Rollag stavkirke dates from around 1250, though some sources argue for an earlier date around 1150. Like Flesberg, it was substantially rebuilt. Between 1652 and 1702, a series of priests added windows, a new apse, transepts, and galleries, turning the medieval stave church into a larger cross-shaped building.
The interior is richly painted with plant and fruit patterns and portraits of saints. The choir depicts foliage and what the painters called the fruits of paradise. The baroque altarpiece from 1670 has an ornately carved frame. A baptismal font carved from a single tree trunk sits inside, along with a stone cross dated to around the year 1000.
Only the western side retains original stave-period decorations around the portal. Everything else is post-Reformation rebuilding layered over the medieval skeleton.
Rollag is still a parish church. It is also the home of the Numedal Middelaldersenter, the valley's medieval centre, which hosts events during Middelalderuka, the annual medieval week held each July. The church is typically open daily from mid-June to mid-August.
The interior is richly painted with plant and fruit patterns and portraits of saints. The choir depicts foliage and what the painters called the fruits of paradise. The baroque altarpiece from 1670 has an ornately carved frame. A baptismal font carved from a single tree trunk sits inside, along with a stone cross dated to around the year 1000.
Only the western side retains original stave-period decorations around the portal. Everything else is post-Reformation rebuilding layered over the medieval skeleton.
Rollag is still a parish church. It is also the home of the Numedal Middelaldersenter, the valley's medieval centre, which hosts events during Middelalderuka, the annual medieval week held each July. The church is typically open daily from mid-June to mid-August.