Borgund Stave Church is one of the oldest and has been carefully renovated to its former "glory". Since there are only 28 of these churches left in Norway, it is well worth a visit. Fascinating building technique. Be sure to look up and see the dragons. Old Viking symbols on a Christian church! There is an entrance fee that you have to pay in the building by the parking lot before walking over to the church (very short walk). There is a small museum and a cafe with a souvenir shop. Restrooms as well. Free and ample parking space.
Pictures don't really do it justice. This church was spectacular and one of the highlights of my stay in Norway. I didn't get to go outside but touching the outside and getting a great view was plenty. It's spectacularly preserved and a magnificent sight to see in person. If you can I highly, highly suggest checking this out.
Some 800 years later the old girl still looks amazing, inside and out. If you visit only one Stave Church in Norway, this one is a good candidate. Beautiful setting and incredibly well-preserved, Borgund is a fascinating window into early Christianity in Norway and village life. An architectural gem.
The visitors center has a nice little exhibition, good cafe and cleant bathroom facilities. If you do not wish to pay the fee to visit the church inside it is already very pretty to walk around the stave church and the other two buildings beside it. Even though it can get busy you still feel the unique ambiance of the setting of the church
The Borgund Stave Church is nothing short of Magnificent! The architecture is amazing and the history. In the graveyard is the grave of a famous Norwegian resistance fighter from WW2. For fans of Disneys Frozen, the church inspired the castle of Anna and Elsa. The fact that something 800 plus years old is standing and in good shape is inspiring. Don't miss this. There's also the original bell tower and the towns "New Church" built in the mid 1800s.
We saw a number of Stave churches; the structure of this one is more elaborate than the others and should be visited.
Built with wood from trees cut down in 1180! This is the stave church in the most original condition. It is very dark inside and it takes some time for your eyes to adjust and be able to see more detail. (Doesn't help when some selfish tourist decides he wants a better photo and uses flash after reading the notice asking not to do this.)There are good information boards, models, pictures, diagrams etc, inside the cafe/souvenir shop.Definitely worth doing if you are in this part of Norway.
Fair prices for Norwegian conditions! Wonderful stave church! It is very interesting to learn about the culture and ways how the people of past centuries built such elaborate churches! Definitely a place worth visiting!
I really enjoyed seeing this stave church and the adjacent stave church museum. Borgund is small inside with only 1 window. You are not allowed to use a flash for photos, but the helpful guide used his flashlight so I could take photos of the altar painting. The guide also showed us some medieval graffiti. I became fascinated with the dragon shaped roof decorations. There was a replica roof dragon in the museum so I could take a close-up photo. We had a tasty lunch in the museum cafe. They were out of English language Borgund books so we purchase a Norwegian book so we could have all the photos.
We drove here in a rental car from Flam. It was an easy drive although I think we should have taken the snow road. The church is in a pretty setting next to another church and a cemetery along a country road. Inside is very well preserved. Admission is charged to visit the stave church. There is museum across the street which is free I think and has interesting exhibits and information about the stave churches. There is a gift shop and cafe which are expensive but very clean and modern with free bathrooms.