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Ringebu Stave Church () is a
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
of the
Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...
in
Ringebu Municipality is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vålebru (the village is also known as ''Ringebu''). The municipality ...
in
Innlandet Innlandet is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (Jevnaker Municipality and Lunner Municipality were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken ( ...
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 ...
. It is located in the village of
Ringebu is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vålebru (the village is also known as ''Ringebu''). The municipality ...
in the
Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; ) is a valley and Districts of Norway, traditional district in the Norway, Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer (town), Lillehammer and the lake ...
valley. It is the church for the Ringebu
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
which is part of the
Sør-Gudbrandsdal prosti The list of churches in Hamar is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Hamar in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Innlandet county plus the parishes in Lunner Municipality in Akershus county. The diocese is based at th ...
(
deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...
) in the
Diocese of Hamar The Diocese of Hamar () is a diocese within the Church of Norway. The Diocese of Hamar includes all of the churches in Innlandet county plus the churches in Lunner Municipality in Akershus county. Administratively, the diocese is divided into 1 ...
. The brown, wooden church was built in a
stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ...
design around the year 1220 using plans drawn up by an unknown
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
. The church seats about 300 people.


History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1270, but the church was not new that year. The first church in Ringebu was a wooden post church that was built in the 11th century. This church was in use for about 200 years before it was torn down in the early 13th century. A new wooden
stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ...
was then built on the same site. Dendrochronological dating of the logs used to build this church show that the logs were cut in the 1190s, so the church must have been constructed in the early 1200s. This church had a
long church Church building in Norway began when Christianity in Norway, Christianity was established there around the year 1000. The first buildings may have been post churches erected in the 10th or 11th century, but the evidence is inconclusive. For inst ...
design. Around the year 1630, the master-builder Werner Olsen (ca. 1600–1682) began a large expansion and renovation project on the church. The
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
was enlarged by adding a
transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...
wing to the north and south, creating a
cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...
floor plan. A new central tower was constructed on the roof over the central part of the nave. This significant renovation changed the character of the church and it left several free standing posts in the interior of the nave that remained from the original stave church, but most of the rest of the building looked quite new at the time. The church was painted in 1717, but only the lower half of the walls were done, since the ceiling at that time was lower. In 1814, this church served as an election church (). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814
Norwegian Constituent Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly ( or ) is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised the dissolution of the union with Denmark. The meetings took place at the Eidsvoll Manor in th ...
which wrote the
Constitution of Norway The 'Constitution of Norway'' (complete name: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway; Danish language, Danish: ; Norwegian language, Norwegian Bokmål: ; Nynorsk, Norwegian Nynorsk: ) was adopted on 16 May and signed on 17 May 1814 by the N ...
. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in
Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the munic ...
later that year. Later restoration in 1921 brought it back a bit closer to its original shape. At one point the church was painted white within, but during the restoration work by Ragnvald Einbu in 1921 the church interior was restored to its original colouring. There have been some archaeological surveys of the ground under the church. The last one took place in 1980–1981. These surveys resulted in the finding of about 900 old coins, mostly from
medieval times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...
, especially from the period 1217–1263. Post holes from an older church were also found, supporting the tradition that a church had stood on the site before the present building. The post church is assumed to be a forerunner of the stave church. The earth-bound posts of these churches were planted directly into the ground, and therefore they were exposed to humidity which caused them to rot over the years.


Media gallery

Speer at Ringebu Stavkyrkje.jpg, Ringebu Stave Church spire Ringebu Stabkirche Ringebu Innen 2.JPG Ringebu Stabkirche Ringebu Innen 7.JPG Ringebu Stabkirche Ringebu Innen Altar 1.JPG, Altar Ringebu stavkirke - Orgue.JPG, Organ Ringebu stavkirke - Armoiries.JPG, Coat-of–Arms Ringebu Stabkirche Ringebu Innen Kronleuchter.JPG, Chandelier Ringebu - no-nb digifoto 20150219 00145 NB MIT FNR 16491 A.jpg


See also

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List of churches in Hamar The list of churches in Hamar is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Hamar in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Innlandet county plus the parishes in Lunner Municipality in Akershus county. The diocese is based at ...


References


Further reading

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External links


Ringebu Stave Church website
{{use dmy dates, date=December 2021 Ringebu Churches in Sør-Gudbrandsdal Deanery Churches in Innlandet Stave churches in Norway Cruciform churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 13th-century churches in Norway 11th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches