Brevik Church () 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 activitie ...

of the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. ...

Porsgrunn Municipality is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrunn was ...

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

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 t ...

. It is located in the village of Brevik. It is one of the churches for the Eidanger

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 or ...

which is part of the

Skien prosti This list of churches in Agder og Telemark is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark in Agder and Vestfold og Telemark counties in southern Norway. The diocese is based at the Kristiansand Cathedral in the cit ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman 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 reside ...

) in the

Diocese of Agder og Telemark The Diocese of Agder og Telemark ( no, Agder og Telemark bispedømme) is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and most of Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth la ...

. The grey, concrete church was built in a

rectangular In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a parallelogram containin ...

design in 1963 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 ...

Gudolf Blakstad Gudolf Blakstad (19 May 1893 – 22 November 1985) was a Norwegian architect. He was noted for his work in the transition between neo-classicism and functionalism in Norwegian architecture. Biography Blakstad was born in Gjerpen, Norway ...

. The church seats about 450 people.

History

The village of Brevik was growing rapidly during the late 1600s. On 23 January 1670, six men, representing the villagers, petitioned the King to have their own church (also around this time, Brevik was established as a ladested). On 5 February, the county governor,

Preben von Ahnen Preben von Ahnen (18 September 1606 – 15 November 1675) was a Norwegian civil servant and landowner. Preben von Ahnen was born on the island of Rügen, off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea. He was a son of Pomeranian nobleman Staffen ...

, endorsed their application. This was approved by the King and government on 30 May 1670. The church was built on the island of Sylterøya, near the current western cemetery gate, a short distance from the present site of the church. It was built near the highest point on the island. The church was a

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described ...

design and a

log construction A log house, or log building, is a structure built with horizontal logs interlocked at the corners by notching. Logs may be round, squared or hewn to other shapes, either handcrafted or milled. The term "log cabin" generally refers to a sma ...

. It was called "Holy Trinity Church" (). The church was likely completed and put into use in 1673. The church was built of logs, but had exterior paneling. It also had a basement underneath the nave. In 1690 and again in 1698, the bell tower was repaired. In 1749, the interior was also paneled to cover up the log construction. In 1754-1755, the church was repaired and a new sacristy was built on the east end of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

. The builder Joen Jacobsen from

Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the ...

was paid about 600

Norwegian rigsdaler The rigsdaler specie was a unit of silver currency used in Norway, renamed as the speciedaler in 1816 and used until 1873. Norway used a common reichsthaler currency system shared with Denmark, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein until 1873 when the go ...

for the work. In 1780-1781, the bell tower was rebuilt and increased in height. This rebuilding including the installation of a clock on three sides of the tower. By 1866, the church was deemed to be in very poor condition, so the request was made to the government to demolish it and build a new church. This request, however, was not granted until 3 July 1875. The new church was designed by

Johan Christoff Friedrich Reuter Johan * Johan (given name) * ''Johan'' (film), a 1921 Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller * Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group ** ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group * Johan Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada * Jo-Han, a manu ...

in a distinct

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. The new church was built about to the southeast of the old church on a higher part of the island. This was done so that the old church could be used until the new one was ready. The new building was a wooden

long church Church building in Norway began when 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 instance under Urnes Stave ...

with about 800 seats. Some of the furnishings were moved over from the old church to the new church including the altar silver,

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring) ...

, clock, paintings, and chandeliers. The new church was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

by Bishop

Jørgen Moe Jørgen Engebretsen Moe (22 April 1813–27 March 1882) was a Norwegian folklorist, bishop, poet, and author. He is best known for the '' Norske Folkeeventyr'', a collection of Norwegian folk tales which he edited in collaboration with Pete ...

on 25 October 1878. The two churches stood side by side for a while before the old church was torn down and its materials were sold at auction. In 1953, the church was wired for electric light and heat. On 16 February 1960, the church burned down. The church caught fire relatively quickly and the building could not be saved, however, a few of the items in the church were able to be saved. Soon after the fire damaged building was torn down, plans were made for a new church.

and

Herman Munthe-Kaas Herman Munthe-Kaas (25 May 1890 – 5 May 1977) was a Norwegian architect. He was primarily known for his functionalist building designs. Biography Munthe-Kaas was born at Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of Marius William ...

were hired to design the new church. The foundation stone was laid on 9 September 1962. The new building is constructed out of reinforced concrete which has certain features in common with traditional churches, but the building also contains a number of different rooms which are distributed over two floors. 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-typ ...

is on the main floor. On the west end of the nave is a

church porch A church porch is a room-like structure at a church's main entrance. A porch protects from the weather to some extent. Some porches have an outer door, others a simple gate, and in some cases the outer opening is not closed in any way. The porch ...

with an organ gallery and bell tower above it. The

vestries A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

and

are on the east end of the nave. The nave itself is wider than it is long, and it has 450 seats, of which 76 are in the organ gallery. The lower floor has other rooms, such as confirmation hall (seats 80), burial chapel (seats 110), coffin room, shelter, kitchen, bathrooms, and storage. The new church was

on 15 December 1963.

Media gallery

2009 Brevik kirke.JPG, Church #3 Brevik kyrkje.jpg, Church #3 Brevik kirke 1 og 2.jpg, View of church #1 and the newly built church #2 (higher up on the island)

References

External links

Photos of the 3 church buildings
{{use dmy dates, date=December 2022 Buildings and structures in Porsgrunn Churches in Telemark Rectangular churches in Norway Concrete churches in Norway 20th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1963 1673 establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References

External links