Glas Metal Wood
Details of the Vang stave church (Polish: Świątynia Wang; Norwegian: Vang stavkyrkje; German: Stabkirche Wang) is a stave church which was bought by the Prussian King and transferred from Vang in the Valdres region of Norway and re-erected in 1842 in Brückenberg near Krummhübel in Germany, now Karpacz in the Karkonosze mountains of Poland.
The church is a four-post single-nave stave church originally built around 1200 in the parish of Vang in the Valdres region of Norway.
Re-erection
The foundation stone was laid on August 2, 1842 in the presence of King Friedrich Wilhelm himself. It was a demanding task for carpenters who had never seen the church, nor any stave church, to rebuild it correctly. In spite of excellent drawings, most of the materials were discarded. Only the main construction, consisting of sills, posts and wall plates, were made use of, in addition to the carved doorframes. All of the external gallery was built with new materials, and every wall plank was replaced.
The long lost apse was reconstructed, albeit with a very strange baroque roof. The gallery and the flèche were reconstructed, but several new windows without historical precedent were put in. The doorways were turned inside out, with the carvings facing inward. The decorated ceiling above the choir was not restored, probably because it seemed too Catholic in a Protestant church. All the original roof trusses were renewed.
The work took two years and the total cost amounted to more than 75 000 marks. On the King's birthday, October 15, 1843, the flèche with the date 1200 was raised. On July 27, 1844 Prince Frederick of the Netherlands together with huge crowds witnessed the consecration of "Die Bergkirche unseres Erlösers zu Wang" (The mountain church of Our Savior of Vang). The former owner J. C. Dahl was not present, but he was happy to know that his project had been realised. He was spared the burden of preserving only certain decorated elements, and pleased that "a fair likeness" had been rebuilt.
Now serving a Polish community, Wang church has become a major tourist attraction and is probably the world's most visited stave church with about 200 000 visitors each year.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Glas Metal Wood
Details of the Vang stave church (Polish: Świątynia Wang; Norwegian: Vang stavkyrkje; German: Stabkirche Wang) is a stave church which was bought by the Prussian King and transferred from Vang in the Valdres region of Norway and re-erected in 1842 in Brückenberg near Krummhübel in Germany, now Karpacz in the Karkonosze mountains of Poland.
The church is a four-post single-nave stave church originally built around 1200 in the parish of Vang in the Valdres region of Norway.
Re-erection
The foundation stone was laid on August 2, 1842 in the presence of King Friedrich Wilhelm himself. It was a demanding task for carpenters who had never seen the church, nor any stave church, to rebuild it correctly. In spite of excellent drawings, most of the materials were discarded. Only the main construction, consisting of sills, posts and wall plates, were made use of, in addition to the carved doorframes. All of the external gallery was built with new materials, and every wall plank was replaced.
The long lost apse was reconstructed, albeit with a very strange baroque roof. The gallery and the flèche were reconstructed, but several new windows without historical precedent were put in. The doorways were turned inside out, with the carvings facing inward. The decorated ceiling above the choir was not restored, probably because it seemed too Catholic in a Protestant church. All the original roof trusses were renewed.
The work took two years and the total cost amounted to more than 75 000 marks. On the King's birthday, October 15, 1843, the flèche with the date 1200 was raised. On July 27, 1844 Prince Frederick of the Netherlands together with huge crowds witnessed the consecration of "Die Bergkirche unseres Erlösers zu Wang" (The mountain church of Our Savior of Vang). The former owner J. C. Dahl was not present, but he was happy to know that his project had been realised. He was spared the burden of preserving only certain decorated elements, and pleased that "a fair likeness" had been rebuilt.
Now serving a Polish community, Wang church has become a major tourist attraction and is probably the world's most visited stave church with about 200 000 visitors each year.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia