Introduction The Romanesque style was carved on stave church portals and other Christian art objects in Norway from the 12 th century onwards. It was a composite of late Viking art and Euro- pean impulses (Anker 1998: 135–136; Fugle- sang 1981; Hohler 1999a). The ornamenta- tion on stave church portals parallels that on the portals of secular buildings from the 13 th and 14 th centuries. The coming of Christianity brought a wave of new styles and motifs to Norway which was adapted by woodcarvers, and which can be seen in the artistic carvings in stave churches and on medieval furniture (Anker 1997: 222). In Norway’s deepest valleys, tra- dition outweighed renovation. Therefore it is interesting to take a closer look at the use of motifs in this new church style - the Roman- esque style. It is relevant to ask whether the Viking motifs were deeply ingrained in the woodcarver’s repertoire. The overarching question of this research concerns reuse of motifs from Norse ani- mal art in the Romanesque style as seen on wooden portals. By analysing the use of motifs on six wooden portals from the Nor- wegian county of Telemark, I will attempt to answer the following specific questions: Which motifs from late Norse animal art are reused in the Romanesque style, and how can they be interpreted? Which motifs are used on the stave church portals compared to the profane portals? To what degree can the motifs be interpreted as symbols? And lastly, in the medieval period, was the portal Ødeby, K 2013 Through the Portal: Viking Motifs Incorporated in the Romanesque Style in Telemark, Norway. Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 23(1): 15, pp. 1-19, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ pia.433 RESEARCH PAPER Through the Portal: Viking Motifs Incorporated in the Romanesque Style in Telemark, Norway Kristine Ødeby * * University of Oslo, Norway kristine.oedeby@gmail.com pia This paper presents the results of an analysis of motifs identi ied on six carved wooden Romanesque portal panels from the Norwegian county of Telemark. The indings suggest that animal motifs in the Late Viking style survived long into the Late Medieval period and were reused on these medieval portals. Stylistically, late expressions of Viking animal art do not difer a great deal from those of the subsequent Romanesque style. However, their symbolical diferences are considered to be signi icant. The motifs themselves, and the issue of whether the Romanesque style adopted motifs from pre-Christian art, have attracted less attention. The motif portraying Sigurd slaying the dragon is considered in depth. It will be suggested that Sigurd, serving as a mediator between the old and the new beliefs when he appeared in late Viking contexts, was given a new role when portrayed in Christian art. Metaphor and liminality are a central part of this paper, and the theories of Alfred Gell and Margrete Andås suggest that the portal itself afects those who pass through it, and that the iconography is meaningful from a liminal perspective.