You might not be interested in this church if you only see it from outside without knowing what it is. Gamle Aker Kirke, the Old Aker Church (I’m not sure what Aker means) was built in 1080 by stones.
To my amazement, it is free to visit inside. And again to my amazement, this beautiful church doesn’t have crowded tourists.
When I went there, I was welcomed to enter and walk around. The pastor told me that there were three weddings later on that day. It means the church is popular among the locals as a place to get married. And yet I was surprised by the friendliness I felt.
The church gives a medieval feel. And it is certainly a special church. And the music must be beautiful there too.
While walking around, the pastor showed me something special. He showed me a safety where the priest used to keep his silvers. And what was special about the safety was where the lock was hidden.
And then the pastor showed me something cool outside.
He told me all the stones used in this church were taken from the graveyard across the street. But only this one stone was different from rest of the stones.
Can you see? Nobody knows why yet.
And these stones were special too. There are visible fossils in the stones! This one is probably the foot of an octopus.
And this one is fish.
Another cool thing about this church that I noticed was it doesn’t have mosaic windows like other churches in Europe. The pastor told me that the windows were sealed because when it was built, Norwegian people at that time still believed that demons come from the north. In order to protect the church the windows were sealed.
Hence the church did not have mosaic windows because otherwise there would not be enough light.
There was only one mosaic window in the church, and it is the church’s motto.
It is picture of Jesus lifting Peter from the water. And Jesus said to Peter, “Be strong in your faith.”
That’s the motto of this church. Be strong in your faith.
I think it is very nice!
Traveling Mega
