Church art worth over 10 billion Norwegian kroner

Church Art. Photo: Bakke church.Flickr.

Norwegian churches have artifacts for a total value of over 10 billion kroner.

All of the movables are insured for 7.3 billion kroner, CEO Oddvar Vik in the insurance company Knif Assurance  says to the newspaper Vårt Land.
The company administers the insurance for 70 percent of the churches in Norway. When 70 percent of the churches have assured inventory sitting for more than 7 billion,  the newspaper estimates that the value of 100 percent of the churches will be in excess of 10 billion NOK.
– We have not insured the churches in Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger – nor the Nidaros Cathedral. These are large and beautiful churches with valuable inventory which would have raised the average, says Vik.
Experts often answer  that the value is “priceless” when they are asked to estimate the value of the saint sculpture altarpiece or other church art. That’s because church art is difficult to sell and strongly linked to the place where it is situated.

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today