Heddal stave church is a stave church located at Heddal in Notodden municipality, Norway.

Heddal Stave Church
Last summer – at the end of our trip to Preikestolen, Kjeragbolten & Trolltunga – our last stop on our way back to Oslo was at Heddal Stave Church.
The following text is copy/paste from Wikipedia:
The church is a triple nave stave church and is Norway’s largest stave church. It was constructed at the beginning of the 13th century. After the reformation, the church was in a very poor condition, and a restoration took place during 1849–1851. However, because the restorers lacked the necessary knowledge and skills, yet another restoration was necessary in the 1950s. The interior is marked by the period after the Lutheran Reformation in 1536–1537 and is for a great part a result of the restoration that took place in the 1950s.
Legend
Heddal stave church, sometime between 1890 and 1900.
There is a legend telling about the erection of the church and how it was built in three days.
Five farmers (Raud Rygi, Stebbe Straand, Kjeik Sem, Grut Grene and Vrang Stivi) from Heddal had made plans for a church, and they decided to have it built. This is how it happened:
Interior of Heddal stave church.
One day, Raud Rygi (one of the five men) met a stranger who was willing to build the church. However, the stranger, set three conditions for doing the job, one of which must be fulfilled before the church was finished:
Raud had three options: fetch the sun and the moon from the sky, forfeit his life-blood, or guess the name of the stranger. Raud thought the last would not prove too difficult, so he agreed to the terms
But time began to run out. All of the building materials had arrived during the first night, and remarkably, the spire was built during the second. It became clear to Raud that the church would be finished on the third day.
Down at heart and fearing for his life, Raud took a walk around in the fields trying to figure out what the stranger’s name could be. Still wandering about he had unconsciously arrived at Svintruberget (a rocky hill southeast of the church site) when he suddenly heard a strange but most beautiful and clearly audible female song:
Hush-hush little Child,
Tomorrow Finn will bring you the Moon and the Sky.
He will bring you the Sun and a Christian Heart,
so pretty Toys for my little Child to play a Part.
Or in Norwegian
I morgen kommer Finn og bringer oss maanen
der han kommer forgaar sol og kristenblod
lokker barna til sang og spel
men nå mine små, sov stille og vel
Now Raud knew what to do, as the stranger was a mountain troll. As expected, the stranger visited Raud the next day, to present the church. Together they walk over to the church, and Raud walks up to one of the pillars, hugs it as if to straighten it, and says, “Hey Finn, this pillar isn’t straight!” Finn snaps back, “I could be even more bent!” and then hastily leaves the church. Raud had solved the riddle after all. The stranger’s name was Finn and he lived in the Svintru Mountain. Finn, also known as Finn Fairhair or Finn Fagerlokk, a troll, could not ever after stand the sound of church bells, so he moved along with his family to Himing (Lifjell). – Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heddal_stave_church
For WPC: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/textures/
If you want to see more Stave Churches, there’s more here: https://cardinalguzman.wordpress.com/category/stave-churches/
what an amazing structure- beautiful- I love the black and white images
Thanks, it’s a wonderful building – even for an atheist like myself.
I have never seen anything like this. Amazing! And your photography is wonderful. I really like the black and white photos
Thank you very much! 👍
the photos are fantastic as well as the texture !
Dhanyavad!
swagatam !
Wonderful church. Wonderful story. Wonderful photos. Thank you.
Thanks for the feedback! 🙏
From my latitudes: it’s a strange type of church.
Very good pictures. I like it.
Thank you Carlos.
To me, it is reminiscent of the Wooden Churches I saw in the Maramures region of Romania…wonderful craftsmanship
Yes, there are some similarities, but stave churches can only be found in Norway (plus one in Poland, but that one originates from Norway).
OK, thanks, Max
Wonderful! I am very curious about Vikings’ history, and this church is a gem! I would love to see one of these one day, and learn more about Vikings!
Then you should definitely visit Norway and Sweden. 🙂
Beautiful peace of architecture. Very haunting, and I like how the texture of the clouds add to this feeling. Looks like one of a kind stave church and love the different angles you got there, Max. Also, in that photo inside the church, looks like that guy is taking a photo of you 🙂
Thank you Miss Mabel. It was very difficult to shoot inside the church, because the lighting isn’t very good, plus when people walk around, the floor and benches are moving too, so nearly all the long-exposures were blurry.
Wow! Gorgeous captures of a beautiful place ❤
Stunning images Max! A visual delight and architectural marvel. And what a backstory!
It’s an amazing and a true story if you think about it: if God/Jesus is real, then Trolls are real too!
I kind of just believe in the goodness of the universe no matter how it decides to present itself…and trolls are real 💩
Is that even real? Looks totally like a shooting set from a fairy tale…
Wonderful images! I only leared about Stave churches recently and am totally fascinated. They are so different from the kind of church architecture I’m used to seeing, and are incredibly beautiful.
Feed your fascination: come to Norway! 😁
Top of my “when I win the lottery” list!
I have that list too. It’s very long, so I better win quickly! 😀
Hope NZ is on the list!
Yes, it is. I have a good friend who’s a tattoo artist there, so I’ll have to visit her when I win the lottery.
🙂 Cool. We’ve got lots of good mountains to climb and plenty of great beaches for the after-parties.
Spectacular!!!
Thank you!
That is most Witchy looking church I have ever laid eyes on. Like a movie set!
Yes, it’s a pretty cool church. Thanks for the comment Horsina!
fascinating architecture… on the outside it’s like the armour of one of them ancient Japanese samurai armours, you know? just a thought… really fascinating, great shots!!!