King Oscar II Chapel () 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 ...

Sør-Varanger Municipality Sør-Varanger (; ; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kirkenes. Other settlements in the municipality include the vill ...

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

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 near the village of

Grense Jakobselv , , or (also: and ) is a small village in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the shore of the Barents Sea at the mouth of the Jakobselva river. It lies about by road east of the town of Kirkenes. The are ...

, about from the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

with

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It is one of the churches for the Sør-Varanger

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 Varanger 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 Nord-Hålogaland Nord-Hålogaland () is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers the Church of Norway churches in Troms and Finnmark counties as well as in the territory of Svalbard. The diocese is seated in the city of Tromsø at the Tromsø Cathedral, t ...

. The stone 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 ...

style in 1869 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 ...

Jacob Wilhelm Nordan Jacob Wilhelm Nordan (23 February 1824 – 11 April 1892) was a Danish-born, Norwegian architect. During his career, he was one of the most prolific church architects in Norway. Biography Nordan was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and came to Nor ...

(1824–1892). The church seats about 72 people.

History

In 1851, the Norwegian settlement in the

area had a strong desire to have its chapel. However, it was politics that would accelerate the work of construction. In 1826, the demarcation of the

Norway–Russia border The border between Norway and Russia consists of a land border between Sør-Varanger Municipality, Norway, and Pechengsky District, Russia, and a marine border in the Varangerfjord. It further consists of a border between the two countrie ...

was completed. However, there were still disagreements between the Norwegian authorities and Russian fishermen on the national border (the Jakobselva River) after that time. After reporting several harsh confrontations between Norwegian and Russian fishermen, the County Governor of Finnmark wanted to let a naval ship from the

Royal Norwegian Navy The Royal Norwegian Navy () is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for navy, naval operations of Norway, including those of the Norwegian Coast Guard. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 i ...

undertake fisheries surveillance during the months with the heaviest fishing. The

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

wanted an independent investigation of the circumstances and sent Lieutenant Commander Georg Heyerdahl (1798–1853) north to familiarize themselves with the case. Heyerdahl did not share the county Governor's views on which solution. He proposed instead to erect a chapel at Grense Jakobselv. A Lutheran chapel would be an indisputable boundary marking, such as the

Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

chapel in

Boris Gleb Borisoglebsky (; ; ) is a rural locality (a '' Posyolok'') in Pechengsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. The village is located beyond the Arctic Circle, at a height of 95 meters above sea level on the Paatsjoki River. There is a border cr ...

that had been used for border demarcation in 1826. In 1865 it was decided to build a chapel and

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, pa ...

at the border. In the summer of 1869, the new chapel was built and on 26 September the same year, the chapel 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 by

Waldemar Hvoslef Waldemar Hvoslef (17 March 1825 – 5 May 1906) was a Norwegian Lutheran bishop. Fredrik Waldemar Hvoslef was born in Christiania (now Oslo) and grew up in Holmestrand in Jarlsberg og Laurvig county. He was the son of Jens Hvoslef (1783–1830 ...

(1825–1906), Bishop of 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 ...

Name

In 1873,

King Oscar II Oscar II (Oscar Fredrik; 21 January 1829 – 8 December 1907) was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905. Oscar was the son of King Oscar I and Queen Josephine. He inherited the Swedish and Norweg ...

of Sweden and Norway visited the chapel, and to commemorate this visit, he bestowed this chapel with a marble slab with the bilingual inscriptions: ' (

Norwegian language Norwegian ( ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelli ...

) and ' (

Northern Sami language Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

) which means ''"King Oscar II heard the words of God here on the 4th of July 1873"''. At the same time, he expressed a desire to name the chapel after himself, so the members of the congregation made a nameplate for him that still hangs over the door.

Media gallery

King Oscar II Chapel, Grense Jakobselv, Norway.jpg, Kong Oscar IIs kapell-2012-07-06-15-45-09.jpg, Kong Oscar II's kapell sett fra den lille kirkegården.JPG, Kong Oscar II's kapell.JPG, Hans Majestæt kong Oscar II.'s Reise i Nordland og Finmarken Aar 1873 - no-nb digibok 2012091708091-141.jpg, Oscar II kapell, Finnmark - Riksantikvaren-T456 01 0004.jpg, La chapelle du roi Oscar II à Grense Jakobselv en Norvège.jpg,

References

External links

{{use dmy dates, date=February 2021 Sør-Varanger Churches in Finnmark Stone churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1869 1869 establishments in Norway Long churches in Norway

History

Name

Media gallery

See also

References

External links