Browsing by Author "Westich, Stephen"

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    Upon this Rock I Build my Church: Borgund Stave Church and the Aesthetics of Permanence
    (2024-06-25) Westich, Stephen; Neagley, Linda
    Beginning in the twelfth century, the ‘stave’ building technique became popular for parish churches in Norway and possibly throughout northern Europe. By the nineteenth century, these churches could only be found in Norway. Designated important monuments of national identity they were grouped together based on this technique and are now known as the Norwegian stave churches. The best-preserved stave church remaining in situ is Borgund stave church. Borgund has been held in high esteem for the remarkable condition of its timber material and has served as a model for restorers in the nineteenth century as well as an icon for Norwegian culture throughout the world. Despite the prevalence of Borgund’s image, this will be the first art historical study to examine it as a functioning building in the twelfth-century context in which it was constructed. This project investigates the spatiality and materiality of Borgund stave church. Drawing on theories of space and materiality, combined with the results of archaeological excavations and conservation work, close readings of texts contemporary to the church, and the building’s form, I argue that its design has as an overriding principle of an ‘aesthetics of permanence.’ I define this concept as the intention of developing a building form that not only has the capability of great endurance, but that this endurance is made manifest in the aesthetic design of the building. Through this the church emphasizes its permanence against the decay and mutability of the natural world, both literally and symbolically, and produces a space for the exercise of power. A narrow passageway circling the building offers a measure of protection to the building, but also highlights the threshold of sacred space. This liminality that emphasizes the borders between sacred and secular space parallels and participates in the broader political context of border creations that produced new margins both legal and theological. The sophisticated carpentry combined with the masonry at its foundation, the rocks on which the church stands, demonstrate the desire of the builders to create a church that manifested power over nature and an ambition for permanence.