Hylestad stave church portal carvings showcasing images from Norse mythology about Fáfnir’s bane, featuring the characters Sigurd, Regin, Fáfnir, Grani, and Gunnar. Norway, late 12th – early 13th century. Now at the Museum of Cultural History, Oslo. [700×1475]

Sigurd and Regin is shown forging the sword Gram, where they go to slay Fáfnir to steal his treasure, thereby roasting Fáfnir’s heart, thereafter where birds tell Sigurd of Regin’s plot to kill him, and Sigurd killing his foster father Regin. Sigurd’s horse Grani carries Fáfnir’s treasures, and Gunnar, Sigurd’s brother-in-law, in a snake pit playing the harp with his feet in an attempt to pacify the snakes. Fáfnir warns Sigurd that his treasure is cursed, and will be the death of all that possess it. Gunnar sinks Fáfnir’s treasure to the bottom of the Rhine.

The more likely date is late 12th century, as the figures and medallions on Hylestad I (left) and the vine on Hylestad II (right) show close parallels to English and French manuscript illuminations from around 1170.

The scene starts on the bottom right.