Bryn Church () is a long church () located in Rykkinn in the municipality of

Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

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 ...

. The church functions both as a

road church A road church is a roadside church, one of a network of such churches in Denmark (), Germany (, open all year), Estonia (), Finland (, ), Norway (), Russia (Murmansk oblast) and Sweden (). The churches are kept open for tourists during the summ ...

and is the parish church for Bryn.

History

The church was built in 1861 based on plans by the architect

Peter Høier Holtermann Peter Høier Holtermann (16 November 1820 – 24 August 1865) was a Norwegian architect. Biography He was born in Austrått, in what is now Ørland Municipality in Trøndelag County, Norway. He was a son of assessor Ove Bjelke Holtermann (178 ...

.Bakken, T. J. 1961. ''Bryn kirke, 1861–1961''. Oslo: V. Bærums menighetsraad.The church was consecrated during a major ceremony on June 28, 1861. Gunder Kristensen Krydsby from Lommedalen transported the two church bells from Oslo by horse and wagon. The newspaper ''Ringeriges Ugeblad'' (now

Ringerikes Blad ''Ringerikes Blad'' () is a local newspaper published in Hønefoss, Norway. Johan Jørgen Krohn founded ''Ringerikes Blad'' in 1845. It covers Ringerike, Hole and Jevnaker. It has a circulation of 12684, of whom 12227 are subscribers. ''Ringe ...

) wrote that: "Already early in the morning, crowds were seen along all the roads heading to the church. About 800 admission tickets were given out. The church opened at 9:30, and those that had tickets were able to enter and take their place. At 10:00 the procession set out from the Bryn farm. It consisted of ten priests from the deanery. The town's new and very attractive church was consecrated." The church is made of brick and can accommodate 400 people. There is a cemetery next to the church. An urn with the remains of the film director

Rasmus Breistein Rasmus Breistein (November 16, 1890 – October 16, 1976) was a Norwegians, Norwegian film director.Sundholm, John et al. ''Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Cinema''. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, p. 88. Life Breistein was born in Åsane i ...

is kept at the church. Some of the church's furnishings were newly purchased, some were received as gifts, and some were transferred from the medieval Tanum Church. The chancel decoration was created by

Emanuel Vigeland Emanuel Vigeland (2 December 1875 – 22 December 1948) was a multitalented Norway, Norwegian artist. He is known for a variety of decorations of Scandinavian churches and for ''Tomba Emmanuelle'', his mausoleum at Slemdal in Oslo. His elder ...

, the brother of

Gustav Vigeland Gustav Vigeland (11 April 1869 – 12 March 1943), born as Adolf Gustav Thorsen, was a Norwegian sculptor. Gustav Vigeland occupies a special position among Norwegian sculptors, both in the power of his creative imagination and in his produc ...

. The church was restored in 1959–60 by the architect Finn Bryn (1890-1975). In 2007–2008 the church spire was repaired, and an old scroll was found in the

soffit A soffit is an exterior architectural feature, generally the horizontal, aloft underside of the roof edge. Its archetypal form, sometimes incorporating or implying the projection of rafters or trusses over the exterior of supporting walls, is t ...

relating how the church's foundation stone was laid, who had participated in the construction of the church, and who had paid for the work. The cemetery, measuring 70 ''mål'' (), is planned to be expanded by 60 ''mål'' () and excavation work has started. The digging has revealed a number of archaeological finds from the early Iron Age from 500 BC and from the Middle Ages, including graves and traces of settlement from the Iron Age.

Sesquicentennial

The celebration of the church's sesquicentennial in 2011 involved concerts, exhibits, and a special anniversary religious service in the church. A volume commemorating the anniversary was edited by Bjørn Sandvik.Jakobsen, Olav. 2011. Bryn kirke 150 år. Et gammelt hus i stadig endring. ''Bryn kirketidende'' 34(2): 8–9.

References

External links

Bryn parish website

Kirkesøk: Bryn Church

Norges kirker: Bryn Church

Kulturminnesøk: Bryn Church
{{Authority control 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1861 1861 in Norway Buildings and structures in Bærum