Joranger Church
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Joranger 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
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 ...
in
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 Joranger. It is one of the churches for the ''Fet og Joranger''
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 using plans drawn up by an unknown
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 ...
. The building was probably constructed around the 1630s, but 1660 has historically been considered to be the construction date. The church seats about 85 people.


History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1340, but the church was not built 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 located on the same site as the present church. During the 1600s, the old church was torn down and a new church was built to replace it on the same site. A sign on the church says 1620, the year 1643 is painted on one beam in the choir, and other records refer to 1660 as the year of construction. Research dates the decorations in the choir and altarpiece to 1643 and some of the decorations in the
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 ...
to 1652, so it is likely that the church was built during the 1630s or 1640s. The new church was built using some of the materials from the old stave church and it is possible that it was built in stages over a period of years. The
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 ...
measures and the square
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 ...
measures on each side. The church has a unique, large,
octagon 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 ...
al-shaped
steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a relig ...
that is not in proportion with the rest of the small building. In the 1960s, a new foundation wall was laid under the church to prevent the problems caused by significant rotting of some of the wood.


See also

*
List of churches in Bjørgvin The list of churches in Bjørgvin is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Bjørgvin in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Vestland county. The Diocese is based at the Bergen Cathedral in the city of Bergen (city), Berg ...


References

{{use dmy dates, date=September 2021 Luster, Norway Churches in Vestland Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 17th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1660 13th-century establishments in Norway