Stave churches and cathedrals

In Norway churches were built of wood with an art unmatched elsewhere in Europe. At the same time the Church raised cathedrals of stone and brick in Trondheim, Roskilde and Turku.

The stave churches have load-bearing posts, staves, standing on sills so that the timber stays dry. Fewer than thirty medieval stave churches survive in Norway. Urnes, from about 1130, is the oldest, and it has carved parts from an earlier church on the same site, with animal ornament in the style that has been named after the church.

Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, built over the grave of St Olaf, is one of the largest medieval buildings in the Nordic countries, with English Gothic as its model. Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark is an early masterpiece in brick, and Turku Cathedral became Finland’s national shrine.

• Urnes Stave Church