Stavkirke
A medieval Norwegian timber church built on a post-and-plank frame, with steep shingled roofs, carved portals, and dragon-head finials. Around thirty stave churches survive of the more than a thousand once built, among them Borgund, Urnes, and Heddal. In folklore the churches mark where the old faith met the new, and legends tell of trolls turned to stone at the sound of their bells. The post-and-beam construction, with the roof supported by tall staves inside the walls, lets the churches stand for centuries, and the carving that ornaments them, from the Urnes portal to the dragon gables, carr