Historic Churches 2018

40 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 25 TH ANNUAL EDITION surrounding the protected building is always carefully monitored. Formerly a parish church, the building is still used for a few local ceremonies, but predominately viewed as an important cultural and historical landmark integral to the Norwegian community. Urnes is one of eight stave churches to be run by Fortidsminneforeningen, a national Norwegian volunteer association that is keen to preserve Norway’s cultural heritage and is instrumental in looking after the building’s many running and maintenance requirements. According to its website, the income turned over by the church contributes to this purpose. Moving forward, The Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage, which reports to the Ministry of Climate and Environment regarding the country’s cultural heritage policy, has outlined its strategy for 2017 to 2021 regarding the conservation of its heritage buildings. According to the plan the new national targets for cultural heritage, which become applicable this year (2018), continue to focus specifically on ‘the need for repair, maintenance and ensuring high standards in conservation work, and on the benefits society can derive from the cultural heritage,’ a policy that certainly bodes well for the future of the remaining stave churches. All photos and diagrams reproduced by kind permission of The Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage, unless otherwise stated. Further information Riley Winters, ‘Urnes Stave Church : A final vestige of viking innovation’, Ancient Origins: Reconstructing the story of humanity’s past, 23 July 2017. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/ y6tvvj7o [Accessed on 22 June 2018] Kristin Bakken ‘et al’, in Bakken, Kristin. (ed.), Preserving the stave churches: craftsmanship and research . Pax Forlag, Oslo, 2016 Margrethe Henden Aaraas ‘et al’, ‘Urnes Stave Church’, Cultural History Encyclopedia , 1999. [ONLINE] Available at: https://tinyurl.com/y9bybz7q/. [Accessed 22 June 2018] The Directorate For Cultural Heritage, ‘Architectural Heritage, Innholdsfortegnelse’, The Directorate for Cultural Heritage, 18 July 2016. [ONLINE] Available at: https://tinyurl.com/y9x38x4r [Accessed on 22 June 2018] UNESCO, ‘Urnes Stave Church’, UNESCO, 2013. [ONLINE] Available at: whc.unesco.org/en/list/58 [Accessed on 22 June 2018] FELICITY FOX is a member of Cathedral Communication’s editorial team. She prepared this article with the help of Sjur Mehlum, Senior Advisor for the Department for Conservation for The Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage and Sofie Klemetzen, Site Manager for Urnes stave church for Fortidsminneforeningen. Urnes stave church after repair and conservation works were completed (Photo: Leif Anker) The interior looking towards the chancel (Photo: Bjørn Erik Pedersen [CC BY-SA 4.0 https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 ]) Wall paintings on either side of the altar in the chancel after cleaning and consolidation (Photo: Sofie Klemetzen)