Lom Stave Church is a stave church

Stave church

A stave church is a medieval wooden church with a post and beam construction related to timber framing. The wall frames are filled with vertical planks. The load-bearing posts have lent their name to the building technique...

 situated in Lom

Lom, Norway

Lom is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fossbergom....

 municipality in the Gudbrandsdal

Gudbrandsdal

The Gudbrandsdalen is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Oppland. The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer at Mjøsa, extending 230 km toward Romsdal...

 district

Districts of Norway

The country Norway is historically divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords,...

 of Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. The church is a triple nave stave church that uses free standing inner columns to support a raised section in the ceiling of the main nave. This type of church is amongst the oldest Stave Churches. The church was first situated in a sub valley to the valley Gudbrandsdal in Oppland County, some 60 kilometres (37.3 mi) west of Otta

Otta

Otta may refer to:* A preliminary name of the yotta SI unit prefix.* In Norse mythology, Hildisvini, also known as "Otta the Simple", who was Freya's lover.* Otta, Norway, a Norwegian town in Gudbrandsdal.* The Otta River in Norway....

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The church dates to approximately second part of 12th century, but was rebuilt into a cruciform church during the 17th century. The chancel was decorated in 1608, and the nave was enlarged towards west in 1634. The cross section was added in 1663, but this was made in stave like frame work. A complete restoration took also place in 1933, and a smaller one in 1973. This stave church is actually one of just a very few stave churches of which the original medieval crest with a dragon head still survives.

External links

• Lom stave church in Stavkirke.org — in Norwegian