Norwegian Stave Church (by Knud Baade) Playing Cards

This design features a painting by the Norwegian artist Knud Baade (1808–1879). It shows the Urnes Stave Church, which is a 12th-century stave church at Ornes, in Norway. A stave church is a mediaeval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts are called "stafr" in Old Norse. There are majestic mountains behind the wooden church, and the sky is cloudy and atmospheric. There is a traditional stone wall in front of the church, and some fields and trees beside it. The original art was painted by Knud Baade in 1832.