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Jola Dziubinska | profile | all galleries >> POLAND - MY BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY >> VANG CHURCH IN KARPACZ tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

VANG CHURCH IN KARPACZ

Vang stave church (Polish: Świątynia Wang; Norwegian: Vang stavkyrkje; German: Stabkirche Wang) is a four-post single-nave stave church originally built around 1200 in the parish of Vang in the Valdres region, at Lake Vang in southern Norway.

In 1832, the local council decided to pull down the stave church because it was too small and had become structurally unsafe over the years.
Thanks to the efforts of a Dresden-based Norwegian painter, Professor John Christian Dahl, the church was bought for the sum of 427 marks by the then Prussian King, Frederick William IV.
Then, taken to pieces so as to be shipped, the elemnts were transferred in boxes - at first to the Royal Museum in Berlin, and next to its new destination, to be re-erected in Brückenberg near Krummhübel in Silesia, now Karpacz in the Karkonosze mountains (Giant Mountains) of Poland.

On August 2, 1842 King Frederick William IV himself laid a cornerstone for the church, and two years later on July 28, 1844 the opening and the consecration of the church took place in the presence of the King.

Today it is a parish church belonging to the Evangelic-Augsburgan Church in Poland. This corresponds with Lutheran Church you find in other countries.

Vang church has become a major tourist attraction and is probably the world's most visited stave church with about 200 000 visitors each year. The church was built from the Norwegian pine tree, the way the Viking longships were constructed, that is without a single nail, it features wooden bolts and dovetails. Following the best examples of the Scandinavian sacral architecture, the church is now a unique work of the old Nordic art. The church is surrounded with the cloisters which protect it against cold. In the old times people used to leave their weapons and fishing nets there. The sunlight brightens the church interior through 174 little crown-glass windows. The roof tops are decorated with pinnacles, i.e., the projections in the shape of gaping dragon mouths which resemble the ornaments characteristic of the Vikings' longships.

A 24-metre-high tower was built of the Silesian granite to shield the little church from sharp gusts of wind blowing off the Mt. Sniezka direction.

http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Vang_stave_church
Vang Stave Church
Vang Stave Church
Vang Stave Church
Vang Stave Church
Vang Stave Church
Vang Stave Church
Vang Church In Karpacz
Vang Church In Karpacz
Vang Church In Karpacz
Vang Church In Karpacz
Lantern In Vang Church
Lantern In Vang Church
Vang Church In Karpacz
Vang Church In Karpacz
Decorative Wall Art
Decorative Wall Art
Vang Church In Karpacz - The Altar
Vang Church In Karpacz - The Altar
Vang Church In Karpacz - The Font
Vang Church In Karpacz - The Font
Vang Church In Karpacz - Old Columns
Vang Church In Karpacz - Old Columns
Vang Church In Karpacz
Vang Church In Karpacz
Southern Doorway
Southern Doorway
Northern Doorway Portal
Northern Doorway Portal
Vang Church In Karpacz - Interior
Vang Church In Karpacz - Interior
The Church Tower
The Church Tower
Vang Church In Karpacz
Vang Church In Karpacz
Stone Tower
Stone Tower
Vang Church In Karpacz
Vang Church In Karpacz
Vang Church In Karpacz
Vang Church In Karpacz