A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building style once common in northwestern Europe. In Norway there are 28 extant stave churches still standing today and this particular one in Borgund features a triple nave and is said to be the best preserved of them all.

 

 

Built some time between 1180 and 1250 AD, Borgund is now used as a museum and is run by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments. Its walls are formed by vertical wooden boards, or staves, hence the name “stave church”. [source]

 

 

 

On the gables of the roof, there are four carved dragon heads, swooping from the carved roof ridge crests, recalling the carved dragon heads found on the prows of Norse ships. [Source]

 

 

Almost every remaining stave church can be found in Norway. Outside of the country there is one in Hedared, Sweden; but it is much newer, built around the 1500s. There is also a relocated Norwegian Stave Church in Karpacz, Poland (via Krummhübel, Germany).