Gustav Adolf Stave Church, Lutheran stave church in Hahnenklee, Goslar, Germany

Gustav Adolf Stave Church is a Lutheran wooden church in Hahnenklee, a borough of Goslar in the Harz. Built from spruce trunks cut on the nearby Bocksberg, it is a free adaptation of Norway's Borgund Stave Church, enlarged to seat 240 people. The exterior is painted reddish-brown, with steep snow-dusted roofs, a tall square tower with a gold clock and slender spire, and a smaller conical-roofed turret on the left. Inside, varnished wood covers the walls and a flat ceiling rests on thick round timber columns with carved capitals; a carved wooden altar wall with a central cross fills the chancel arch, and a cylindrical wooden pulpit with circular carved panels stands to its right.

Construction began in 1907 under architect Karl Mohrmann, who used the medieval Borgund Stave Church from Norway as his model for the design. The project aimed to demonstrate that such wooden structures could be built successfully in Germany as well.

The chandelier is shaped like a ship's wheel and the upper windows resemble portholes, recalling Viking shipbuilding. Dragon heads on the roof ridges echo the prows of Viking ships. The carillon in the tower has 49 bells and plays every Saturday at 3 pm and before Sunday services.

The church is open daily for visitors except when services are taking place. You can arrange guided tours by contacting the Hahnenklee-Bockwiese Congregation office for more detailed information about the building.

All the timber for construction came from spruce trees harvested on the nearby Bocksberg mountain, showing a direct connection to the local forest. This choice kept the project economically feasible while using the region's natural resources.