Lunner Church () is a medieval era stone church in

Lunner Lunner is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hadeland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Roa, Norway, ...

municipality of

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The church dates from the 12th century. It is located on the hill of Lunnertoppen in the traditional district of

Hadeland Hadeland () is a traditional district in the southeastern part of Norway. It is centered on the southern part of the large lake Randsfjorden in Innlandet and Akershus counties. The district consists of the municipalities Gran in Innlandet cou ...

Description

Lunner Church was originally a long Romanesque church with a circular stone tower at the west side. Sometime between 1780 and 1790, the tower was dismantled and the church rebuilt into a cruciform church. The newer parts in wood underwent restoration work in 1987 and 1988. An archaeological excavation was carried out and the circular base of the old tower was recorded and left open for public display. Lunner Church is the only known circular church tower in Norway. Over the circular base of the tower a new floor of glass was made so visitors of the church now can see this remarkable construction. The medieval church now constitutes the choir of today's church. The medieval parts of the church have still not gone through restoration. On the outside the medieval part of the church has nine stone reliefs. These ornaments depict humans and animals, probably battling for human souls. The ornaments are located on the southern and eastbound walls and on the sacristy.

Gallery of stone reliefs

File:Anagni 037a.jpg File:Lunner kirke rk 84342 IMG 9198.JPG File:Lunner church, ornament 1.jpg File:Lunner church, ornament 3.jpg

References

External links

Lunner kirke photograph gallery
(John Erling Blad. 14 September 2005) Churches in Akershus Archaeological sites in Norway Lunner 12th-century churches in Norway {{Norway-church-stub