The construction of stave churches is simple and ingenious. Four heavy beams are laid on a foundation of stone. These beams are called sills. These beams are connected at each corner and formed a rectangle. Columns or staves are raised on the corners of the rectangle, and these staves have named the construction. The staves are embedded in holes in the sills. The walls are made of vertical beams, and the function of walls are to form a partition wall. However, the partition wall is not a load-carrying wall.

A stave church has several rows of sills. The outermost row of sills forms the outer border of the passage (svalgang) around the church. The inside row of sills is the base course of the staves and planks which parted the church and the corridor (svalgang). The innermost row of sills is the base course of the staves of the innermost church room. The room between the innermost staves is the nave, and the room on each side of the nave is the adjoining naves. Roofs are constructed over over the nave and the adjoining naves, and this is the reason why there are roofs in different levels. This makes a fantastic and distinctive visual sensation.