Heritage for the World

So, finally I give you the pictures I promised you this Saturday.

This is the church I sang at last Friday. The church of Oldtown was built in 1492. The church tower was built in 1851.

There are three ways to enter the church grounds, here's one.

The church ceiling and inside walls were originally covered in medieval paintings, but sometime in the 1700s they were plastered white. In 1909 the original murals were rediscovered and around the altar the plastering has been removed.

As I was sitting in the sacristy waiting for the funeral to begin I noticed the soot coming from hundreds of years of candles burning. It kind of makes you think about who might have sat in that room one hundred years ago, two hundred years ago....

Blue bells at the foot of the church.

Surrounding the church is the church town.

In old times, from around the time the church was built to around year 1900, people living far away from the town came to live in these little houses during holidays. They met to sell and buy merchandise and produce, to get married, baptized and buried and to celebrate christian holidays. People came by horse and wagon in the summer and sled in the winter. The churchtown was a common meeting place for the people in the region. Most of these little houses are still privatly owned. There are many rules how you may use your "church house". The church town and the church holds UNESCO World Heritage status and a lot of tourists visit every year.