Hornnes 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 Evje og Hornnes 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 Hornnes. It is one of the churches for the Evje og Hornnes

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 Otredal 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 Diocese of Agder og Telemark () is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth largest city. Kristiansand Cathedral serves as the seat of t ...

. The white, wooden church was built in an octagonal design in 1828 by Leg Askildsen Hallingskaar, a builder from

Laudal Laudal is a village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located on the western shore of the Mandalselva river, about south of the village of Bjelland and about north of the village of Øyslebø. The village of La ...

who was 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 ...

Lars Larsen Forsæth (based on the same plans for

Klæbu Church Klæbu Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Trondheim Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the village of Klæbu. It is the church for the Klæbu parish which is part of the Heimdal og Byåsen prosti (d ...

). The church seats about 300 people. The church has changed little since the time of construction. The interior is symmetrical with 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 ...

in the central axis in front of the altar, following the model of the

Christiansborg Castle Christiansborg Palace (, ) is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament (), the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Court of Denmark. Also, s ...

Church in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1328, but the old

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 ...

may have been built between the years 1150 and 1200. That church was located slightly to the west of the present church site (where the road is located today). There is an old clay baptismal font in the church dating back to

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

times, but it has not been used in over 400 years. In the early 1800s, the old church was painted red. Over time, the old stave church had fallen into disrepair and was in poor condition. In 1828, the old church was torn down and a new church was built slightly east of the old church site. The builder was Leg Askildsen Hallingskaar from

, who was using plans drawn up by the architect Lars Larsen Forsæth. These were plans that had been used for the

near

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

. The new building 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 22 June 1828 by the local provost, Paul Brodahl Larsen, who was based at Evje Church. Hallingskaar carved his name into a brand new

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 ...

which he gifted to the church. After the church was built, there was some unhappiness with the roofline and steeple. It was said that the steeple tower was skewed because the original builder did not follow the plans correctly. So, the parish hired Anders Thorsen Syrtveit to rebuild those parts of the church. This church was used as a model church, and after it was built, there were ten more

octagonal In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a hex ...

churches built in the

Setesdalen Setesdal (; older name: Sætersdal) is a valley and a traditional district in Agder County in southern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes. The Otra river flows through the valley o ...

valley and inner parts of

Media gallery

FV310 Hornes kirke.JPG Hornes kirke.JPG Hornnes kirke crop.jpg Hornnes kirke, Hornnes kyrkje, Aust-Agder - Riksantikvaren-T199 01 0051.jpg Hornnes kirke, Hornnes kyrkje, Aust-Agder - Riksantikvaren-T199 01 0054.jpg Evje og Hornnes IMG 7515 hornnes kirke rk 84634.JPG

References

{{use dmy dates, date=January 2021 Evje og Hornnes Churches in Agder Wooden churches in Norway Octagonal churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1828 12th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References