27 January 2022
University Museum of Bergen (Norway)
The collection of medieval church art at the University Museum of Bergen is among the finest of its kind in Europe. Most of the objects came from churches in a limited area along Norway’s west coast, but their style, techniques and iconography reflect the many cultural connections that tied these lands to other areas surrounding the North Sea and even to the Mediterranean and the Near East.
Most outstanding are high medieval altar decorations of painted wood: twenty altar frontals, various polychromed Madonnas and a vaulted altar canopy. The collection also includes several Romanesque baptismal fonts, late Gothic winged altarpieces, metal vessels, and liturgical vestments. Introductory chapters on the museum’s history and on Western Norway’s medieval church landscape are followed by a presentation of one hundred selected art works.
Authors: Justin Kroesen and Stephan Kuhn
Justin Kroesen is professor of the Material Culture of Christianity and research curator of church art at the University Museum of Bergen. Stephan Kuhn MA works on a PhD thesis on high medieval altar decorations in Norway and elsewhere.
