Fortun 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 ...

Luster Municipality Luster is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative centre is the village of Gaupne. Other villages in Luster include Fortun, Hafslo, Indre ...

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 Fortun. It is the church for the Fortun

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

Sogn prosti Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway (''Vestlandet''). It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestran ...

(

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 1879 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 ...

Erik Pedersen Rusten. The church seats about 250 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1323, but it was not new that year. The first church was 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 sometime between 1160 and 1180. The original building had a rectangular

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 ...

measuring and a slightly narrower wide

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 ...

. The original church stood about northeast of the present location of the church. Around 1650, a new tower was built on the church. In 1666, the choir was torn down and replaced with a larger

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 ...

room, the same width as the nave. In 1696–1698, the

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 ...

was torn down and rebuilt. Over time, the church became too small for the congregation and it was decided to replace it. A new church was built about southwest of the old church, a little closer to the river. The new church was completed and

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 6 June 1879. It was designed by Erik Pedersen Ruste. After its completion, the parish offered to sell the old church to the

Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments () is an organization focused on conservation preservation in Norway. The Society was founded in 1844. The founders were painters, historians, art historians and archeologists, including ...

, but the Society could not afford it. Then, the decision was made to tear down the old church, but there was some controversy about this decision. Eventually, it was torn down, but the

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Fredrik Georg Gade Fredrik Georg Gade (21 March 1855 – 1 March 1933) was a Norwegian physician. Personal life He was born in Bergen as the son of merchant Fredrik Georg Gade (1830–1905) and his wife Ingeborg Wallem (1830–1902). The family originated in Lün ...

bought most of the building materials and moved them to Fantoft in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

in 1883. There, Gade rebuilt the church and named it

Fantoft Stave Church Fantoft Stave Church (; Nynorsk: ''Fantoft stavkyrkje'') is a reconstructed stave church in the Fana borough of the city of Bergen, Norway. History The church was originally built around the year 1150 at Fortun in Sogn, a village near the inne ...

. Gade used the

Borgund Stave Church Borgund Stave Church () is a former parish church initially of the Catholic Church and later the Church of Norway in Lærdal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was built around the year 1200 as the village church of Borgund, and belong ...

as the model for his reconstructed church, so it was not a true reconstruction of the old Fortun Stave Church after it was rebuilt. It was used as a museum and cultural site for over a century. On 6 June 1992, the centuries-old church was destroyed in an

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

fire. Soon after, in 1997, a replica building was completed on the same site, but virtually all of the old parts from the original stave church in Fortun had been lost.

Media gallery

File:Church of Fortun - Picture 1.jpg, Exterior view File:Fortun Lindahl.jpeg, View of the church in the late 19th century File:Fortun old.jpg, View of the old stave church before it was moved to Bergen

References

{{use dmy dates, date=September 2021 Luster, Norway Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1879 12th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References