Tanum kirke is one of only two surviving medieval churches in Bærum, built around 1100 to 1130 in Romanesque stone, possibly consecrated on 9 March 1146. The church was deliberately placed on top of an ancient pagan worship site, with Iron Age burial mounds still visible in the surrounding landscape. Consecration crosses anointed by the bishop remain on the walls, marking the twelve points where holy oil was applied to symbolize the twelve apostles.
In the 1670s, the Krefting family, owners of the nearby Bærum Verk ironworks, built burial chambers beneath the church. Around 40 family members lie entombed in the vaults. The most remarkable among them was Anna Paulsdatter Krefting, who was widowed at 29 while pregnant with her seventh child. She never remarried and went on to run the Bærum Verk ironworks for 54 years, growing it into the largest in Norway. At 79, when the main building burned down, she came out of retirement to supervise its reconstruction.
The church was immortalized by painter Harriet Backer, one of Norway's most celebrated artists. Her 1892 painting Barnedaap i Tanum kirke, Christening in Tanum Church, is considered her masterpiece. She exhibited it at the 1893 Chicago World Exposition, and it now hangs in the National Museum in Oslo. During 1970s restoration work, 14th-century wall paintings depicting the Passion of Christ were uncovered after being overpainted centuries earlier.
The church sits on the Tunsbergleden pilgrim path toward Nidaros in Trondheim. Pilgrims still stop here; a pilgrim bench, stamp, and guestbook mark the entrance. A medieval bell survives in the tower, and two Gothic sculptures from the Middle Ages remain inside.
In the 1670s, the Krefting family, owners of the nearby Bærum Verk ironworks, built burial chambers beneath the church. Around 40 family members lie entombed in the vaults. The most remarkable among them was Anna Paulsdatter Krefting, who was widowed at 29 while pregnant with her seventh child. She never remarried and went on to run the Bærum Verk ironworks for 54 years, growing it into the largest in Norway. At 79, when the main building burned down, she came out of retirement to supervise its reconstruction.
The church was immortalized by painter Harriet Backer, one of Norway's most celebrated artists. Her 1892 painting Barnedaap i Tanum kirke, Christening in Tanum Church, is considered her masterpiece. She exhibited it at the 1893 Chicago World Exposition, and it now hangs in the National Museum in Oslo. During 1970s restoration work, 14th-century wall paintings depicting the Passion of Christ were uncovered after being overpainted centuries earlier.
The church sits on the Tunsbergleden pilgrim path toward Nidaros in Trondheim. Pilgrims still stop here; a pilgrim bench, stamp, and guestbook mark the entrance. A medieval bell survives in the tower, and two Gothic sculptures from the Middle Ages remain inside.
