"Gol stave church" Gol by Diana75

Gol Travel Guide: 15 reviews and 58 photos

Road map to Gol

The small town of Gol, with its more than 4,500 inhabitants, is located in Buskerud district, on the main road from Bergen to Oslo.

Renown for its beautiful stave church, Gol is a picturesque and peaceful town, surrounded by a beautiful green mountain landscape.

Beside its famous stave church, another attraction of Gol is Bygdetun, a small museum, a subsidiary of Hallingdal Museum.

Stave churches in Norway

Gol stave church from behind

According to Wikipedia - The Free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) "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 (in the Old Norse stavr) have lent their name to the building technique.

The churches are grouped into two categories:
-> the first without free-standing posts, often referred to as Type A,
-> the second with a raised roof and with free-standing internal posts, usually termed Type B.

Those with the raised roof, Type B, are often further divided in two subgroups:

- the Kaupanger group with a whole arcade row of posts and intermediate posts along the sides and details mimicking stone like capital, giving an impression of a basilica;

- the Borgund group with cross braces joining upper and lower string beams and the posts, forming a very rigid interconnection, and resembling the triforium of stone basilicas".

Gol stave church belongs to this second group, Borgund group.

Other churches in the same group are to be found in Borgund, Hegge, Hore (Hurum), Lomen, Ringebu (for more information visit my Ringebu page) and Oye.

Once in Norway there were approximately 800 to 1000 stave churches but only 30 original stave churches remain today.

Several have been moved, re-erected and preserved at new locations. Replicas of some have been built in the United States.

Last visit to Gol: Aug 2004
Intro Updated Mar 6, 2006
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Reviews (14)

Gol stave church souvenirs shop Favorites (2)

At the entrance to the Gol stave church site, a small shop is selling typical Norwegian souvenirs such as trolls'... more travel advice

Informative boards inside the church - Gol

Informative boards inside the church Favorites (2)

Inside the church, hanged on the walls, informative boards are presenting the history of both the stave churches in... more travel advice

Gol - camping and relaxation Things to Do (12)

more travel advice

Gol stave church roof Things to Do (12)

Even though the wooden churches had structural differences, the features were more or less common. The Gol Stave Church... more travel advice

Travelogues (1)

Written Mar 6, 2006

8 photos

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Comments (8)

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codrutz Feb 23, 2007 at 1:15 PM

How did you get to that place? :)
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matcrazy1 Feb 17, 2007 at 3:10 PM

Gol stave church looks great! Thanks for explanations on stave technique.
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LoriPori Oct 3, 2006 at 4:08 AM

What wonderful woodwork in the Gol Stave church. I love those little Troll dolls.
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deecat May 10, 2006 at 5:26 AM

What an interesting, comprehensive group of tips with glorious photos to match.
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Fam.Rauca May 9, 2006 at 12:56 AM

O pagina deosebit de interesanta! Gabriela
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whitecliff62 Apr 16, 2006 at 12:07 PM

That Stave church is wonderful, such an unusual shape, never seen anything like that. Happy easter to you as well Diana.
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Ben-UK Mar 14, 2006 at 9:49 AM

That was a very long tunnel you went through to get to Gol ! -- looks like it was worth it though -- excellent photos again.
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luckyzen Mar 7, 2006 at 9:07 AM

Yeah, Greyton is also what I need right now! Thank you for dropping by Diana.