Kjose 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 ...

Larvik Municipality Larvik () is a municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. Other main population centres in the municipality include the ...

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

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

Kjose Kjose is a village in Larvik Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The village is on the western shore of the large lake Farris Farris is a lake on the border of Telemark and Vestfold counties in Norway. The long freshwater moraine-dammed ...

, near the shore of the lake

Farris Farris is a lake on the border of Telemark and Vestfold counties in Norway. The long freshwater moraine-dammed lake is located mostly in Larvik Municipality in Vestfold, but the northwestern part of the lake is located in Siljan Municipality an ...

. It is the church for the Kjose

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 Larvik 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 Tunsberg Tunsberg is a diocese of the Church of Norway. It includes all of the parishes located within the counties of Vestfold and Buskerud, with the cathedral located in the city of Tønsberg. The Diocese of Tunsberg consists of the cathedral deanery and ...

. 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 1850 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 ...

Gustav Adolph Lammers. The church seats about 170 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1372, but the church was not built that year. The first church in Kjose was likely 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 may have been built during the 1200s. It was likely built on a site just north of the present church. Around the year 1606, the old church was torn down and replaced with a new

log construction A log house, or log building, is a structure built with horizontal logs interlocked at the corners by notching. Logs may be round, squared or hewn to other shapes, either handcrafted or milled. The term "log cabin" generally refers to a smal ...

church building on the same foundation as the original church. The new building had a

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 ...

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, but no tower. The church bells were simply hung in the attic. The building had a main entrance and

church porch A church porch is a room-like structure at a church's main entrance. A porch protects from the weather to some extent. Some porches have an outer door, others a simple gate, and in some cases the outer opening is not closed in any way. The porch ...

on the west end. There was one window of each wall of the nave. In 1626, the

was replaced along with several repairs to the building. By the mid-1800s, the old church was in need of repairs and it was too small for the parish. Planning began for a new church to be built next to the old church. The new building was designed by Gustav Adolph Lammers. The new church was built during the summer of 1850 with Anders Tollefsen Bonnegolt and Mikkel Tangane as builders. The new church was

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 ...

on 8 August 1850. The new building was a small,

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

was built using

with external wood paneled siding. The church has a west tower with a

beneath it. There is a rectangular

with a

on the east end. Initially there was no

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 ...

but there was a small separate area in the chancel for the priest to use. In 1911, a sacristy extension was built on the east end of the

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 ...

. In 1977 an addition off the east end of the sacristy was built containing a kitchen and bathroom.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=October 2023 Buildings and structures in Larvik Churches in Vestfold Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 13th-century churches in Norway 13th-century establishments in Norway

History

See also

References