We're standing on the edge of a fjord in a rural remote area on the west coast of Norway.

The water is a glittering turquoise blue.

On one side, closest to us, is lush green grass.

And on the other, are steep hills that slope down into the water.

Within the middle of all of this intense lush color is a building.

A building so dark and almost looks black.

The building has an unusual shape.

On one end is a tall steep tower, but shorter sections jet out from underneath it.

It looks almost like a creature arching its back.

And on top are its pitched steep roofs, with their sharp flying angles.

On the roof you have wooden shingles, there is also a big describe that's looking like

the scales of a dragon, almost a bit ferritale-like, you could say.

But this building isn't ripped from a fairy tale, it's a real place, it's a church.

A church that over time has revealed many secrets of Norway's lost medieval past.

I'm Dylan Thoris, and this is Alice Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible

and wondrous places, and today we are taking you to one of Norway's greatest treasures

of architecture.

The UNES Stave Church.

That's after this.

When you get up close to the UNES Stave Church, you can see what gives the church its rich

black color.

But before you see it, you're going to smell it.

...