Sør-Aurdal

Sør-Aurdal municipality has approximately 3.180 inhabitants and covers a area of 1.109,0 km2. Sør-Aurdal is the one most south of the 6 township in Valdres. Approximately 600 is situated in the administrative centre at Bagn. No other area offers as many challenges and diversity as mountain landscape. You can choose from simple activities that you can do on your own or join a tour with a tourguide to some towering peaks, cross magical glaciers or descend into the blackest of caverns. Some activities are of short duration and can be done without any special preparation. Most activities, however, require time to prepare and you must have access to the necessary equipment.

HEDAL STAVE CHURCH

The church was built about 1225-1250, thus some like to date it to the late 1100´s. The first written records of it dates back to 1327. Even this church have undergone restorations and replacements throughout the history, of which a major rebuilding into cruciform occurred in 1699. The church was completely restored again in about 1900. Only the main construction of the nave and and some of the exterior exists from the original church.

REINLI STAVE CHURCH

The church is mentioned for the first time in 1327 AD, but was probably built in about 1290-1320 AD. The altar screen is made from a medieval Madonna triptych and the pulpit bears the stamp of the Renaissance. From the church site, one have a magnificent grand view of the Valdres district.

The Stave Churches are constructions of high quality, richly decorated with carvings. In virtually all of them the door frames are decorated from top to bottom with carvings. This tradition of rich ornamentation appears to go back to the animal carvings of the Viking age. The dragons are lovingly executed and transformed into long-limbed creatures of fantasy, here and there entwined with tendrils of vine, with winding stems and serrated leaves. The elaborate designs are executed with supreme artistic skill. The stave church doorways are, therefore, among the most distinctive works of art to be found in Norway. However, it is difficult to connect them with the Christian gospel.