Hopperstad stave church, part 1 - beasts of another world

Earlier this week, my family and I went south to visit Hopperstad stave church, which is situated in the village of Vik in Sogn. Hopperstad is one of the most spectacular surviving examples of Norwegian medieval architecture, and in the following blogposts I will present various details from this magnificent building.

The stave church is a famous building type, which has become emblematic of the Norwegian Middle Ages, thanks to the largest and most splendidly decorated of these churches, such as Hopperstad, but also Urnes, Borgund and Lom. The term "stave church", however, does not in and of itself signify a work of splendour and grandeur, it simply means the way in which the church was constructed. This was done by a basic structure of poles, or staves, forming the interior skeleton of the church, and such churches can be found in all shapes and sizes, from the stupendous specimens such as Hopperstad, or the more shack-like from poorer districts.

Unfortunately, only 27 stave churches survive to this day, out of several hundred that were likely operative in the course of the period 1100-c.1550. The majority of these lost churches were demolished in the latter half of the nineteenth century, when the department of churches had set down new rules for the minimum number of people that a church should contain. As many stave churches are small and not designed to house large congregations, these were destroyed by the government. A few were rescued, however, as in the case of Hopperstad, which was bought by the architect Peter Blix in 1882 and subsequently restored. At that point, the church was in a very poor condition, and some of the elements were replaced, and some were even added, as in the case of the arcade running along the sides of the church.

View into Vik from the nineteenth-century arcade

Hopperstad stave church was built around 1130, and is believed to have replaced an older church on the same site. By this point in time, Norway had been officially Christian for about a hundred years, and the ecclesiastical and secular aristocracy were very conscious about the fact that they belonged to a cultural network that connected them to the rest of Latin Christendom. Several of them had travelled by trading routes throughout the European continent, some had joined King Sigurd I in his crusade to Palestine (1108-12), and some had journeyed as pilgrims to the most holy places in the Latin Christian world. This connection to the world outside also meant that the Norwegian elites were familiar with the architectural styles further south, and they were eager to emulate the artistic expressions and vogues of that world. This can be seen very clearly in the case of Hopperstad, in particular in the carvings that decorate the portal into the church.

The right-hand side of the portal into the church

A gaping animal, most likely a wolf

The portal is covered with carved animals fighting an convoluted and frozen battle in a wilderness of leafy vines. Elongated, curving necks and bodies, a mixture of wings, maws, beaks and talons showcase the mastery of the medieval carpenters who could render a chaotic war while also making it possible to trace every line to its end and distinguish the individual figures that comprise the scenery. These entangled scenes have become emblematic of Norwegian medieval art, at least as it is understood in the modern imagination.

However, while these beasts of impossibly long necks, locked in an unending struggle, are excellent examples of the skill of the carpenters operative in Norway in the twelfth century - whether they were themselves Norwegians or brought in from abroad - these animals are also an example of that stylistic connection that tied Norway to the world outside, a world in which such convoluted images had long been part of the artistic practice. It is likely that such battles in the vines - perhaps signifying the strife of the temporal world in contrast to the peace of Heaven - were not conceived in Norway, but inspired by artists in other regions, such as Germany, England, France, Spain, etc.

In order to highlight these similarities, I have included a few images of the digitised manuscript Rouen - BM - ms.0008, a Bible from the turn of the eleventh century - about fifty to thirty years older than Hopperstad stave church - which was produced in Normandy, an area with which Norwegians were frequently in contact. Consider these initials, and while there are obvious differences in the images - owing in no small part to the different medium - notice most of all how the basic scene itself is the same in both Hopperstad and the Rouen MS, namely the vicious battle of beings in a self-contained world of vines and greenery.

Rouen - BM - ms. 0008, f.002v, Bible from Jumièges, last quarter of 11th century 

(courtesy of enluminures.culture.fr)

Rouen - BM - ms. 0008, f.015v, Bible from Jumièges, last quarter of 11th century 

(courtesy of enluminures.culture.fr)

Rouen - BM - ms. 0008, f.244v, Bible from Jumièges, last quarter of 11th century 

(courtesy of enluminures.culture.fr)

Rouen - BM - ms. 0008, f.211, Bible from Jumièges, last quarter of 11th century 

(enluminures.culture.fr)

In comparing these initials with the carvings from Hopperstand, I'm not suggesting, however, that this manuscript was known to whoever decorated Hopperstad or commissioned those decorations. I am suggesting, rather, that both the MS and the carvings in a Norwegian fjord are renditions of the same basic graphic idea which was common throughout all of Latin Christendom by the first third of the twelfth century.

This comparison is also strengthened - as well as inspired by - the ongoing exhibition in the Museo Episcopal de Vic in Catalonia, Nord & Sud, in which medieval art in Catalonia and Norway are juxtaposed, thus highlighting the shared features of the art in these regions. I am in particular indebted to Dr. Judit Verdaguer for notifying me of this exhibition.