Dale 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 ...

Fjaler Municipality Fjaler is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre is the village of Dale. Other places in Fjaler include Espedal, Flekke, Folkestad, Guddal, and Hellev ...

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 Dale. It is one of two churches for the Fjaler

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 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 ...

design in 1864 by the builder

Johannes Øvsthus Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John (name), John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes (given name), Ioannes''), itself ...

. The church seats about 510 people.

History

There are no accurate information confirming when the first church was built in Dale. The first church was probably 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. Historical records from 1330 name a , probably referring to the church in Dale. The

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

in the present church is dated as 1250-1300 AD, so it is likely that the church was built in the mid- to late-13th century. The old medieval church was demolished in 1593 to make room for a new church: a tarred,

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 ...

. The new church had a

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 ...

that measured about and the

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 ...

measured about . The famous painter

Anders Askevold Anders Askevold (25 December 1834 – 22 October 1900) was a Norwegian painter. His art was characterized by romantic national expression. He was best known for his fjord landscapes from Western Norway. Biography Anders Monsen Askevold was ...

painted an oil painting from Dalsbygda in 1853 which includes that church.
-
- In 1727, all the churches in the parish were sold during the

Norwegian church auction The Norwegian church sale () was a comprehensive and systematic sale of most of the church properties in Norway during the 1720s. The purpose of this sale was the intention of improving the poor public finances in the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway afte ...

by the King to help pay off debts for the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

. After this, the church was privately owned. In 1860, the owner of Dale Church gave the church back to the parish for free. At that time, the parish council decided that the church was too small and in poor condition, so it was torn down in 1863 and a new church was completed on the same site during the following year.

was the builder for the new church, however it is unknown who actually designed the building. The new church 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 24 November 1864 by the

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

Johan Carl Christie Johan may refer to: * Johan (given name) * ''Johan'' (1921 film), a Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller * Johan (2005 film), a Dutch romantic comedy film * Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group ** ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group * Joh ...

Media gallery

Dale - kommunehuset og gamleskolen.jpg Dale kirke 01.jpg Dale kyrkjestad 1.jpg Dale Church.jpg Dale kyrkjestad 2.jpg Dale kyrkjestad 3.jpg Dale kyrkjestad 4.jpg Dale kyrkjestad Haust.jpg Dale kyrkjestad Vinter.jpg Fjaler (Dale) kyrkjestad.jpg

References

{{use dmy dates, date=September 2021 Fjaler Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1864 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References