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The Stave Church
One of the first buildings you’ll see in Norway is a stavkirke, which is a traditional wooden, Norwegian country chapel. It gets its name from “stavr” which means “load-bearing posts” in Old Norse. This building is an 80% scale copy of a stave church (the modern name) that was built in Hallingdal, Norway around 1250 A.D.
 Its unusual design features a tiered exterior and intricate woodcarving.
Norse woodcarvers blended Christian symbols with Viking imagery to decorate the buildings. Notice the dragon heads (detail on left) on the roof.
You can see from the photo of the doorway how complex the carvings are. This door is open and visitors are invited to go inside to see the exhibits.
The original chapel in Hallingdal, Norway was deemed too small for its congregation and torn down some years ago - after more than 700 years of service. (Imagine that – a wooden structure that lasted for 7 centuries!) There is another full-scale, replica of the original chapel in a museum in Oslo, Norway.
Sadly, there are only 28 of the original stavkirkes left in Norway. Some fell into disrepair and others were replaced with more modern structures. But it's a tribute to Norse design and building that some are still standing after more than 700 years in a fairly hostile climate.
Sod Roofs
The building with the outdoor hearth has a sod roof. In the mountains of Norway, people often built roofs of living sod because it provided an inexpensive and efficient way to insulate their homes against the cold.
Interesting Fact
Duplicating this technique in Epcot, posed a problem because Norwegian grasses did not tolerate the Florida heat and would turn brown. Zoysia grass is used here instead, because it stays green year-round.
Gardens:
Duplicating Norway’s “great outdoors” was a difficult task because of the huge disparity between the climates in Norway and Florida. ‘Norway’ is planted with North American birch and pine trees that are similar to those in Norway.
More about Norway:
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