancestors. We will never know for sure unless someone invents a time machine.
Google Romanian wooden churches and you will see a similarity ( the Norwegian ones are much more complex ) maybe because Norwegians pride themselves in their woodworking skills
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We will not know for sure, but that doesn't mean we can't make informed guesses and assumptions. While no pagan temples are still standing, there are plenty of archeological finds that reveals a great deal about floor plans, foundations, which together lend credibility to the idea that stave churches indeed lends part of older traditions
Look here if you want information about høgnorsk: www.ivaraasen.no/ www.ivaraasen.no/wiki/index.php?title=Hovudsida www.maalmannen.no/ www.reddit.com/r/Hognorsk/ I also agree with you that I'd be very nice if Jackson Crawford made a video about høgnorsk and the Norwegian language struggle.
I call bs. There's no way stave churches are older than thought. Thought has been around since the dawn of intelligent life, how can the churches be older than thought?!
Conversely, at least one surviving stave church (the one at Kvernes) is now believed to have been built as late as the 17th century. Which means this architectural tradition was kept alive longer than previously thought.
We have also found remnants of a pagan temple in Tissoe in Denmark, but we don't know exactly what the building looked like. en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/the-magnate-dynasty-at-tissoe/
@@Victor_aeternus002 Well, I mean, we say "found and excavated", but what we really mean is we found some ancient holes in the ground; holes that, presumably, may have at one point been where wooden pillars stood, holding up what the archeologists excavating the site are currently saying, was _probably_ a temple. We haven't "found a temple" (and probably will never find a temple) in the same sense that we can "find" a wooden stave church - i.e. we're not going to stumble across a building with a floor and walls and maybe ceiling, that we can look at and walk into and imagine what it was like to be a worshipper there, drinking mead, making sacrifices to Odin, and singing Borknagar hymns. Likely, all we can ever hope to find is post-holes, a few graves, and if fate smiles upon us, the temple's garbage pit.
The earliest stave churches were probably much simpler, as an example see Hørning stavkirke at Moesgaard Museum in Denmark. Before that there were even simpler ones called post churches, where the staves (vertical columns) were dug into postholes instead of standing on stone slabs, a typical iron age construction technique. These earliest ones were probably the most closely related to pagan temples.
Impressive that they're still standing after all this time. But I don't think they look that much different to any stone built church of the same period in the UK. The big difference would be between the church buildings in the east, with their onion chaped roofs (allegedly the inspiration for the typical mosque shape) and those in the west which are all angles. I wonder if they just represent the standard style of building to the time and place? And too holy to damage in war, hence they're still standing.
They look pretty different from churches else where in Europa, especially the UK if you ask me. Just look at stave churches like the ones in Borgund, Hopperstad and Heddal.
Gothic style. Thats where the sharp angles come from. And that style comes from the Scandinavians later relatives so it makes sense that they're similar. The heavy snowfall of the region is likely what developed the sharp rooves and caused them to deny the onion shapes.
@@Victor_aeternus002 Yeah, but the difference is less than that between the churches of northern europe and those of the south and east. Those are strikingly different.
Possible, but fairly unlikely. Unlike stone, wood, especially the planks, was recycled for new buildings fairly rarely. This is due in part to the fact it's much less durable than stone, and that it was likely cut and shaped for a specific building. Obviously, wood from old building was recycled, but not often for the construction of new, large and complex buildings
@@Haldei While recycling can be one issue, it isn't the only way that you can wind up with an old wood situation. You'd be surprised how long a dead tree can stand without deteriorating. Also, the fact that these churches still stand shows how durable wood can be with proper care.
I’ve always ‘known’, like you said these stave churches look very much different from continental European churches. And they really often just don’t look ‘xtian’ to me. The whole style just screams ‘pagan’. I mean why else do these things have dragon heads like the boats from pre-christian times. Why else does the Urnes stave church feature carvings that possibly depict Norse myth?
My belief has always been that the people who built the churches built them in the way they always had built their pagan temples. Why should they do otherwise ? It`s also possible that they converted some pagan temples by taken away the pagan symbols and switch to christian symbols. It´s a fact that the places that the old churches were built or located were at the places were the pagan temples had been located. It must have been much easier to just switch symbols in the temple instead of building a new one. Take Haga Sofia in Istanbul as an example of such behaviour of switching religion and symbols.
I don't think that's right. I mean, it's correct that the name "stave" comes from old norse stafr which was what they called the posts or logs. But while some might have 12, and that they might symbolize the apostles, not all stave churches have 12. And stave or stafr doesn't have any connections with the apostles, it's simply the name of a straight post. The name of ski poles in norwegian is skistav, compound word of ski and stav. And while I'm far from an expert in linguistics I'm pretty sure stav simply means long straight pole.
Stave, meaning a Staff, stav, log of timber. These the vertical logs you see on the inside and outside. The norse did not believe in apostles, but Jesus may have been known. How are every one trying to fit their god into a house of norse gods is beond me. They used 12 logs if they needed 12 logs of timber. Does your house have 4 walls because you believe in Odin, Thor, tyr and frey? 🤔
@@naskeri That's true. Stafr is also from where we get the word staff, as in a walking stick. The Swedish word for wand is trollstav, or "magic staff". Any straight piece of wood can be a stave in the Scandinavian sense of the word really.
I mean, several of the stave churches still had/have pagan symbolism on them. An example I can personally attest to is Huginn and Muninn cresting the sides of Reinli stave church in Bagn, and I know there are plenty other examples. To me, that more or less confirms that there's at least some continuity with pagan architecture.
I wonder how much the stave churches are similar to the temple at Uppsala attested in Adam of Bremen's 11th-century work Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum and in Heimskringla, written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century.
This is awesome! Found them magical ever since I've seen them as a kid om vacations. Dendrochronological research has so much potential to discover new things.
"Pagan style" of architecture? How about Native traditional style? So, of course pagan temples (if they were in fact buildings (do we even know they were?))would have looked like that because everything they built would have looked like that.
The good doctor sounds out of breath, like he ran up the mountain to share this news with us.
It's likely very cold up there.
It's remarkable for someone whose respiratory system is acclimated to thin Rocky Mountain air.
I was amused to see puffs of chilly droplets from his breath at 1:40, while he's dressed for spring.
Higher altitudes cause a problem with catching your breathe sometimes, especially after a hike.
I studied stave churches and their architecture as a part of my art degree here in Norway 5 years ago, and even back then, I was certain that the kind of craftsmenship we see with those churces definitely originated from techniques used in both ship building and a variety of larger buildings. What's also special is that there's a huge carving placed on the north wall of the Urnes church, (seen it myself), which is believed to have been made for another structure and moved onto the church when it was built. And the theme and style definitely resemble something a lot more Norse mythology than Christian. So it might have been something made for a temple or other important building a long time before the church was built
Seems like Norway had quite a bit of migration from Ireland (celts) from the Iron Age onward so it is natural to question whether or not the people that brought the style came from Ireland and settled in Norway before the Viking age.
Yep I have seen the carving myself on the North Portal door of the animal gnawing on swirling roots. Very remarkable.
@@drgreengood Yes, there are big similarities between the animal ornaments on the Urnes portal and several Irish-Celtic ornaments like e.g. some from the Book of Kells. However you should not forget about that the huge majority of the ornamental style (later named Urnes style, the youngest of the Viking Age animal ornamental styles) can be be found on runestones in Sweden (which was much less affected by Irish migrations). I don't know how much research that has been done concerning the connection between the Norse and Irish art styles, but some influence between them seems plausible. Be we should not forget though that animal ornamental styles had existed (in various different styles) within Scandinavian art for several centuries by the time the Urnes portal was made. So even if Irish art might have influenced the later Viking Age animal ornamental art styles, it should in that case probably be seen as something that blended together with an already existing animal art rather than the Irish being the only source.
@@alaruno8325 if the celts migrated from the region known as Austria today and ultimately settled in Scotland, and if it's true that we are told the Scott's and Irish shared language and culture would it not make sense where some of the similarities came from? The Goths where a Germanic people, is it not also true they built many of the Cathedrals of Europe? The evidence linking the techniques of reinforcing in ship building being mirrored in Nordic and other European sacred buildings speaks volumes! This is exciting but not really surprising. It just hasn't been discussed or cared about in a long long time.
@@honoriswithin The spreading of Celtic culture across Europe has been debated quite much. So even if many scholars connect the "Celtic homeland" to Austria and the so called Hallstatt culture, the spread from there has been debated. The huge DNA divergence among various "Celtic peoples" indicate that it could have been a cultural spread rather than migrations of peoples. Never the less the prime time of the Celts were during the 3th century BCE while the Gothic migrations happened during the 4th and 5th centuries CE. So we shouldn't connect these two too much. By the time the Germanic tribes expanded across Europe the majority of the continental Celtic peoples were very Romanised since centuries back. So I doubt that the Germanic tribes were too much influenced by them if we speak about animal ornamental art. But the insular Celts (of Britain and Ireland) for sure are of interest here since they kept their distinct Celtic culture much longer. It's a very interesting topic for sure and I would like to find out if someone did some research among the connection between Celtic and Germanic art. However the so called Gothic cathedrals we can totally exclude from all of this. The ancient Goths had nothing to do with the Gothic architectural style which began being popular during the end of the 12 century CE. So hundreds of years after the Gothic migrations! The style was given the name "Gothic" during the 16th century as a prejorative term since some thought it looked "barbarous" (and therefore compared to the Goths).
My mother works in one of these churches. I celebrated christmas eve there a couple of years ago. Stepping into the church was truly magical. Like being transported back in time, or suddenly feeling an intense connection with a forgotten part of myself.
For those in the US, Door County Wisconsin is home to 2 Stave churches. One is in Baileys Harbor, and the other is on Washington island. The one on Washington island does require a ferry ride to get to, but it is really beautiful!
This is the kind of breaking news I live for! Thank you, Dr. Crawford.
I attended a wedding in South Dakota that was at the Chapel in the Hills. A beautiful reproduction of the Borgund Stavkirke. I'd love to see the original someday
@Biden BlowsGoats yeah that mistake is on me. That being said, no need to be aggressive about it, buddy
@Biden BlowsGoats - errr 🧐 Dr. Is a perfectly acceptable contraction of the title “DOCTOR”! signed (to put it into context) Dr A. Johnson
@@thelwulfeoforlic6482
If you look at Matt's comment it says (edited). This probably means that it said something other than Dr. earlier, but he changed it after the honourable Mr. BlowsGoats pointed it out.
@@Hwyadylaw Mr. BlowsGoats has no honour nor does his partner, Ms. ShagsSheeps.
Borgund is awesome. But not my favorite. Take a drive in Norway and see the small ones too someday 😉 Reinli is amazing.
Wow, almost a thousand years old! Brilliant news!
I’ve been lucky enough to visit the gol stave church myself and the level of detail and craftsmanship is quite remarkable. I feel it does indeed resemble the kinds of detail that predate christian influence. Thanks for bringing us so many consistently interesting and informative videos Dr. Crawford!
i love europe! i live in the uk myself, we have a norman parish church dating to the 1100s in my city
That's so cool!
When I looked out of my childhood bedroom window I could see a ruined Anglo Saxon church with a 'new' Norman church beside it. A road called Barrowfield lane with the said field and a possible Roman road going off into the distance.
@@dioncrouch3897 there's an entact Saxon church in Bradford on Avon
@@daveunbelievable6313 Two of them at Deerhurst near Tewksbury.
Don't live there anymore, but my UK town had a Norman parish church, too. Sadly, the church there now isn't original - most of it got demolished and rebuilt during the reign of King George II, with further "additions" courtesy of the Victorians and Nzi bombing - but the stone foundations are still OG.
A couple towns over, they've got some crumby old ruins of a 12th century priory that managed to get a Grade I listing. If some wankbag 18th centuriers hadn't Cancelled the Norman church, we'd have the oldest building in the area by a solid century, and we'd have the only building over 500 years old that's still in use - but, sadly, almost everything in our town got ripped up and "modernized" in the 1700s.
We have 3 or so stave churches in America too. I live in Moorhead Minnesota and we have a replica of the Hopperstad church. North Dakota also has a stave church in Minot. they are both very beautiful. I take walks to through "Viking Ship Park" and visit the church often I hope to get married there one day.
Love when new information is discovered on historical events or objects/items like this.
Have a look at Vang Stave Church in Poland, it has a very interesting past.
I love when new research reveals, supports, or confirms things like this. It's always so excellent.
Thanks for the update. There is a short MOOC course on Stave churches on the Future Learn platform written by NTNU which covers their history and preservation. Well worth doing
I love that your videos are filmed outdoors- such a perfect setting for your amazing educational topics and material. Thank you Dr. Crawford!!
This is so cool!! I've always been fascinated with old world history, one day I hope to have a chance to visit one of these churches
Hello from Colorado Springs🌷 Interesting video & wonderful comments in the comment section💜💜 I learned something new today
I just watched a 15 minute video by North History about these stave churches & the attempts to preserve them & maintain them. It's a lot of time & work since they had to figure out the original tools & methods of replicating the old craftsmanship to make repairs/replacements. The churches are just amazingly beautiful & I hope they can be preserved for future generations & future study.
This is very exciting. I remember writing a paper in college about tree ring dating - the subject was fascinating to me.
Awesome! I live in Norway and Urnes is definitely on my bucket list ^^
If you live in the upper Midwest, there are some Scandinavian American Stave Churches. I’ve been to one on Washington Island on the peninsula in Wisconsin. I’d highly recommend a visit, it’s very beautiful.
Of course there is no why to prove it, but it makes a certain amount of sense that when you build something you would (even unknowingly) draw on your on cultural styles and your own memory. Ask someone to draw a dragon and they will most likely draw a creature that resembles the version of that mycological creature that is most common in his or her culture.
If you have only know pagan temples and are asked to build a place of worship you’ll draw on what you know. Even if the commissioner gives some specific instructions on how the building should look like, the craftsmen will still have to draw on their understanding of how a thing is build. Given that the builders had not seen other churches, it seems logical to me that they added more for the pagan temple to the church than they or the commissioner were realizing themselves.
DOCTOR Jackson Crawford
Amazing architecture... thanks Dr Crawford!
Wow! Planning to travel around Scandinavia In August and September this year so these are on my list of places to visit. Even more exciting to hear this news to confirm they are older. Beautiful buildings 😍
Love how it looks and surrounded by forest! Thanks for the information, fascinating!
Dr. Crawford please look into the art on the walls of Aghadoe Heights Hotel foyer just outside Killarney. A phone call might suffice. They are very proud to talk about their 5 star hotel. (It is 5 stars BTW.)
That is amazing!
Such exciting news haven't hit the old norse studies area in a long time!
They remind me of Speyer Cathedral. I can see the Romanesque influence blending with the ancient Scandinavian architecture, like a new crown on an old king's head.
Again, thanks for your great work and this channel. I'm not surprised by the age of the bearing structure or parts of the bearing structure.
I knew a Sogn or two. Good folk. I guess their patrilineal ascent (at least) is through the west of Norway.
Thank you for this video!
this is so interesting, i love old buildings! don't have any 11th century churches near me unfortunately, but where i live has a castle from 1090 and another from the 1190s, i think they're fascinating! they're probably not that old but england loves destroying history so it's lucky they're still standing really. but the fact that those churches are made of wood and have survived for so long??? incredible
i think they clearly have very church features, they basically are basilica style, they have a nave with arches, a row of windows above that, and an apse to the east end. So even if they reflect pre Christian art style, the builders had to be familiar with, or maybe instructed by missionaries to imitate, a Christian basilica
Spot on. The few archeological examples for 'temple' structures like Uppåkra or Tissø are more cella like and most likely held the statues of the gods. Communal celebrations and worship were in all likelyhood held in the greast halls of the days like those of Borg, Gamla Uppsala, Hóf etc.
@@Halli50 my reason for not thinking that is that these layout features are derived from pre Christian stuff, but not norse architecture, roman architecture, the floor plan is that of a basilica. so unless the Norse also developed the basilica independently and also used it for worship, its likely they got it from the Christians
I remember reading a the wiki about these churches. I think they built a replica in one of the Dakotas in the USA.
Is it a coincidence that the churches of Orthodox Christians are similar to the post-Apollodorus dome-shaped Roman temples? I think not.
Of course that's not a coincidence.
Thank you
The old Romanian wooden churches for example look like a less sophisticated / more basic version of a Stave church
There is replica stave church on Washington Island, Door County, Wisconsin. It is impressive.
There's another one in western South Dakota
@@practicallymedieval2027 ...and another at Hjemkomst in Moorhead MN (nice viking ship too) :)
@@scmt73 awesome! I'm rarely that far north in the Plains but if I get up that way I'll check it out!
11th Century? Fascinating! As is the hypothesis that the designs are based on those they were familiar with, ie, the Temples of their ancestors. We will never know for sure unless someone invents a time machine.
i just think they are clearly christian influenced atleast in the floor plan and general structure, too much to be coincidence
Google Romanian wooden churches and you will see a similarity ( the Norwegian ones are much more complex ) maybe because Norwegians pride themselves in their woodworking skills
We will not know for sure, but that doesn't mean we can't make informed guesses and assumptions. While no pagan temples are still standing, there are plenty of archeological finds that reveals a great deal about floor plans, foundations, which together lend credibility to the idea that stave churches indeed lends part of older traditions
It would be cool to see an informative video on Høgnorsk! can seem to find little to no information about the topic on the internet.
Look here if you want information about høgnorsk:
www.ivaraasen.no/
www.ivaraasen.no/wiki/index.php?title=Hovudsida
www.maalmannen.no/
www.reddit.com/r/Hognorsk/
I also agree with you that I'd be very nice if Jackson Crawford made a video about høgnorsk and the Norwegian language struggle.
I call bs. There's no way stave churches are older than thought. Thought has been around since the dawn of intelligent life, how can the churches be older than thought?!
Ha Ha Ha
Who's, "Thought"?
@@BantiarnaMacRaghnaill Hugin
@@BantiarnaMacRaghnaill either the past tense of the verb "think", or something previously being thought of.
@@codybaird4811
I was just being silly. lol
Thanks!
Fascinating!
What do you think of the replica Stavechurch in Moorhead Minnesota? (Hjemkomst center)
Conversely, at least one surviving stave church (the one at Kvernes) is now believed to have been built as late as the 17th century. Which means this architectural tradition was kept alive longer than previously thought.
Could be repurposed wood. Very cool though.
True. Very hard to prove either.
I wonder if that means the Hopperstad Stave is older than they thought?
Very exciting
That’s fascinating information. Dendrochronology is a very useful & interesting tool.
Those pagan churches were also supposed to be preserved for generations to come.
Pagan church. A bit contradictory huh?
Never clicked so fast! I hope one day we could find some pagan temples
We have found pagan temples both in Uppåkra in Sweden and Ørsta in Norway.
@@Victor_aeternus002 what! When was this?
@@uncledanni9352 The Uppåkra temple was found and excavated between 2000 and 2004, while the temple in Ørsta was found in september last year.
We have also found remnants of a pagan temple in Tissoe in Denmark, but we don't know exactly what the building looked like.
en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/the-magnate-dynasty-at-tissoe/
@@Victor_aeternus002 Well, I mean, we say "found and excavated", but what we really mean is we found some ancient holes in the ground; holes that, presumably, may have at one point been where wooden pillars stood, holding up what the archeologists excavating the site are currently saying, was _probably_ a temple.
We haven't "found a temple" (and probably will never find a temple) in the same sense that we can "find" a wooden stave church - i.e. we're not going to stumble across a building with a floor and walls and maybe ceiling, that we can look at and walk into and imagine what it was like to be a worshipper there, drinking mead, making sacrifices to Odin, and singing Borknagar hymns.
Likely, all we can ever hope to find is post-holes, a few graves, and if fate smiles upon us, the temple's garbage pit.
The earliest stave churches were probably much simpler, as an example see Hørning stavkirke at Moesgaard Museum in Denmark. Before that there were even simpler ones called post churches, where the staves (vertical columns) were dug into postholes instead of standing on stone slabs, a typical iron age construction technique. These earliest ones were probably the most closely related to pagan temples.
The problem with Hørning stave church is that it is a modern interpretation, it is not original. So it is a circle argument.
Is it more likely that the architects of the stave churches invented an entirely new style, or worked with what they knew?
Hail Odin
Impressive that they're still standing after all this time. But I don't think they look that much different to any stone built church of the same period in the UK. The big difference would be between the church buildings in the east, with their onion chaped roofs (allegedly the inspiration for the typical mosque shape) and those in the west which are all angles. I wonder if they just represent the standard style of building to the time and place? And too holy to damage in war, hence they're still standing.
They look pretty different from churches else where in Europa, especially the UK if you ask me. Just look at stave churches like the ones in Borgund, Hopperstad and Heddal.
Gothic style. Thats where the sharp angles come from. And that style comes from the Scandinavians later relatives so it makes sense that they're similar. The heavy snowfall of the region is likely what developed the sharp rooves and caused them to deny the onion shapes.
@@Victor_aeternus002 Yeah, but the difference is less than that between the churches of northern europe and those of the south and east. Those are strikingly different.
older than thought.. so, they are older than one of Odin's ravens?
Interesting, but this could just be an example of usage of old wood.
Possible, but fairly unlikely. Unlike stone, wood, especially the planks, was recycled for new buildings fairly rarely. This is due in part to the fact it's much less durable than stone, and that it was likely cut and shaped for a specific building. Obviously, wood from old building was recycled, but not often for the construction of new, large and complex buildings
@@Haldei While recycling can be one issue, it isn't the only way that you can wind up with an old wood situation. You'd be surprised how long a dead tree can stand without deteriorating. Also, the fact that these churches still stand shows how durable wood can be with proper care.
I’ve always ‘known’, like you said these stave churches look very much different from continental European churches.
And they really often just don’t look ‘xtian’ to me. The whole style just screams ‘pagan’. I mean why else do these things have dragon heads like the boats from pre-christian times.
Why else does the Urnes stave church feature carvings that possibly depict Norse myth?
Stavechurches older than Huginn?
🙏🙏🙏🙏
My belief has always been that the people who built the churches built them in the way they always had built their pagan temples. Why should they do otherwise ? It`s also possible that they converted some pagan temples by taken away the pagan symbols and switch to christian symbols.
It´s a fact that the places that the old churches were built or located were at the places were the pagan temples had been located. It must have been much easier to just switch symbols in the temple instead of building a new one. Take Haga Sofia in Istanbul as an example of such behaviour of switching religion and symbols.
Most things are older than claimed.
They are built with 12 immense upright logs around the inside, that support the central area, to represent the 12 apostles, thus the name "Stave".
I don't think that's right. I mean, it's correct that the name "stave" comes from old norse stafr which was what they called the posts or logs. But while some might have 12, and that they might symbolize the apostles, not all stave churches have 12. And stave or stafr doesn't have any connections with the apostles, it's simply the name of a straight post.
The name of ski poles in norwegian is skistav, compound word of ski and stav. And while I'm far from an expert in linguistics I'm pretty sure stav simply means long straight pole.
Or the 12 signs of the zodiac. The Pagans may have used another word other than stave.
Or the commonly used base 12 counting system (dozen/tylft) used at the time.
Stave, meaning a Staff, stav, log of timber. These the vertical logs you see on the inside and outside. The norse did not believe in apostles, but Jesus may have been known. How are every one trying to fit their god into a house of norse gods is beond me. They used 12 logs if they needed 12 logs of timber. Does your house have 4 walls because you believe in Odin, Thor, tyr and frey? 🤔
@@naskeri That's true. Stafr is also from where we get the word staff, as in a walking stick. The Swedish word for wand is trollstav, or "magic staff". Any straight piece of wood can be a stave in the Scandinavian sense of the word really.
Well _that_ is interesting.
Cool, thanks reddit.
I mean, several of the stave churches still had/have pagan symbolism on them. An example I can personally attest to is Huginn and Muninn cresting the sides of Reinli stave church in Bagn, and I know there are plenty other examples. To me, that more or less confirms that there's at least some continuity with pagan architecture.
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I wonder how much the stave churches are similar to the temple at Uppsala attested in Adam of Bremen's 11th-century work Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum and in Heimskringla, written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century.
I thought the same thing the first time I visited a stave church!
Who knew the Burrows was a Stave Church 👀
This is awesome! Found them magical ever since I've seen them as a kid om vacations.
Dendrochronological research has so much potential to discover new things.
I don't know. Thought's pretty old. I mean I'm pretty sure we were thinking in the Paleolithic.
Wait...
Ohhhhh. Nevermind. ;)
"Pagan style" of architecture? How about Native traditional style? So, of course pagan temples (if they were in fact buildings (do we even know they were?))would have looked like that because everything they built would have looked like that.