Agdenes 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 ...

Orkland Municipality Orkland is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Orkdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Orkang ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

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 Vernes along the

Trondheimsleia The Trondheimsleia is a strait in Møre og Romsdal and Trøndelag counties in Norway. The long strait runs between the islands of Smøla and Hitra and the mainland municipalities of Aure, Heim, and Orkland. The strait has several fjords whic ...

in the north part of the municipality, about southwest of Vassbygda. It is the main church for the Agdenes

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

Orkdal prosti This list of churches in Nidaros is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Nidaros in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Trøndelag county. The diocese is based at the Nidaros Cathedral in the city of Trondheim (city), T ...

(

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 Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

. The white, wooden 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 ...

style in 1857 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 ...

Christian Heinrich Grosch. The church seats about 200 people.

History

According to the (the

saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

of the sons of

Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

) in the

Heimskringla () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland. While authorship of ''Heimskringla'' is nowhere attributed, some scholars assume it is written by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (117 ...

, the first Agdenes Church was built by King Øystein during the early 12th century (probably before the year 1123). The first church was located at Agdenes, on a peninsula near the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the

Trondheimsfjorden The Trondheim Fjord or Trondheimsfjorden (), an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, is Norway's List of Norwegian fjords, third-longest fjord at long. It is located in the west-central part of the country in Trøndelag county, and it stretches from Ørl ...

and the Stjørnfjorden, about northeast of the present site of the church. The King who built the church also constructed a fortress wall surrounding the area and a harbor along the fjord. During the 13th century, King Håkon Håkonsson had repairs carried out on the church. It is not known when this church was closed, but during the mid-19th century, archaeological remains of the church site were found. The church was likely closed before the reformation in Norway during the 16th century because there were no historical records of it at that time when all churches were surveyed across the country. For many centuries after the old church was closed, the Agdenes area was part of the Ørland Church parish. By the mid-19th century, the people of Agdenes were requesting their own church so that they would not have to cross the

to get to their church. The church was built in 1857 by Christian Heinrich Grosch. The church was supposed to be

consecrated 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 (a ...

on 24 March 1858, but due to a storm and snowy weather, it had to be postponed for three days until 27 March although several of the priests that were supposed to be there were still unable to make it. In 1869, a tower on the west end of the building was constructed and the original small tower that sat on the centre of the roof of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was removed. In 1982, the church was expanded to add more seating.

Media gallery

Agdenes church 01.jpg Agdenes church 04.jpg Agdenes church 03.jpg Agdenes church 05.jpg Agdenes church 06.jpg Agdenes kirke UBT-TO-073281 01 1.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=July 2021 Orkland Churches in Trøndelag Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1857 12th-century establishments in Norway 15th-century disestablishments in Norway 1857 establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References