Workers Re-Shingling a Stave Church

A wooden stave church rises through tiers of dark shingled roofs and carved dragon-head gables, surrounded by scaffolding where workers replace cracked tiles one by one. Some climb ladders with fresh shingles tucked under an arm, while others split logs into planks at a chopping block or stack fresh-cut wood into neat towers. Two black cauldrons of pitch steam nearby, tended by workers stirring and mopping up spills with brooms. A carved dragon head and an open book on a lectern hint at the building's age, while dogs and cats wander between sawdust piles and tool racks hung with saws, hammers, and axes. In the corners, families eat at long tables and a child naps on a stack of timber. Every steep gable and shingle course reads as its own small patch of the same dark roof, laid piece by piece.