Grip Stave Church

Grip Stave Church ( _no. Grip stavkirke) is a stave church in the fishing village Grip fourteen kilometers from Kristiansund in Norway. It was built in about 1470 at the island's highest point, eight meters above sea level. It underwent severe modifications in 1621, and restoration work in 1933. The roof and spire was restored in 2007.

With only one nave, and at twelve metres long, six and a half metres wide, and six metres high, it is one of Norway's smallest churches. Located in a now deserted fishing village, the church is only used in the summer season, when both summer residents and tourists attends services every third Sunday, led by a priest from Kristiansund. The priest has not lived in the parish since 1635.

The altar is a triptych from The Netherlands, dated to about 1520, with a central sculpture of the Blessed Virgin Mary, flanked by sculptures of Olaf II of Norway and Saint Margaret the Virgin, protector of sailors in severe weather. The triptych is one of five altars donated to Norwegian churches by Dutch princess Isabella of Burgundy after being escorted by Erik Walkendorf, Archbishop of Norway, en route to her wedding in Copenhagen with the Danish king Christian II in 1515. The altar was restored in 2003. Other altars were donated to the churches of Leka, Røst, Hadsel and Ørsta, and the five altars are referred to by art historians as the Leka group. The church also has a small altar cup from 1320.

A new pipe organ from The Netherlands with 270 pipes was donated in 2006, which due to weather conditions will only be installed in the church during the summer season.

Because of the barren nature of the island, there is no cemetery on the church grounds, and bodies had to be buried elsewhere, typically in the cemetery of Bremsnes church, over ten kilometres away over open sea.

External links

* [http://www.stavkirke.org/stavkirker/grip.html Grip stave church] — in Norwegian
* [http://www.tk.no/speilet/article2104064.ece The new organ] — in Norwegian
* [http://www.fosnaporten.no/foto/2005/07/26/grip_stavkirke.asp Image gallery from Grip stave church]