Left Side of the Urnes Stave Church Portal
February 7, 2019
Reconstruction illustration of the left side of the north-facing portal of the Urnes stave church displaying Urnes style carvings in high relief.
The portal has been shortened c. 30 cm at the bottom and c. 50 cm at the top to fit the dimensions of the present church. Its current size is now c. 205 cm wide (full width) and c. 290 cm tall.
This portal and several other elements with and without carved decorations were originally part of an earlier church built sometime after 1070 but were reused in the present stave church from c. 1135.
The decoration would have spread out at both sides of the top of the portal continuing into a c. 90 cm tall horizontal ribbon going across the full width of the original building.
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Urnes, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway.