Chapel in the Hills is a

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 ...

located near

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

History

The Chapel in the Hills was dedicated on July 6, 1969, as the home for the radio ministry of Lutheran Vespers. Lutheran Vespers hosts such as, Richard A. Jensen were broadcast nationwide from this location in the

Black Hills The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black ...

. The church is a special ministry of the South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Chapel in the Hills is an exact replica of the Borgund stave church in

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 ...

. The Borgund stavkirke was built around the year 1150 and is considered the most completely preserved stave church still standing in Norway. The Norwegian Department of Antiquities provided a set of blueprints of the Borgund church to be used in the construction of the Chapel in the Hills. The woodcarvings resulted from the combined effort by Norwegian woodcarver Erik Fridstrøm and Rapid City resident, Helge Christiansen. The site includes an authentic log cabin museum that was built in 1876 by Edward Nielsen, a Norwegian immigrant gold prospector from

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

, Ringerike,

. There is also a stabbur, a grass-roofed house, that serves as the visitor center and gift shop.

References

Other sources

*Malmin, Olaf Gabriel ''Chapel in the Hills : A notable church structure in Rapid City, South Dakota'' (Rapid City, 1969)

External links

Official Website
{{Black Hills, South Dakota Ethnic museums in South Dakota Landmarks in South Dakota Museums in Pennington County, South Dakota Norwegian migration to North America Norwegian-American culture in South Dakota Buildings and structures in Rapid City, South Dakota Religious museums in the United States Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in South Dakota Tourist attractions in Rapid City, South Dakota Norwegian-American museums Churches completed in 1969 Churches in Pennington County, South Dakota National Register of Historic Places in Pennington County, South Dakota 1969 establishments in South Dakota Stave churches