The National Heritage Board has decided that mile-burnt tar will be used on the stave churches. Now the Norwegian tar bank is soon empty. It may affect future maintenance of the churches. – We will use the original products and techniques behind it, says Lars Erik Haugen in the Past Memory Association. He estimates that the backlog is 10,000 liters of tar. A charity has now been set up to train new tar producers. – A 1000-year-old tradition is in danger of dying out, says Haugen. MILE: Lars Erik Haugen will teach knowledge about tar production for a mile. Photo: Bo Lilledal Andersen / news Viking recipe To extract tar from wood, a tar mile is used. Tyrived is placed in a circle and set on fire. At the top is moist peat which ensures that the tree burns slowly. The tar flows out at the bottom of the mile. MILE: Wet peat creates smoke from the mile, and prevents the wood from burning up too quickly. Photo: Bo Lilledal Andersen / news The recipe dates back to the Viking Age, when tar was used to impregnate ships. – What is at stake is our world heritage. We want to preserve the stave churches, the unique wooden buildings are among the world’s oldest wooden buildings, says Haugen. Here the tar flows out of the mile and down into a barrel. Bo Lilledal Andersen 300 liters The association is responsible for eight of 28 stave churches in Norway. A generational change has ensured that too little wood tar has been produced in recent years. That is why the Guvikhaug Viking team at Nordagutu in the middle of Telemark has joined a national charity event. The goal was to produce at least 300 liters of tar from the mile. Chief of the Viking team Per Øyvind Gulliksen is pleased with the sight of thick and brown-black tar flowing out of the mile. – This is the black gold. They smelled this smell 1000 years ago. Now it is back, he says. The Viking team managed to produce 450 liters. TAR: Chief of the Viking team Per Øyvind Gulliksen holds up a wooden stick with tar. Monuments The leader of the charity event is Lars Erik Haugen in the Past Memory Association. He hopes it will lead to more environments starting to produce tar. Senior adviser Henrik Smith at the National Heritage Board says they have sponsored the tar project with almost 400,000 kroner this year. – We do not want to use industrially produced tar, but keep the traditions alive. We are interested in the traditional craft. Tar has been used for a long time and we know that it works, he says. Smith believes that the stave churches are monuments that showcase building techniques and craft traditions. – But also the trends of the time and not least what significance these buildings had for people near and far, says Smith.
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– World Heritage is at stake – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
