A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building style once common in northwestern Europe. In Norway there are 28 extant stave churches still standing today and this particular one in Borgund features a triple nave and is said to be the best preserved of them all.
Built some time between 1180 and 1250 AD, Borgund is now used as a museum and is run by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments. Its walls are formed by vertical wooden boards, or staves, hence the name “stave church”.
On the gables of the roof, there are four carved dragon heads, swooping from the carved roof ridge crests, recalling the carved dragon heads found on the prows of Norse ships.
Almost every remaining stave church can be found in Norway. Outside of the country there is one in Hedared, Sweden; but it is much newer, built around the 1500s. There is also a relocated Norwegian Stave Church in Karpacz, Poland (via Krummhübel, Germany).
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