I came to Ulvik to try to imagine how my ancestors might have worked, prayed, lived and died. And the town does not disappoint in this regard. There is clearly a certain reverence for the past here, and many old houses and farm buildings have been lovingly preserved and restored. And yet, Ulvik is not an open-air museum. It’s a normal (albeit especially beautiful) small town with modern people living modern lives.

Ulvik’s church is a living, breathing example of how past and present can’t be fully separated — despite our best attempts (see this post on that subject). The “new” church is an 1859 reconstruction of the “old” church, which was built in 1711. But before this there was a stave church in Ulvik that dated back to at least the 1290s.

My direct ancestors, having left Ulvik in 1849, never attended this “new” church. But there are elements of their church that they would recognize, as many artifacts of the older churches have found their way into the present structure.

Wilma van Manen, the church verger, took me on a guided tour of this magnificent building, and explained how those various pieces come together.

Amongst all of this history, I noticed that a couple of pews had been removed to create a children’s play area — a place for children to be children yet still be included in the church service. This served as a reminder to me that this is a functioning church; a church that is thinking about its future as well as its past.