Fantoft Stave Church. Bergen.

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When we called into Bergen there was one particular place I wanted to visit. It was the ancient Stave church at fantoft in a small suburb just outside Bergen called Fana. We took a taxi out to the site and the kind taxi driver walked with us to the church as he said it was quite easy to get lost. The taxi fare cost us 450 Norwegian Krone which was around £40. Another couple wanted to see the church but said it was too expensive to pay for the taxi which would have worked out £10 each which is quite reasonable but they decided not to go. This did not deter us we still went to visit it. It was originally built in 1150 near Sonjford but the threat of demolition some kind soul bought the church and dismantled it and brought it to this small village area. In 1883 was re erected piece by piece however some nasty group of people burnt it down in 1992 claiming it was built on pagan ritual grounds. Originally it was thought that the fire was started by lightening but it soon became clear that the group who were responsible for burning other churches down were also linked to this. By 1997 it had been rebuilt exactly as it was originally with wood that is approximately 300 years old and stands in a small forest clearing. There are parts of the wood that have been salvaged and utilised in the church. Beside the church is a stone cross from Tjora in Sola. The altar cross survived the fire and was found amongst the ashes. On the roof there were carvings of Dragons which were thought to protect the church. There was also a door at the side of the church called the leper door. People who had leprosy were not permitted in the church but could receive a blessing from this doorway. Originally there were no seats in the small church. Everyone stood for services eventually small benches were put in for people to sit on. The outside of the church is really interesting to look at pieces of wood overlapping each other making the building water tight. On the edges of the building you can see the dragons heads and although this was a Norse thing it was something they wanted to incorporate into the building. The photo is one which I took when we visited. I was really pleased to have visited this small unusual church. There are only around 28 such starve churches left in Norway today some of them much bigger so it was quite a privilege for us to visit one.