Welcome to Litsy!

We are leaving Balestrand and back into some rolling hills where we find the 7th stave church in our #foodandlit tour of #Norway, the Hopperstad Stave Church in Vik. Built in the mid-1100s, the church fell into ruinous condition by the 1800s, and was planned to be demolished in 1877. An architect Peter Blix set about saving it and almost singlehandedly restoring it in the 1880s.

Here‘s a peak inside the Kaupanger Stave Church with more Hardanger embroidery (remember, more on that to come). The items inside this church date from the 1600s. Can you imagine—there are no security guards protecting these treasures from theft of vandalism? Of course some of these churches have been victims of arson but for the most part these are active churches that the community preserves. #foodandlit #Norway

I loved walking around the stave churches when I had the chance. Here‘s an up close rear view of the Kaupanger Stave Church. #foodandlit #Norway

Today we visit our sixth stave church of the remaining 29 to exist in #Norway. This is the Kaupanger Stave Church, built around 1140 and remains the active parish church today. From Solvorn, we drove to Kaupanger where we will catch one of the most idyllic ferry rides in the world tomorrow. But more on this church first. #foodandlit

Top left, left to right: Urnes Stave Church in the winter overlooking Sognefjorden; the “portal” of the earlier church from the 11th century; Christ, Mary, & John from 1100s; bishop chair from 1100s and altarpieces from 1699, all from the tagged book except my portal photo. #Norway #foodandlit

Urnes Stave Church with my mother-in-law. The church is far afield and atop a wickedly steep tall hill requiring an arduous climb (the reason given for its survival), but after our 1990s visit a road was added. We didn‘t know that as we began the wicked climb on our 2019 trip and we started seeing cars pass us!! But our car was placeholding us in the ferry line. So I had to give up the climb. Sadly, these are my only photos. #foodandlit

Today‘s special treat is the oldest of the stave churches in #Norway, Urnes, a 1979 World Heritage Site, pictured here with husband and his brother. It was built around 1130 but no one guessed yesterday‘s photo of the portals along one wall, from an even earlier church here dated between 1050-1100. The church has a small sliding “window” for lepers to stand outside but still “see” the service. Fifth stave church in our #foodandlit tour so far.

Inside the Lom Stave Church, with daughter and husband contemplating life bottom left. The interior pieces date from the 1600-1700s, the original pieces from 1100 removed during the reconstruction of the church in the 1600s. This church is still in regular use as the parish church for all of the Lom community. #foodandlit #Norway

Our fourth stave church in our tour of #Norway is in Lom. Constructed in the late 1100s, most of the original exterior is gone due to renovations in the 1600s. We will tour inside shortly. #foodandlit

We are now in Ringebu, where we find our third stave church on our tour of #Norway and the first of the three so far that is in its original location. It was built in the late 1100s and is still in use today. An archaeological dig in the 1980s discovered many artifacts including 892 coins in its floor dated from 1020 to 1263. Some were German, Swedish, & Danish. Two runic inscriptions can be found crudely carved into a wall. #foodandlit

Garmo, built in the 1200s, is the second stave church in our tour of #Norway. Torn down in 1882 when a new church was built in Garmo, the pieces that were saved were reassembled in 1912 at Maihaugen, the open air museum in Lillehammer. I don‘t recall why we couldn‘t go inside but an original soapstone baptismal font from the 1100s is inside. We will eventually go inside a stave church and they‘re as beautiful inside as out. #foodandlit

This Stave Church was moved from Gol, #Norway in 1885 to the Norsk Folk Museum on Bygdøy. We didn‘t get to see inside because a wedding was taking place in it (I managed to crop out most of the activity). Almost all surviving stave churches remain in use including this one. This church was nearly razed in 1882 when the new local church was built. Fortunately at the same time there was a wave of support to save these churches. The greatest risk ⬇️

If you, like me, love these ancient churches in #Norway this book will pay off dividends as you tour the country starting with the Norsk Folk Museum on Bygdøy. More than 1000 stave churches were built when Vikings were becoming Christian between 1100-1350. Hence the Viking ship design. 29 barely survive today. This #foodandlit month we will see a few of the survivors. My mother-in-law got me hooked on “collecting” these gorgeous churches. Enjoy.

Another teaser for #foodandlit in May when we will visit #Norway. We‘ll be visiting Norwegian stave churches and learning about the beautiful Norwegian Hardanger embroidery while we also dabble in the cuisine and tour the country. I can‘t wait! Above is the first page of my scrapbooks from our 2015 trip with books about the churches and an embroidery pattern book superimposed. @Butterfinger @Catsandbooks

We drove by the Hopperstad Stave Church in Vik on the way to Norheimsund today. According to my handy stave church book, it was built in the mid-1100s and restored in the late 1800s.

One of my favorite things to do in Norway is to visit stave churches. So I purchased this book today. I don‘t think any are on our list to visit on this trip, but I have visited about five in previous trips.