Gjerstad Church (, locally: ''Gjerstad kjørke'') 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 Gjerstad Municipality in

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

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 Gjerstad. It is the church for the Gjerstad

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 Aust-Nedenes 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 Agder og Telemark. 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 1848 by Lars Listøl using plans 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 ...

Christian H. Grosch. The church seats about 500 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1400 (''Gerikstadir Kirkje''), but the church was likely founded around the year 1300. The first church was a

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 ...

located about to the southeast of the present location. Historically, the parish of Gjerstad included the nearby areas of Vegårshei and

Søndeled Søndeled is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Aust-Agder Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964 when it was merged into the municipality o ...

(which also included

Risør is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the Skagerrak coast in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of Ri ...

. The parish was based in Søndeled from the 1100s until the 1400s when the headquarters of the parish was moved to Gjerstad. In 1737, the old church was torn down and a new church was constructed on the same site. The new

measured about . The builder of the new church was Søren Knutsen from Arendal. In 1745, the areas of Søndeled and Risør were separated to form their own parish. During the 1760s, several repairs were carried out on the building, including work on the bell tower. In 1814, this church served as an election church (). 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 in

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the munic ...

later that year. By the mid-1800s, the municipal council looked at the fact that there were over 2000 residents in the parish and seats for only 389 people in the church, so it was far too small. They wanted to nearby double the size of the church, so after standing for nearly 150 years, plans were begun to replace the building. Site work began in 1842, and construction on the building began in 1844. The new church was constructed at the top of the nearby hill, about to the north-northwest of the site of the old church. 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 23 January 1848 by the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Jacob von der Lippe Jacob von der Lippe (27 September 1797 – 2 October 1878) was a Norwegian politician and priest who served as Bishop of the Diocese of Christianssand from 1841 to 1875. He was also a member of the Parliament of Norway for a total of eig ...

and it wasn't put into regular use until mid-1849. The old church was used until the summer of 1849 when it was torn down and its material was sold. The

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

south of the present church is where the old church was located. In 2004, the church was renovated and restored to its original look.

Priests

There have been many priests who served at this church over the years. This is a partial list. *Axel Pedersen (around 1552) *Gude Pedersen (around 1561) *Laurs (unknown dates) *Peder Jensen Holt (1578-1607) *Erik Olsen (unknown dates) *Lauritz Nilsen (1614-1620) *Erik Fredriksen Lindland (1621-1657) *Bent Pedersen Amdal (1657-1695) *Hans Pedersen Høllen (1695-1708) *Hans Lauritzen Scavenius (1709-1716) *Peder Olsen Horster (1716-1745) *Johan Joakim Markmann (1745-1750) *Lars Larsen Eskildsen (1750-1784) * Hans Mathias Abel (1784-1803) * Søren Georg Abel (1803-1821) * John Aas (1821-1867) *Lortenz Ditlev Krog (1867-1872) *Jørgen Christian Andreas Grøner (1873-1890) *Georg Pharo (1890-1899) *Knud Christian Jarl Møller (1899-1910) *Ragnvald Cornelius Knudsen (1910-1912) *Henrik Lehmann (1913-1930) *Ivar Glette (1930-1952) *Gunnar Bjarne Gundersen (1953-1959) *Karl Trygve Lehne (1959-1968) *Arne Johan Sørensen (1969-1974) *Ravn Madland (1975-1980) *Gerhard Falk Woie (1981-1993) *Nils Peder Kjetså (1993-??) *Olav Hofsli (dates unknown)

Media gallery

Gjerstad kirke 20120826-16.JPG, Front entrance of the church Gjerstad kirke 20120826-17.JPG, Side view of the church Gjerstadvatnet 1.jpg, View of the lake Gjerstadvatnet with the church in the upper right corner Gjerstad kirke, Aust-Agder - Riksantikvaren-T179 01 0169.jpg, View of the church in the late 1800s Gjerstad kirke 20120826-01.JPG, Interior view of the church Gjerstad kirke 20120826-03.JPG,

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, ...

Gjerstad kirke 20120826-04.JPG, Baptismal font Gjerstad kirke 20120826-07.JPG, Organ in the back balcony Gjerstad kirke 20120826-08.JPG,

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 ...

References

{{use dmy dates, date=January 2021 Gjerstad Churches in Agder Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1848 14th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches

History

Priests

Media gallery

See also

References