Eidsborg Stave Church

The Stave Church Eidsborg is considered one of the best preserved stave churches in Norway. With 82 seats, it is a small community church of the Provost Vest- Telemark. It is believed that it was built on a former church. It is first mentioned in 1354, but dated to the second half of the 13th century on the basis of their stylistic features. The church is surrounded by a cemetery, which houses both new and tombs from the Middle Ages.

Location

Eidsborg is a small hamlet in the commune Tokke in the province of Telemark. It is located about three kilometers north of the main settlement Tokke in 530 meters height. This place is known stave church, which is located in the open-air museum of Vest- Telemark Museum.

Consecration

The church is dedicated to St. Nicholas. In the church there was a painted sculpture of St. Nicholas, who was from the mid-12th century. According to legend, she was wearing each midsummer night to a nearby pond and immersed there. Today, this sculpture is in the collection of the Kulturhistorisk Museum in Oslo. In the stave church, a copy is issued from her.

Construction

The church has a single nave, rectangular, long church. The roof structure is supported by four pillars and has extra supports in the interior. The wall panels are clamped between the pillars and are supported by additional post. The church is located in the north, south and west, a porch with dwarf arcades. The main entrance is to the west. Above the entrance, between the columns, was discovered in 1928 the remains of a decorated Archivolte. The outer skin of the building is a wood shingle facade that both the walls clothed as well as the roof and pillars.

The church was changed repeatedly through restorations. Nevertheless, the nave is considered as a original. 1693 was a rebuilding of the ridge turret, and in the 19th century the church was extended eastwards. In the twenties and thirties of the 20th century, the false ceiling were removed and small windows. During the restoration, discovered a fire pit under the floor. This was probably for fire sacrifices of pagan cults. The wood shingle facade dates from the seventies and has cracks. On the main construction breakages were noted. Rafter ties were bent and pressed by the load down. Then you pulled a an additional support structure above the rafters and swapped the wood shingles.

Interior decoration

The inventory of the church dates mainly from the period of the Reformation. The original choir was demolished in 1826 and 1840, replaced by a new chorus of wood. The crucifix above the chancel opening was preserved from the Middle Ages. Two wall panels decorated with medieval motifs probably date back to the stave church Lårdal. From the years 1604 and 1640 the Leimfarbendekor ( distemper ), which was completed in 1929 by Domenico Erdmann comes. The altarpiece of 1840 with paintings by MP Mandt shows a Jesus motif, on which he blesses the bread and wine.

West Portal, 2008

Detail of a lion on the portal, west entrance, 2008

Dwarf arcades and detailed view of the wood shingle facade