FANTOFT STAVE CHURCH: FROM DIVINE TO PROFANE – PART TWO

The church was originally built around the year 1150 in a village near the eastern end of Sognefjord.  In 1879, the new Fortun Church  was constructed as a replacement for the medieval stave church. Fantoft Stave Church was threatened with demolition, as were hundreds of other stave churches in Norway but it was saved by moving it in pieces to the town of Fana near Bergen in 1883.

In the last post, I mentioned that Christian missionaries came to Norway during the Middle Ages. As in other countries they went to,  the missionaries commandeered already established  churches in the area,  These had been Norse Pagan holy sites. Christianity  became dominant in Norway by the middle of the 12th Century and the churches often displayed both Pagan and Christian symbols.

Norwegians were Catholics until the Danish king Christian III of Denmark ordered Danes  to convert to Lutheranism in 1536 .  Since Norway was then ruled by Denmark, the Norwegians converted as well.
Today only about 3% of Norwegians are Catholic and the dominant religion is still Lutheran. interestingly though, being a member of a religion does not automatically mean that people follow the tenets.  In a poll conducted in the early 20th Century:
  • 22% of Norwegian citizens responded that “they believe there is a God”.
  • 44% responded that “they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force”.
  • 29% responded that “they don’t believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force”.
  • 5% did not respond.

I mentioned all this as it pertains to what happened to the Fantoft Church. In the late 1900’s the music scene in Norway, similar to the States had welcomed the “black metal scene.”  This genre is characterized by screaming vocals, raw, loud, distorted guitars and little if no melody.  Common lyrical themes include hatred. death and occultism. The Norwegian bands also sang of  paganism, Norse mythology and anti-Christian themes.

The hatred of Christianity reached a fevered pitch and on June 6, 1992, the Fantoft Church was attacked and burnt to the ground – the arson attributed as a statement against Christianity and revenge for the missionaries takeover of Norwegian pagan holy sites, as well as the desecration of Viking graves.  Other stave churches were also burnt  soon after.  In 1994 Verg Vikernes, head of the black metal band Burzum was found guilty of burning 4 stave churches.   He was also accused of the arson attributed Fantoft, but the jury did not convict him of that fire.  Judges of the court stated this was “an error” but did not overturn that verdict.

  • Vikernes featured a photo of the burnt-out church on the cover of his 1993 Burzum EP, Aske (“ashes”)

Today there is a permanent fence surrounding the Fantoft Stave Church though frankly it does not appear very formidable

 

 

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