Hyen Church ( no, Hyen kyrkje) is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of the Church of Norway in

Gloppen Municipality Gloppen is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. Gloppen is generally subdivided into three areas: Hyen in the west, Gloppen in the center, and Breim in the east. Each of the ...

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. It is located in the village of Straume, near the shore of the

Hyefjorden Hyefjorden is a fjord in Gloppen Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The long Hyefjorden is relatively narrow with steep rock walls located close to the fjord on both sides. The west side is where impassable mountains plunge straight into t ...

. It is the church for the Hyen

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

which is part of the

Nordfjord prosti Nordfjord ( en, Northern fjord—in contrast to Sunnfjord) is a traditional district of Norway. Geography The region is located in the northern part of Vestland county in Western Norway. It centers on the Nordfjorden and it comprises the mun ...

( deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1876 by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Karl Uchermann. The church seats about 300 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1308, but it was not new at that time. The first church was likely a wooden

stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ar ...

that was likely built in the 13th century. This church was located at the village of Hope, about west of the present location at Straume. Sometime around the mid-1300s, around the time of the Black Death in this region, the church was closed down and no longer used. Eventually the church was torn down. Parishioners living in the Hyen area were forced to make the long, arduous journey by boat to the

Vereide Church Vereide Church ( no, Vereide kyrkje) is a medieval parish church of the Church of Norway in Gloppen Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is the only stone church in the Nordfjord region. It is located in the village of Vereide, along the e ...

. For about 500 years, there was no church in Hyen. In the early 1800s, residents of the Hyen area tried very hard to get a local church for themselves once again. After many years of pushing the government officials to allow a new church to be built. Finally, in 1875, the church was finally approved, but it was to be built in Straume, at the head of the

, rather than further inland at Hope, where the medieval stave church once stood. The church was designed by Karl Kristian Uchermann, the son of the parish priest. The new church was consecrated on 14 June 1876 by Bishop

Peder Hersleb Graah Birkeland Peter Hersleb Graah Birkeland (14 January 1807–5 January 1896) was a Norwegian priest in the Church of Norway. He served as Bishop of the Diocese of Bjørgvin from 1864–1880. Early life and family Peter Birkeland was born in the village ...

. At the same time, a new Hyen parish was established. Around the year 1900, a wooden stove was installed at the church to provide heat. In 1960, electric lighting was installed in the church and then in 1963, the wood stove was removed and electric heating was installed.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=August 2021 Gloppen Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1876 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References