The St. Bedřich Church in Bílá, is located in the Beskydy Mountains, Czech Republic. The Church of St. Bedřich is the only Norwegian stave church in the Beskids. How did this type of church come about?
In the 19th century the wood industry spread in the Beskids. Archbishop Friedrich Egon von Fürstenberg suggested the workers have their own wooden church. The project was handed over to the builder Anton Kybast, who created two designs. The first was a traditional half-timbered church, a rather expensive building, 6000 guilders (the currency of the time, also called “zlatý” in Czech). The second design was inspired by a book by the Norwegian painter Dahl showing drawings of three famous Norwegian churches in Urnes, Borgund and Heddal. In addition to its beauty, Kybast also valued its economic advantages. For a traditional church, 40 large fir trunks would be required, while for a Norwegian stave church only 12 strong fir trunks with a height of 8.7 meters would be required. Other support parts were made from smaller spruce and sawn timber. The cost of this church would only be 3,500 guilders.
In 1872 the archbishop approved the construction of the Norwegian church. However, he had to add some neo-Gothic elements that were modern at the time. Kybast made new designs. The biggest change was the tall, prismatic tower at the front. Ten posts have also been added to create more windows (from 16 in the original design to 30 in the new) and decorations on the posts, gables and ledges have been added. With these changes, the final cost was 6,800 guilders, but the archbishop was satisfied and gave permission on March 31, 1872. On October 3, 1875, the church was consecrated to St. Bedřich (Frederik). (Text: Verlag Z-Art)