Elverum Church
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Elverum 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 ...
in
Elverum Municipality Elverum () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Elverum ( ...
in
Innlandet Innlandet is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (Jevnaker Municipality and Lunner Municipality were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken ( ...
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 town of Elverum. It is the church for the Elverum
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 ...
and the seat of the Sør-Østerdal prosti (
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 Hamar The Diocese of Hamar () is a diocese within the Church of Norway. The Diocese of Hamar includes all of the churches in Innlandet county plus the churches in Lunner Municipality in Akershus county. Administratively, the diocese is divided into 1 ...
. The brown, wooden church was built in a
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 ...
design in 1738 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 ...
Nicolai Gustav Sandberg. The church seats about 700 people.


History

The first church in Elverum was a small, 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 probably built during the 13th century. This church was located about north of the present church, roughly on the same site as the town's triangular park. During the
Northern Seven Years' War The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the ''Nordic Seven Years' War'', the ''First Northern War,'' the ''Seven Years' War of the North'' or the ''Seven Years War in Scandinavia'') was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden (1523–1611), K ...
, the church was looted by the invading
Swedish Army The Swedish Army () is the army, land force of the Swedish Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. Beginning with its service in 1521, the Swedish Army has been active for more than 500 years. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1 ...
. After the war, the church gradually declined into disrepair. By the early 1700s, the church roof and windows were both leaking. Around Christmastime in 1729, Morten Leigh took over as the new parish priest in Elverum. He immediately set to work on organizing support for a new church to replace the old, dilapidated building. In 1735, the parish hired Nicolai Gustav Sandberg to design a new church and hired Even Baardset as the lead builder. A new site was chosen for the new church–about to the south of the old church site. The new site offered ample room for a church and graveyard. Construction began in 1736. The church was completed in 1737 and 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 ...
on 28 January 1738. The new building had room for 700 people. In 1814, this church served as an
election church An election church () is a term used for approximately 300 churches in Norway that were used as polling stations during the elections to the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. This was Norway's first national elections and this ass ...
(). 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 1878, the church was extensively remodeled according to the tastes of the time using plans by Henrik Thrap-Meyer. The exterior of the church was painted white instead of the original brownish red color and the windows were replaced and made narrower. Inside, the log walls were paneled and painted white, the ceiling was raised. Almost all the old furniture was replaced, only the
pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...
and the
altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...
itself were retained. In the 1930s, there was a desire for a return to the original look of the building, however, this was difficult due to the fact that the old drawings were gone. The work was carried out in 1937-1938 under the leadership of Simen Øyen. The wall paneling was removed, uncovering the bare log walls. The old was tracked down to various places in the village and returned to the church. The windows were replaced and enlarged–regaining their original size. Also, the exterior walls were repainted. By the 1980s, the church structure was starting to sag in the corners and significant rot damage was found. In 1986, the church was closed for ten months for rehabilitation to fix the damage. Again in 2006, an extensive restoration project to again fix the structure of the building was carried out.


Media gallery

FV554 Storgata.jpg Elverum kirke.jpg Elverum church.jpg 499 Elverum kirke - no-nb digifoto 20150803 00070 bldsa PK24648.jpg Elverum kirke - an10071202157002.jpg Elverum kirke interiør ES.02859.jpg Elverum kirke altertavle ES.01598.jpg Elverum kirke - an10071202157001.jpg


See also

*
List of churches in Hamar The list of churches in Hamar is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Hamar in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Innlandet county plus the parishes in Lunner Municipality in Akershus county. The diocese is based at ...


References

{{use dmy dates, date=December 2021 Elverum Churches in Innlandet Cruciform churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 18th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1738 13th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches