The brown, wooden stave church was built in a cruciform design around the year 1160 using plans drawn up by an unknown architect.

It takes the form of three winged dragons, one on each side of the arch and pilasters of the entrance and one above, all elaborately intertwined in a tendril and leaf pattern.

[3][4][5][6][7] After the Black Death, Hedalen Church was abandoned and it lay empty and overgrown for more than 150 years because so few people remained living in that area.

The old choir was removed and three wings to the north, south, and east of the main nave were built, giving the church a cruciform floor plan (some sources claim this happened in 1738).

This also included a small reconstruction to add a new ridge turret (Norwegian: takrytter) as well as a new slate roof.

[9][4][5][6] Within the church there is also a reliquary, made of wood in the shape of a miniature church (called a chasse) with gilt-brass mountings and with scenes from the Bible (including Christ in Glory, his betrayal and crucifixion and the women at his tomb and the three kings presenting their gifts to the Virgin and Child) and the martyrdom of Thomas Becket.

This polyptych was repainted in the Baroque period and now forms the altarpiece, in front of which is displayed a medieval crucifix of Christ on the cross in the shape of a stylized tree of life.

Both the statue of the Virgin and Child and the crucifix are among the more beautiful works of medieval art to survive from the Norwegian Middle Ages.