Øn Church () is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

of the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

Hyllestad Municipality Hyllestad is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the village of Hyllestad. Other villages in the municipality include Sørbøvågen and Leirvik. Hyl ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is located in the village of

Sørbøvågen Sørbøvågen is a village in Hyllestad Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located along the northern shore of Åfjorden. It is located about northwest of the village of Hyllestad, the administrative centre of the municipa ...

. It is one of the three churches for the Hyllestad

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

which is part of the

Sunnfjord prosti Sunnfjord ( - in contrast to Nordfjord) is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Western Norway located in Vestland counties of Norway, county. It includes the List of municipalities of Norway, municipalities of Askvoll, Fjaler, the sout ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin () is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway, and those outside of Norway in the Seamen's Church. The cathedral cit ...

. The brick church was built in a

long church Church building in Norway began when Christianity in Norway, Christianity was established there around the year 1000. The first buildings may have been post churches erected in the 10th or 11th century, but the evidence is inconclusive. For inst ...

design in 1958 using plans drawn up 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 ...

Ole Halvorsen. The church seats about 370 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1327, but the church was not new that year. 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 ...

that was likely built during the 13th century. This first church was located on the shores of the Hyllestadfjorden, about east of the present-day village of

where the present church is located. A stone entrance gate to the churchyard has the date 1228 inscribed on it, which possibly means that is when the first church was built on the site. The old church existed there until around the year 1600 when it was torn down and replaced on the same site by a

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

. In 1870, the church was torn down and replaced on the same site with a new church (the third church to be built on the site). This building was struck by

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

on 4 November 1940 and it burned to the ground. Due to the occupation of Norway by the Germans during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the church was not rebuilt for quite a while. There was some controversy over where to build the replacement church: on the original location at Øn or in the village of

. After some debate, there was a vote held on 15 May 1947 and 157 people voted to rebuild on the old site and 272 people voted to build it in Sørbøvågen. The new church was built out of brick and concrete. It was designed by Ole Halvorsen and the lead builder was Ivar Fleten. The new building was

consecrate Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

d on 15 June 1958 by the Bishop Ragnvald Indrebø. In 2001, the parish of Øn was closed down and merged with the

Hyllestad Church Hyllestad Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Hyllestad Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Hyllestad. It is one of the three churches for the Hyllestad parish which is part of the Sunnfjo ...

parish, so all three churches in the municipality were part of the same parish for the whole municipality. In 2011, the parish council debated closing the church and tearing it down because it was in poor condition, but in the end, the community raised money and fixed up the church. In 2013, the parish decided to make Hyllestad Church the main church for the parish and that Øn Church would be used less often, mostly for special events and periodically for worship services.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:On Church Hyllestad Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Brick churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1958 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References