"Insects, bugs - we don't have them." That's it I'm moving.

Its so nice to see Norway taking such great care to preserve their past. Its the tombstones that drew my eye, because when we travel we always look for the oldest cemeteries, because we like to do tombstone rubbings, using linen cloth and a crayon. Did you spend any time looking at the tombstones? If so, did any catch your eye?

Ha, I worked several years as a guide at that church. It's quite wonderful finding a good video on it! Joakim did a pretty good job of giving you guys an overview as well :)

@absolutely stunning, Kirsten. Seeing that church and valley must have been breathtaking. Thanks again!💙

Amazing and beautiful. I love that these parents are teaching their children to appreciate history and be amazed at it's early.

this channel is amazing. good work Kirsten (and family) !

Fascinating as usual,. thanks for your time😊

Thank-you very much. Hope your channel continues to grow. Looking forward to your content.

amazing, just so neat. I'm glad the young man is so in tuned to the history of the church. nice to see are younger generation learning more about the culture of the church history & on how it was built & what goes into the materials to keep it from wasting away. Like how they use the tare sealer on the church & it turns it black. Never seen that before. Thank you for the great content. Love watching your videos.

Beautiful church and country side!

I've drawn and painted this church many times, (from only photos) so have spent hours "looking at it. Finding this video made my day. Thank you for the brilliant upload

Wow....very cool! Even the area around the church, the valley, is just beautiful!

Thank you for this. I just love your videos. So interesting and inspiring.

Nicely done. I was just in Norway and took the bus from Lillehammer to Flam, expecting to see the Borgund Stavkirk out the window for a few seconds at least but did not know the tunnel for the E16 by passed it completely... oops... Thanks for the close-up views and commentary!

Loved it. Thank you from India.

I love the way Children are being emersed in History and Culture. New generation will appreciate their Heritage.

The transition from Heathen to Christian in Norway took some 300 years, and there was a period of "blending". (I say "Heathen" versus "Pagan" on purpose: "Pagan" is a Latin-root word that originated in the Mediterranean area. "Heathen" has it's origin in the north.) For example, one stave church has a carving of one eyed Odin on a rafter. Many stave churches have dragons on them, to ward of evil spirits just as they once did on pre-Christian viking ships. Stave churches in general are believed to resemble earlier Viking era longhouses in construction. A medieval tapestry from the Skog Church in Hälsingland, Sweden, shows a Christian church with worshippers inside under attack by mounted soldiers. Three figures standing on the left side of the tapestry, once thought to be Swedish king-saints, coming to protect the church building, are now known to represent the triad of Thor, Odin and Frey, based on things that they're holding. In response to an earlier comment about "paganists" burning centuries old stave churches, that's rubbish. They were burned by black metal music fans who fused their ideas of "Pagan" with a satanic twist. Modern day neo-Pagans do not burn churches, let alone those that are part of their collective heritage. One such Heathen reconstructionist group is Asatru, which is a legal and accepted religion in Scandinavia.

Good thing they didn't torch it during the reformation.

Thank you so much.

"Mom it's creepy." lol

The upkeep of the tar and the dry climate is the main reason you can keep wood that long. The slow growing trees is a thing too but that is more to do with quality and hardness of the wood. Drying the tree from the roots is very interesting to me.

Amazing ..thanks for sharing

Yes, beautiful, old building, still hard to take eyes off surrounding mountains.

Incredible! Just incredible!

It is a great heritage of the great Norway , I love this old church in the world.

my grandma was born in borgund I'm 22 now so I'm thinking of travelling there to learn my history

My heart sank when your kid went to the door. "This is how all the scary movies start!"

It was good to have an explanation with the video.

wow amazing story, just shows you how smart our ancestors were. the skills combined with quality products and know how could build something with such longevity and beauty. impressive. thank you for another informative and interesting video.

"Please don't walk on the grass." American tourists: WOW U GUISE [drives on grass]

LOL, I drive by that place very often when heading to the mountain cabin and I was just there looking for a geocache :)

Wow.. just wow!

Amazing!!!

I've been subscribed to your channel for a few years now and I love all of your videos! I really appreciate your hard work! A question: What has been your kids favourite place of all the places you've been?

Love to see it in person

this is great!

That church building is amazing. It almost has the appearance of an ancient Japanese temple.

Wow, centuries old wood church, now that's awesome. Back then, the way the pioneers built cottages, barns and old log cabins lasted very long, not six centuries like that church but about a century. Great video as always, luv ur channel, great work. Thanks for sharing.

Kirsten, could you do a video featuring mostly your kids? They are adorable and very well read, as would be expected. Thanks.

Awsome!!!

Simply majestic.

Isn't it good Norwegian wood?

You are in Norway now?? I am from Norway :) Big fan of your videos btw ;)

good video guys! It makes me wonder what techniques were used for this church's wood

Awesome content! You're kids will be SO cultured and advanced... God Bless you're family

beautiful church

Wow this church looks amazing, any chance we get to see the inside as well?

Stuff like this I'd love to see in person, I saw the viking village in Newfoundland and that was awesome even though it was a recreation of a home

WOW AMAZING!!!

Is this part of that international protection of heritage thing?

I loved it how the kid peeks through the keyhole, and then you show what he sees.

They built an exact copy of this church in Rapid City SD

Another reason these wooden churches lasted so long was the tar like sap they used from the cut down trees that is/was used to paint the churches (their distinct colour as we see now; black) to keep water and moisture out of the wood to help prevent rot. Unfortunately the formula for this tar like paint (that last 8 to 10 years) was lost and had to use less effective formulas (that last 3 to 5 years) for reapplication over the centuries to help preserve the building.

Amazing.

Beautiful country.

wow, very cool

That was cool :)

Very impressive

800 years, that pretty darn impressive

The timber preparation technique he is reffering to is called ORE pine. You cut the limbs off of a pine tree and let let it sit for a few seasons until it dies. The result is a wood (from what I have been told by friends with more experiance) that is pretty much the same as impregnating with resin, but much slower

Yggdrasil. that reminder of my bookworm self just hit me square in the heart.

Great video, did you guys go inside?

That is F-ing amazing .....

Muy antiguo para ser del material que es y muy peculiar en su arquitectura. Sin duda un tesoro

beautiful

God sees the one who serves not the one being served...!!So, serve n help as many as you can to praise God. May God shower his blessings on all the pastors, ministers, volunteers, praise n worshippers n everyone involved in service.. ..!! Hallelujah!! Praise Lord!! Amen!!...!!

Phenomenal

I wish you would consider getting a gimbal or a camera that has decent 5 axis image stabilisation.

Wow, that's crazy.

Early stealth church. I like the Thai style 'pointy things'.

He ia roghr about the timber beeing better back then, even back in 18th century, been renovating a couple of hoses built mid to late 18th century and some from early 19th century and most of the timber in those house are much stronger and more densley grown than any timber we get today. One logcabin I did some work on had logs not more than maybe 20-25 cm in diameter and still where 150-200 years old and a real workout trying to cut or lift. Love the old ways of building, it was done to last forever. Todays houses have no life of rheir own and are made to last just for a short period of time before needing extensive work. Houses that where built when my father was my age I renovate today and some houses, especially those made as modules, need a complete rework after just ten years...

You couldn't go inside? Love ur videos!

what kind of wood was the church made from

The church was beautiful. BTW, the Imperial Palace in China is also made out of wood and it is around the same age.

There is a part-wood-part-brick church in England which is 1000 years old, although only the oldest of the wood is that old.

Legend has it that someone was meant to meet someone else there but time just went on without them meeting...

You should go to China and check out the Pagoda of Fogong Temple( Tower), which is 67meter high. It's completely made out of wood. It was started to build in year 1056.

It remind me to Indonesia traditional mosque like Masjid agung demak and masijd agung banten with local architecture, this church are amazing. without roman or gothic influences

That church is smokin!

This is the church that there's a small scale replica of in EPCOT.

If Viking ships were buildings... I wonder what the earliest dated gravestone is surrounding the church?

It would have been nice to see the inside. Most old churches are positioned in such a way as to take advantage of the Sun's natural light.

It looks like it just went out of the pages of a fantasy world.

Crazy how this building was built with no nails.

very similar to the church which is set in The Norwegian Museum of Cultural Historia in Bygdøy

Standing the test of time

I agree, "Wow!" is the only thing you can say about this church.

I've been on the inside and the drawings are beautiful. There are also rune carvings as well depicting Biblical individuals, Christ, and specific stories. Some of the early Christians at the site kept their pagan traditions and historians believe for several hundred years they local blended their ancient beliefs with their modern Christian faith.

Didn't the artists in Frozen use this church as inspiration for the castle?

Hey, where is located? What town name or the area more exactly in Norway?

You know its been restored before 2012 right ?

Idea Ive been kicking around in my head is that Gothic Arcitecure evolved out of stave churches instead of the otherway around.

Very different from all churches ive seen.

One of these churches was moved to Poland by ship.

This thing is just like Japanese castle-temple but the region climate is so cold so insects are less or even none.

Sognefjorden will be destroyed by at least three wind power plants in the coming years. We go there next week to start photographing it down. Next summer we go to France, then we settle by Sognefjorden to photograph it all down. When done, we settle in France.

If this was the Notre-Dame this would be long gone!

Need to listen to Burzum when you visit this place.

thanks youtube , for interrupting an 800 year old church with an online gambling advertisement ??? Also, wish we could see a Christmas full church service inside.

why was ur husband not allowed to go in and stand behind that steel door?