The church was made entirely of wood. The oldest section was believed to date to the 13th century and was built using the stave method. It had been rebuilt around 1600 with the addition of two transepts built with round, hand-worked logs and a tall central tower. Above the nave and the two transepts were wide galleries, allowing the church to accommodate up to 700 people. Both nave and transepts had entrance doors which swung inwards. The windows were placed high up on the wall. The exterior of the building was covered with waterproofing pine tar; subsequent calculations estimated that 17 tons of tar had been applied over the two hundred years before the fire.
