The development of the Christian culture in Norway can be traced in the church buildings.

The medieval Christianity was a cultic religion, which required a sancturay where the priest could celebrate mass and the believer could view relics and images of a saint. In the earliest missionary history of Norway masses could be celebrated in tents. In 995 Olav Tryggvason sailed to Moster on the west coast of Norway, and he raised his tents and celebrated mass. Probably, Olav Tryggvasson built a stave church in Moster in 995. Churches were built already in the life-time of Håkon the Good. According to Heimskringla, he built churches on the coast of Møre in 935.

The churches were made of wood, and the supply of wood was good in all parts of Norway. The Norwegian churches were stave churches. It has been widely considered that the construction of stave churches was a unique Norwegian method, but it is not true. Stave churches were also built in Denmark, England, Iceland and Sweden. The church of Tjodhild in Brattalid, the farm of Eirik the Red, in Greenland was also a stave church.