Avaldsnes

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Olav's Church
Olav's church with the “sewing needle of Mary” on the north side.

Avaldsnes on the island of Karmøy ( Rogaland Fylke ) in Norway is known as the old Norwegian chieftain's seat and the first Norwegian royal court. In the 19th century Avaldsnes was an independent municipality. Today the place is part of the municipality of Karmøy, which is just south of the Karmsund Bridge .

history

The place is said to be named after the legendary King Augvald , who had his small kingdom on Karmsund . After the Battle of Hafrsfjord in 872, Harald Schönhaar moved his court to Avaldsnes and thus established the first royal seat in Norway. The shipping traffic through the Karmsund with its narrowness next to Avaldsnes were the source of wealth and power of the region.

Saint Olav Church

When the sewing needle of the Virgin Mary touches the church wall, according to legend, the world ends

The saga tells that Olav Tryggvason had a church built as a court chapel in Avaldsnes. Presumably this church was a small stave church . The royal court fell into disrepair, and the most important landmark was the stone church of Avaldsnes, which Håkon Håkonsson had built in 1250 , still preserved today . The early Romanesque church is the largest stone church of the Middle Ages in Norway and had the status of a royal collegiate church . It was dedicated to St. Olav . The church was an important stop on the pilgrimage to Nidaros (now Trondheim) along the coast. On the north side of the church is the sewing needle of Mary (Norw. Jomfru Marias synål ), a 7.2 meter high building stone , the highest ever. The stone is inclined to the church wall without touching it. According to legend, the world will end when the “sewing needle” touches the church wall. Aware of this, the parish priests are said to have cut off a piece of the stone if it came too close to the church wall.

Archaeological finds

Extensive archaeological excavations have been carried out in the Avaldsnes area. About 1 kilometer north of the church is the Reheia ridge (also Rehaugane ) with the Blodheia burial ground and the only Bronze Age Norwegian burial mounds that are arranged in a row (finds of this type have otherwise only been made in southern Sweden and Denmark). Several graves were opened and revealed rich finds from the Late Bronze Age .

At Karmsund, a few kilometers north of the church near a school ( Bø ), there is the Grønhaug , a large burial mound over 30 meters in diameter, which was typologically and radiologically dated to the 8th century AD. A ship's grave was found in it. It is considered to be the oldest ship grave in the Nordic countries . This burial mound was examined by Haakon Shetelig in 1902 and contained an approximately 15 meter long boat with the remains of a man's grave from the 10th century. The dating of the Storhaug ship grave gave rise to extensive speculations. The earliest Norwegian kings of the written tradition have been handed down from the western part of Norway. Thus, the cradle of Norwegian royalty was probably in the west and not, as the saga writers claim, in the east of the country. The finds are kept in the Stavanger Archaeological Museum .

Immediately to the north of the church you can see the outline of the Avaldsnes burial mound , called Flagghaugen . The burial mound originally had a diameter of 43 meters and was over 5 meters high, but was removed during the excavations, which were led by the parish priest Lyder Brun in 1835. It turned out that the mound contained the richest tomb from Roman times ever found in Norway. The find consisted of a neck ring weighing over 600 g of pure gold, weapons, belt fittings and various Roman vessels made of silver and bronze.

Local history 1837–1965

In 1837 the "Avaldsnes formannskapsdistrikt " was founded as an administrative district. The independent Avaldsnes Commune emerged from it in 1866 and existed until 1965. On August 16, 1866 Kopervik was spun off as a separate municipality from the municipality. Avaldsnes had at that time 4 735 inhabitants. On January 1, 1909, Stangaland ( Kopervik ) was spun off. The population was then 3213.

On January 1, 1965, the municipality of Avaldsnes was divided and divided between the municipalities of Karmøy and Tysvær . A part of the Avaldsnes municipality with 4153 inhabitants with the municipalities of Kopervik , Skudenes , Skudeneshavn , Torvastad and Åkra became Karmøy municipality. The other part consisting of Førre , Gismarvik and Stegaberg with a population of 994 people was added to the municipality of Tysvær .

Attractions

Reconstruction of a Viking boathouse on Bokkøya
Reconstructed Viking house on Bukkoya near Avaldsnes

In addition to the Olavskirche and the burial mounds, the Nordvegen historiesenter was opened in 2005, which is intended to provide insights into the long history of the place. On the island of Bokkøya , which is within walking distance , a Viking farm with various buildings from the Viking Age has been reconstructed. Viking festivals with concerts, exhibitions, historical walks and a Viking market also take place there regularly.

Under the Karmsund Bridge, near Nordheim on the mainland, De fem dårlige jomfruer ( German  "the five foolish virgins" ) is a group of building stones .

Personalities

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kulturminnestien - Olavskyrkja ( Memento from January 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Project homepage of the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger and the province of Rogaland (Norway)
  2. ↑ Gravhaugane på Reheiå ( Memento from May 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Project homepage of the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger and the Rogaland fylkeskommune (norw.)
  3. ↑ Rehaugane - Fyrstegraver fra eldre bronsealder ( Memento from January 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Project homepage of the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger and the Rogaland fylkeskommune (norw.)
  4. ↑ Grønhaug av Haugo nedre, Karmøy ( Memento from January 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Project homepage of the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger and the Rogaland fylkeskommune (norw.)
  5. ↑ Sightseeing - Opplev Karmøy. In: visitkarmoy.no. August 1, 2017, accessed October 10, 2018 (Norwegian).
  6. ↑ Vikinggarden ( Memento from May 31, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Website of the Karmøy municipality on the Vikinggarden

Web links

Commons : Olavskirche zu Avaldsnes  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Karmøy  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 59 ° 21 '  N , 5 ° 17'  E