Christianity was introduced into Norway around the year 1000 A.D. From then on during the middle ages until 1537, approximately 1000 stave churches were built. The Church in Norway was Roman Catholic at that time. The stave church at Ringebu, built c.1220, is one of 28 surviving stave churches and is one of the largest.
Colours.

The church was first painted in 1717 and, since the ceiling then was lower, only the lower half of the walls were painted. At one period the church was completely white within, but was restored to its original colouring during extensive restoration work in 1921.

The soapstone font survives from the original pole church. This originally stood at the back in the north west corner. The portal around the western entrance door, with its snake and dragon carvings is probably also from the oldest church. Unfortunately the portal was partially destroyed when it became obligatory to widen the doorways and make the doors open outwards in the 1820s. This rule was introduced after a fire in Grue church in Solør on Whitsunday in 1822, when 113 people died in the flames. Church doors used to be very narrow so that you went into the church without taking evil spirits with you. The dragon heads on the roof had a related function - to scare away evil spirits.

Archaeological investigation
Archaeological investigation of the ground under the church was carried out in 1980-1. Some 900 coins and other objects were found. Some of these are on show in the old vicarage (now the Weidemann Collection). The coins probably ended up under the floor boards either because they were dropped or were an offering. A considerable number of the coins were found on the south side of the church - the side on which the men sat. Most of the coins are from the Middle Ages, especially from the reign of Håkon Håkonson, 1217-1263. Post holes from an older church which had stood on this sight in the 12th. century were also found. The pole church was a forerunner of the stave church in that the posts (poles) were planted directly into the ground. These, therefore, rotted and the church only lasted for about 100 years.

During the archaeological excavations several coffins, mainly of clergy and their families were found under the floor and in the transept. But other people have also been honoured with burial in the church. 'Baroness' Sophie Amalie Rosenkrantz from the barony of Rosendal donated several gifts to the church and her coffin lies under the church floor. The German lieutenant colonel Poul Friedrich von Dresky was in the Oppland Regiment and also earned himself a burial place in the church. His epitaph hangs in the church. Two other epitaphs commemorate the parish priests: Christopher Kraft (d.1754) and his family (epitaph in the chancel) and in the nave, an epitaph which the priest Sigward Friis Irgens paid for himself in 1787. He died in 1789.

The church remained more or less unchanged right until the Reformation in 1536. Then, as time went by, decoration in the church became more and more baroque in style with imposing woodcarving. King Frederick IV's monogram on the choir screen is also to be found in several other churches in Gudbrandsdal. This dates from 1703 as also does the pulpit.

The altarpiece was made by Johannes Lauritsen Skraastad in 1686. The large candelabra was created by 'the master floral carver from Ringebu', Kristen Listad, at the end of the 18th. century.
The church, which continues to be the main parish church and is in daily use, acquired a new organ in 1982. This was made in Sweden and took as its starting point how an organ might have been built in the 17th. century, when the church was reconstructed The acanthus woodcarving, gold leaf and painting is the work of Johan Amrud from Fåvang.
(Source: Ringebu Stavkirke )