Torpo stave church
Encyclopedia
Torpo stave church is a stave church
located in Torpo
, a small village in Ål
municipality, in Buskerud
County, Norway
. Torpo is located along Rv 7, the Norwegian national road
which runs between Oslo
and Bergen
.
. The church was dedicated to Saint Margareta
. The stave church was purchased by the municipality in 1875. It was initially planned to expand it with an annex to the east, but in 1879 it was decided instead to modernize the interior with new ceiling and gallery. Following protest from the Ancient Monuments Society (Fortidsminneforeningen), the municipality decided to build a new church (Torpo Kirke) on the adjacent property. The new church was built north of the old one with the two churches standing side by side.
reads: Torolf built this church. The full runic inscription in the Torpo stave church, which is listed as N 110 in the Rundata
catalog, reads:
This translates as "Þórolfr made this church. Ásgrímr, Hákon, Erlingr, Páll, Eindriði, Sjaundi, Þórulfr. Þórir carved. Ólafr."
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...
located in Torpo
Torpo
Torpo is a small village in Ål municipality, in Buskerud County, Norway. Torpo is located in Hallingdal between the municipal centers of Ål and Gol. The village has 405 inhabitants per 1 January 2009. Previously Torpo was a stopover on the Bergen Railway. The station, which is in Art Nouveau style,...
, a small village in Ål
Ål
Ål is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hallingdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ål....
municipality, in Buskerud
Buskerud
is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration is located in Drammen.-Geography:...
County, 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...
. Torpo is located along Rv 7, the Norwegian national road
Norwegian national road
Norwegian national road , are roads thus categorized by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration which also maintains them...
which runs between Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
and Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
.
History
Built in 1192, the Torpo stave church is the oldest building within the valley and traditional district of HallingdalHallingdal
Hallingdal is a valley and traditional district in Buskerud county in Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Flå, Nes, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål and Hol.-History:Ancient routes went to Vestlandet through Valdres and Hallingdal and down Røldal to Odda...
. The church was dedicated to Saint Margareta
Margaret the Virgin
Margaret the Virgin, also known as Margaret of Antioch , virgin and martyr, is celebrated as a saint by the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches on July 20; and on July 17 in the Orthodox Church. Her historical existence has been questioned; she was declared apocryphal by Pope Gelasius I in 494,...
. The stave church was purchased by the municipality in 1875. It was initially planned to expand it with an annex to the east, but in 1879 it was decided instead to modernize the interior with new ceiling and gallery. Following protest from the Ancient Monuments Society (Fortidsminneforeningen), the municipality decided to build a new church (Torpo Kirke) on the adjacent property. The new church was built north of the old one with the two churches standing side by side.
Runic inscription N 110
The Torpo stave church is one of two stave churches that are signed by the their craftsmen, the other being the church at Ål. In both churches a runic inscriptionRunic inscriptions
A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of Elder Futhark , Anglo-Frisian Futhorc and Younger Futhark .The total 350 known inscriptions in the Elder...
reads: Torolf built this church. The full runic inscription in the Torpo stave church, which is listed as N 110 in the Rundata
Rundata
The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future research...
catalog, reads:
- §A þorolfr : gærþi : kirku þesa ÷: askrimr ÷ hakon ÷ ælikr ÷ pal ¶ æinriþi ÷ siønti ÷ þorolfr
- §B þorer ÷ ræist
- §C olafr
This translates as "Þórolfr made this church. Ásgrímr, Hákon, Erlingr, Páll, Eindriði, Sjaundi, Þórulfr. Þórir carved. Ólafr."
Other sources
- Bugge Gunnar. Stavkirker, Stave Churches in Norway (Dreyers Forlag. Oslo: 1983) ISBN 82-504-2072-1
- Christie, Sigrid and Haakon. Norges kirker – Buskerud ((Norske Mindesmerker. Oslo: 1981) ISBN 82-05-13123-6
- Dietrichson, LorentzLorentz DietrichsonLorentz Henrik Segelcke Dietrichson was a Norwegian poet and historian of art and literature.-Biography:Lorentz Henrik Segelcke Dietrichson was the son of Fredrik Dietrichson and Marie Heiberg Dahl . Dietrichson grew up in Bergen as an only child in a home of cultural officials interested in...
. Norske Stavkirker: Studier Over Deres System, Oprindelse Og Historiske Udvikling (Kristiania: 1892) New edition: (Gregg Publishing; September 1971) ISBN 0576191000