Innvik 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 ...

Stryn Municipality Stryn is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Stryn. The municipality is located along the innermost part of th ...

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

Innvik Innvik is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 1965. Innvik is located in the present-day Stryn Municipality in Vestland county, encompassing about the western third of th ...

. It is the church for the Innvik

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 Nordfjord 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 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 an octagonal design in 1822 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 ...

Elling Olsen Waldboe. The church seats about 350 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1330, but the church was not new that year. The first church in Innvik 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 built at Hilde, about east of the present site of the church. It was probably first constructed during the 13th century. In 1580, the church was dismantled and its materials were moved about closer to the fjord, where it was rebuilt. When the church was being built on the new site, it was constructed 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 using a combination of

construction and

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 ...

construction. In 1695, the church was inspected and found to be in poor condition so some renovations were carried out including the replacing the tower on the church with a new one. 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. In 1820, the church measured and it was deemed too small for the congregation. In 1822, the church was torn down and replaced with a new church with an octagonal design on the same site. The parish hired Elling Olsen Waldboe to design and build the new building. The tower on the new church was largely built using salvaged materials from the old church. The new church building was completed in 1822 and the first worship service was held on Christmas Day 1822. The church was not formally

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 ...

until 28 July 1824 by the Bishop

Jacob Neumann Jacob Neumann (13 July 1772 – 25 January 1848) was a Norwegian bishop. Personal life He was born in Strømsø as a son of Hans Neumann (1745–1789) and Annechen Johanne Blom (1754–1773), and a grandson of Jakob Hansen Neumann. He was also ...

. In 1899–1900, the church was renovated and enlarged. It was expanded to the east with a new

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 ...

and

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

. It also got new window glass, its doors were replaced, and the interior fixtures were all redone. In 1914, the church had electric lights installed along with an organ. In 1961, electric heating was installed in the building.

Media gallery

Innvik kirke 01 Nordfjord Norway 2014-05-05.JPG Innvik kirke 02 Nordfjord Norway 2014-05-05.jpg Innvik kirke 03 Nordfjord Norway 2014-05-05.JPG Innvik kirke 04 Nordfjord 2014-05-05.JPG Innvik kirke.jpg Innvik kyrkje2.JPG Innvik kyrkje3..JPG

References

{{use dmy dates, date=August 2021 Stryn Churches in Vestland Wooden churches in Norway Octagonal churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1822 13th-century establishments in Norway Norwegian election churches

History

Media gallery

See also

References