10/12/2006:
First-time visitors to Minot, North Dakota are often surprised to find a Norwegian Stave Church in the town’s center. The large wooden church, located in the Scandinavian Heritage Park, is a full-scale replica of the 750-year-old Gol Stave Church currently located in the Bygdøy Folk Museum near Oslo, Norway.
During the Christianization period of Scandinavia, churches were built throughout Norway. Historians estimate there may have been as many as one thousand wooden stave churches built in Norway between 1100 and 1300. Remarkably, twenty-eight churches are still standing today, including the Gol Stave Church.
A stave church received it name from the construction technique. The stave technique involves a skeletal framework of vertical posts called staves. These staves are fitted into a large horizontal sill laid upon a stone foundation. The enclosure is then completed with tall planks which are erected vertically. The construction of a modern replica stave church is little different.
Construction of Minot’s stave church began in 1999 after a groundbreaking ceremony was held on this day, October 12, 1999. But preparations had begun much earlier. Twelve years before the groundbreaking, Phillip and Else Odden of Norsk Woodworks in Barronett, WI began carving the four 14-feet door portals that would grace the south and west entrances. Patterns for the portal carving were taken directly from the original church. However, the doors were widened to accommodate wheelchairs which required Odden to redesign the upper mid-sections. The eastern portals were carved in Sugar Pine. The southern portals were began in Norway by carver Knut Jacobson and intended for the stave church located in Walt Disney World. These were acquired for Minot’s stave church and completed by Odden using Wisconsin white pine. Phillip Odden also carved a number of the interior furnishings including a wall relief of the ‘Last Supper’.
At least seven other replicas of stave churches exist in the United States, including Moorhead, MN; Rapid City, SD; Washington Island, WI and Walt Disney World in Florida. Most have been inspired by a Norwegian-American desire to reconnect culturally with their ancestors. Minot’s Gol Stave Church was no different. The desire for a stave church began with the inspiration of a Minot doctor, Myron Peterson. He and his wife Gail chaired the construction committee, donated nearly $300,000 to the project and made at least ten research and fact-finding trips to Norway to ensure the church would be an exact replica of the original. Steve Peterson, the son of Dr. Myron Peterson, carved some of the interior furnishings including the baptismal font. He also left his mark on the exterior. Upon close observation above the exterior eastern portal, visitors may notice one dragon appears to be smiling; an artistic signature of Steve Peterson.
Written by Christina Campbell
Sources:
Keller, Maura. “The Dragon and the Cross.” Viking (August 2002): 9-11
http://www.norskwoodworks.com/
http://www.norway.org/culture/architecture/churches/stavechurch.htm
http://odin.dep.no/odin/engelsk/norway/history/032005-990451/index-dok000-b-n-a.html