Wang Church
A Norwegian stave church of about 1200, bought by a Prussian king and moved plank by plank to the Karkonosze.
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The Wang church was built around 1200 at Vang on Lake Vangsmjosa in Norway, in the stave technique - a timber frame of upright staves with carved portals and posts - and by the 1840s the parish wanted a larger stone church and put it up for sale. Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia bought it, largely on the advice of the painter Johan Christian Dahl who was trying to save Norwegian stave churches, had it dismantled, shipped through Szczecin and hauled up to Karpacz, where it was re-erected in 1842 with a stone bell tower added to shelter it from the mountain wind. It is one of about thirty stave churches left in the world and the only one outside Scandinavia. The carving on the portals and capitals is Romanesque with Norse animal interlace in it. It stands at 885 metres among trees above Karpacz and is a working Lutheran parish church.
What you actually see
- A stave church of about 1200 - timber uprights with carved portals and posts.
- Norse interlace carving - animal ornament on the capitals and doorways.
- A moved building - dismantled in Norway in the 1840s and rebuilt here in 1842.
- A stone bell tower - added to shelter it from the mountain wind.
When to go
May to September. Two hours.
Honest expectations
It is small - the interior takes minutes. Entry stops during services, and it is a working parish church. Photography inside is restricted. Karpacz below is a busy resort with heavy summer traffic.
Nearby
Sniezka and the Karkonosze ridge are above Karpacz.
What to pack for Wang Church
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.
