Finne

Published: 25.02.2013 | Author: Nils Georg Brekke

Finnesloftet drawn by Peter A.Blix in 1888.

FINNE AND FINNELOFTET

Peter Bonde, who owned Finne towards the end of the 1200s, had a jumping stag in his family emblem. This stag is the origin for the heraldic blazon of Voss. Peter Bonde and his descendants acquired possession of many farms and farm parts; the so-called Finne properties became some of the largest land properties in the country.

Finnesloftet (the Finne house) is probably from the time before the Black Death, perhaps before the year 1200. It has been an impressive building. The first level consists of two equally large jointed sheds with a narrow passage in between, and on these sheds rests the second level, which is stave-built. In this house there is a large hall at the front and a smaller room behind, towards the upper gable. There is strong evidence that the sheds have been storage places for food, and that the large room at the second level has been a hall for social gatherings, perhaps used by the Mikael gathering at Voss in medieval times.

Towards the end of the 1800s Finnesloftet was in pretty bad shape. The Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments bought the house in 1891 and had it restored; one of the rarest wooden houses in Norway – and in Europe – from the Middle Ages.

Details like this one shows the fine craftwork. (Svein Nord).

Berg, A. (1949) Finnesloftet på Voss: til gjestebod eller gilde?. I: Foreningen til norske fortidsminnesmerkers bevaring, Årbok. Oslo, Foreningen, s. 3-34.
Berg, A. (1969) Bu frå Ullestad på Voss. I: Foreningen til norske fortidsminnesmerkers bevaring, Årbok. Oslo, Foreningen, s. 178-181.
Berg, A. (1969) Finnesloftet på Voss. I: Foreningen til norske fortidsminnesmerkers bevaring, Årbok. Oslo, Foreningen, s. 170-173.