Aukra 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 ...

Aukra Municipality Aukra is List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, region of Romsdalen. The administrative centre is the village of Aukrasanden, Falkhytta, which ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

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

Aukrasanden Aukrasanden is a village in Aukra Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is located on the southeast side of the island of Gossa. Just south of Aukrasanden is a ferry connection, across the Julsundet strait, to the vill ...

on the southeast coast of the island of Gossa. It is the church for the Aukra

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 Molde domprosti (arch-

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 Møre. The white, wooden church was built in an octagonal design in 1835 by an unknown

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 ...

. The church seats about 250 people.

History

There has been a church here on Gossa island for centuries. The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1495, but the church already existed at that time. The first church on the island was probably a stave church that was constructed in the 14th century. The church was located about west of the site of the present church. In 1648, the old church was rebuilt, saving only the old

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

of the stave church. Upon completion, the church was 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 ...

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

building. In 1663, the old choir portion of the church was torn down and replaced with new timber-framed construction. In 1709, the church was destroyed by fire after a

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 ...

strike. In 1712, a new

church was completed on the same site as the old medieval building. On 19 December 1772, the new building was also struck by lightning and burned to the ground. A new

building was constructed on the same site to replace the old building. This time, there was no tower on the church, but rather a free-standing bell tower was constructed to lessen the likelihood of another lightning strike. In 1814, this church served as an election church (). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814

Norwegian Constituent Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly ( or ) is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised the dissolution of the union with Denmark. The meetings took place at the Eidsvoll Manor in th ...

which wrote the

Constitution of Norway The 'Constitution of Norway'' (complete name: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway; Danish language, Danish: ; Norwegian language, Norwegian Bokmål: ; Nynorsk, Norwegian Nynorsk: ) was adopted on 16 May and signed on 17 May 1814 by the N ...

. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet at Eidsvoll Manor later that year. In 1834, the church was again struck by lightning and it burned to the ground. In 1835, a new church was constructed about east of the old church. The new church was built with an octagonal design. It was

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 ...

in 1835.

References

External links

*http://www.aukrakyrkje.no/ {{Authority control Aukra Churches in Møre og Romsdal Octagonal churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1835 14th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches

History

See also

References

External links