Lom – The Beauty of Wood and the Smell of Bread

The Dalsnibba Mountain – 1,476 m above sea level – is Europe’s highest fjord-view from a road. From there, we said goodbye to Geiranger, one of the most fascinating fjords of Norway, and took the same road back to the lake where we made a short stop to enjoy its cold beauty. The landscape was desolate, almost without any houses. We continued in the direction to Lom.

Lom is a small village with farms situated in majestic natural surroundings. There are only about 2,300 inhabitants living here. Unlike in other Norwegian villages, most of the houses here are not colourful but dark brown or black, all in one style. This may be the reason why the centre of Lom is one of five national park villages in Norway. The cabins in the Nordal Touristic Center where we stayed overnight looked the same.

From our cabin’s window, we could see a wooden bridge over the Bøvre river and also the most important building in the village – the Lom Stave Church.

Like most of the churches in Norway, this church was also built next to a cemetery. At the entrance, I noticed a no smoking sign and a fire alarm. Norwegians are worried about their historic sight. No wonder, this is one of the largest stave churches in the country which remains until today. 322 stave churches were known around 1800, only 28 of them have survived.

 

The oldest wooden parts are proof that the church was originally built around 1158. In the 17th century, the high central steeple was added. It is surrounded by four smaller towers.

The interior is richly decorated with Baroque wood carvings made by local artists and with paintings from the first half of the 18th century. The oldest walls are the unpainted ones. The organ was built thanks to the donation from compatriots who emigrated to America.

More information about the church: here

The wild Bøvre river runs through the village. From the stone bridge, you can also see the Prestfoss waterfall on the river. Don’t forget to take a look beneath your feet as well. You may even find a four-leaf clover…

On the other riverside, there is the famous bakery Bakeriet i Lom. Neither we could resist the familiar smell of bread. What’s more, there were free places next to the large windows so we could sit and enjoy not only the nice view of the river but also coffee and tasty skollebolle, the typical Norwegian sweet roll. Because it was usually put in school lunches its name means School Bun.

Meanwhile, the sky had cleared a little bit, so it was pretty busy on the terrace in front of the bakery as well…

The next day, we continued our road trip. The landscape became more green and the weather more pleasant.

We made a stop in the village of Vågåmo to visit its stove church. Trees murmured at the cemetery and gentle spring flowers decorated some of the gravestones. The wooden door with a heavy metal lock tempted us to peek inside.

The Vågå Church was built at the beginning of the 12th century as well but the original building was so much ruined that it had to be demolished. A new church was built by using the original material. The interior is very richly decorated with paintings and wood carvings. They are very colourful and look pretty naive. I had almost the feeling the figures could move like in a puppet show…

Opening hours of the church: here

Text: © Copyright Ingrid, Travelpotpourri
Fotos: © Copyright Ingrid, Katka, Travelpotpourri

Lom, Oppland, Norway