NO-163084 Eidsborg Stave Church, Norway

Eidsborg Stave Church (Norwegian: Eidsborg stavkyrkje) is a stave church in Tokke, Telemark county, Norway.

Eidsborg Stave Church is one of the best preserved Norwegian stave churches. Eidsborg Stave Church is located next to the Vest-Telemark Museum in Eidsborg.

The church is estimated to date to between 1250-1300. The church is dedicated to the traveller's patron, St. Nicholas of Bari. It was partly reconstructed in the 19th century. The chorus was demolished in 1826. The new choir dates to the period 1845-50. The reconstruction work did not affect the structure or the shape of the church. It was restored in 1927 when painted figures and ornaments dating from the Renaissance and old murals from the 17th century were revealed. [Wikipedia]

This beautiful postcard showing the Church covered with snow came from Grethe (Postcrossing, May 2018).

Personal Note: In 2009, we visited Norway (as part of our Sweden, Denmark, Norway tour) and we went into two different Stave Churches.  I love the atmosphere in these churches.

DE-6253159 Edvard Munch's "The Scream"

"The Scream" (Norwegian: Skrik) is the popular name given to each of four versions of a composition, created as both paintings and pastels, by Norwegian Expressionist artist Edvard Munch between 1893 and 1910. The German title Munch gave these works is Der Schrei der Natur (The Scream of Nature). The works show a figure with an agonized expression against a landscape with a tumultuous orange sky.

This particular version is currently in the Norwegian National Gallery in Oslo.

Lily from Hamburg (14 June 2017) sent me this great postcard.  I had been looking for it for some time.

BR-3969501 The Northern Lights - aurora borealis in Artic Norway

This postcard of the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) in Artic Norway came from Fernando F. (5 July 2016) Postcrossing.
For other Northern Lights postcard, go to "Natural Phenomena" page.

NO-113641 Lysefjord (with the Kjerag mountain and the rock of Preikestolen) Norway

Lysefjord is a fjord located in Forsand in Ryfylke in south-western Norway. The name means ‘light fjord’ and is said to be derived from the lightly coloured granite rocks along its sides. The fjord was carved by the action of glaciers in the ice ages and was flooded by the sea when the later glaciers retreated.

End to end, Lysefjord measures 42 km (26 mi) with rocky walls falling nearly vertically over 1000 m (3,000 ft) into the water. Because of the inhospitable terrain, the fjord is only lightly populated and only has two villages on its length - Forsand and Lysebotn, located at opposite ends of the fjord. The few people who live or lived along the fjord are only able to leave their homes by boat as the slopes are too steep for roads. Lysefjord is not only long and narrow, it is in places as deep as the mountains are high.

Lysefjord is an extremely popular tourist attraction and tourists come on day trip from nearby Stavanger. As well as the extraordinary scenery of the fjord itself, two points along its length are popular side trips. The rock of Preikestolen (see insert on postcard), located above a vertical drop of 604 meters can be seen from the fjord but is more impressive from above. At the end of the fjord lies the Kjerag mountain, a popular hiking destination with even more spectacular drops. (Source: Wikipedia)

This postcard came from Lillian (16 July 2015) Postcrossing.

NO-104032 Helleren and Jøssingfjord

Jøssingfjord is located on the southwestern coast of Norway.  From the inlet and into Helleren, Jøssingfjord is about 2.5 km long. The fjord has mountains of 200-250 metres surrounding the bay. 

Helleren itself used to be an ancient settlement and below the cliff, there are still two old houses .  These were built in the early 19th century and abandoned in the 1920s shortly after the first road was opened. The houses are preserved.  They were homes of poor families subsiding on a combination of farming, sheep herding and fishing.

This postcard was sent by Eline (20 January 2015) Postcrossing.

"God jul" Merry Christmas from Norway

Christmas postcards are less common than the normal folded Christmas cards.  It appears that Christmas postcards are found mainly in Europe.  I received this delightful card depicting a troll with a young boy from Norway during Christmas 2013.  It came from NO-83980 Kristin J. Jørgensen of Bryne, Norway.

Trolls are very well ingrained into Norwegian culture and having a troll in a Christmas card is not a surprising thing.

 

The stamp is one of a set of three self-adhesive stamps issued in 2011.  The theme is “Year of Architecture”.